Vio

About Vio

80's Arena Hard Rock
Pronounced - V-eye-oh

I began playing guitar at age 13, thank you Eddie Van Halen. George Lynch was also a heavy influence. Studied classical guitar at Glassboro State College, then the #1 music school in NJ, now known as Rowan University.

Started my band in 1989 with my band called Red Dawn. I was the lead guitar player and I had a singer with various other members. We had great success when we started out. Then the a-hole from Rainbow stole my band's name in 1993, he lived 20 miles south of where I lived in NJ. He failed in every way, destroyed the brand.

So, I can't use Red Dawn anymore. So I started back up under Neal Vio, now just Vio and I am both the singer and lead guitar player. I write and play everything. I started singing because I want the songs sung the way I hear it in my head. Before that, I never knew how hard it was to sing like those guys from the 80's until I actually tried it. It's hardest thing I've ever learned how to do.

I did the video for the song "I've Seen the Angels Fall" for a song contest, I didn't win but I gained a lot of fans from that song, met a lot of people who can relate to that song. It's about drug addiction and watching their lives fall apart. Through marketing, I managed to get over 280,000 views on YouTube.

Heaven Sent was written as a total goof to submit to the "Crowd Review" on ReverbNation. Since the Angels song scored about 4.9. Realistically you can add 3 to that number because they're so pathetic when they rate your song. The Billy Idol cover I did scored a 7, but I got an email from ReverbNation saying a 7 = 97th percentile, so you can add 3 to whatever you get. I even made the changes they suggested to the Angels song, submitted it again and they gave it a lower score. More on ReverbNation's "Crowd Review"...

So the Angels song scored about 4.9 on ReverbNation's "Crowd Review". I wrote Heaven Sent in 10 minutes, no passion, no feeling, no layers, no hook, just a verse and chorus, the song is as simple as it gets. Even the harmonies were recorded on separate tracks. I sing high on one track, I sing low on another track. Usually, harmonies are done on a single track. And the solo, so simple, nothing to it - 0.00001% of my ability. So, I submitted Heaven Sent to ReverbNation's "Crowd Review", and it scored slightly lower than the Angels song. Thus proving, once again, they have no business rating and reviewing music. It was a total goof on them - The Goof Song - Heaven Sent.

Unfortunately, a lot of people steal my music, steal my guitar riffs and of course, steal my old band's name. I know they won't go anywhere or have any success, I'm the original and I can do it again and again, they can't. The flip side is that even though I'm still relatively unknown, I do influence people.

That being said, I won't be releasing anymore original songs until the CD is done, patented and the band is put together and we're playing out. I'll still put out cover songs though.

The future for Vio is music that sounds like Dokken, Ratt, Whitesnake, Queenryche, Judas Priest, Scorpions... those are my influences. I'll see you out there!