Bassist Rudy Sarzo announced his return to Quiet Riot after 18 years, becoming the only member of the band that played with the group on their classic line-up back in the 80’s. Since the passing of drummer Frankie Banali back in 2020 the band was active with musicians that didn’t played on the classic albums.
Bassist Rudy Sarzo announced his return to Quiet Riot in an interview with Eddie Trunk:
“I am returning home, going home to Quiet Riot in the beginning of 2022, next year. Next year marks 50 years of my journey with Quiet Riot because that’s when I met and I started playing with Frankie Banali, another founding member of the ‘Metal Health’ version of Quiet Riot.”
“To me, that was a turning point [for me] as a musician. After Frankie told me in 2019 that he had pancreatic cancer, and then he started his fight, it was a daily fight. I mean, he would be taking multiple treatments to fight it, and he would be touring.”
“And so it was really an exhausting thing. So we stopped kind of hanging out as much because, obviously, he was too tired. So we would text each other a lot, every day, and stay in touch. He let me know in April of 2019 [that he was diagnosed with cancer], and COVID happened in 2020. That really made it impossible for me to be in his presence. It wasn’t until a couple of days before he passed away that I was able to go to his house.”
He continued:
“Regina [Frankie’s wife] requested it, and I spent time with him. And then, the following day, when he was taken to the hospital, Regina made it possible for me to be with Frankie for his last hours.
“So, after Frankie passed away, I went over to Regina’s house, and we talked. She expressed to me that Frankie wanted me to come back to the band, that he wanted to have a founding member there in the band. So, we talked about that.”
“I was already traumatized by Frankie’s passing, so it was a decision that I had to take a lot of time to think about it – let the mourning period [pass]. I had to do that. So, the time came when I was ready to accept the reality, that it’s our responsibility, of us left behind, to carry on with the legacy and celebrate it. So that’s when I decided. I said, ‘OK, it’s time for me to come home.'”