Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke with singer Ronnie Romero (Rainbow, Michael Schenker, Elegant Weapons) about his new solo album Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters’, that was released on Sept 15, 2023 via Frontiers Music s.r.l.
Romero also talks about his new solo album; Ritchie Blackmore’s inner circle and surviving and overcoming depression from personal and professional issues.
When asked what it was like being in the Ritchie Blackmore’s inner circle compared to the outer circle “It is a huge difference. You’re on a stage and you play songs and you are in the Rainbow band and that’s great and there were another seven of eight singers who did the same thing before, counting the Rainbow and Deep Purple. There was a lot of singers working with. him. But as you mentioned it’s like to be with him (inner circle), having a beer after dinner and talking about UFOs or whatever there was the topic that night until three in the morning. And sometimes he’s taking the guitar and we’re just singing whatever from the Beetles, Queen, Deep Purple Rainbow and whatever it comes to that moment. And that was probably the most enjoyable thing. It is great. Obviously all of this character that people know from Ritchie like he’s a tough guy and he’s a difficult person all that stuff, is how you see him outside the circle. And that’s in my opinion there’s a character and he behaved that way to keep the people away. Which is very understandable, in the way that there is a lot of people trying to get in the (inner) circle.
But when you’re in (inner circle) he is a very nice guy, he is very loyal, he is very cool, he treats you really well. I have nothing to say bad about Richie Blackmore during the five, six years we worked together or even with my family, they were all nice, all the people they were great they would treat me very good. “
When asked if he was allowed to disagree with Ritchie “You can have disagreements with them but he remembers the next day. (laughs) But it’s cool, it’s because he is very smart and very clever person. So it’s very challenging to have a chat with him because all the time you need to be on the same level and I like that because I’m probably the same kind of person. He’s joking all the time and sometimes he’s telling jokes, very clever jokes. Because of my English especially at that time when I met Richie for the first time I didn’t talk English at all. He was telling jokes and I was just like question mark? A he was doing on (telling jokes) on purpose that I didn’t understand. “(laughs)
Romero’s voice and prolific musical activity have brought him to the forefront of the hard rock/metal scene where he can be seen/heard with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, The Michael Schenker Group, Lords of Black, The Ferrymen, Sunstorm, and the recently launched Elegant Weapons with Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner. With an impressive discography already under his belt, TOO MANY LIES, TOO MANY MASTERS is arguably the crown jewel of Romero’s recorded output thus far.
Here’s the track listing for TOO MANY LIES, TOO MANY MASTERS:
1. Castaway on the Moon 2. Mountain of Light 3. I’ve Been Losing You 4. Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters 5. Girl, Don’t Listen to the Radio 6. Crossroad 7. Not Just a Nightmare 8. A Distant Shore 9. Chased By Shadows 10. Vengeance
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed former Genesis guitarist and solo artist Steve Hackett.
In the chat Hackett talks about his Foxtrot at Fifty & Hackett Highlights North American tour as well as his time and departure from Genesis. Plus pioneering finger taping and how he influenced Eddie Van Halen as well as metal Guitarists.
When asked about the Foxtrot Album and Foxtrot at 50 North American Tour “Foxtrot is a Genesis album from 1972 originally, So it’s not just 50 years ago, it’s 50 years plus because of Covid catch-up. We haven’t taken this show to North America yet, we have played it extensively in Europe, Scandinavia and other places in the world and finally we get to take it to Canada we get to take it to America. I think it’s one of Genesis Classic Albums of a certain era. ‘Foxtrot’ and ‘Selling England by the Pound’ are my two favorites of the ones I did during my time with Genesis with Peter Gabriel. I think it’s a classic and the version that my band did at Brighton in the U.K. is gorgeous. It looks and sounds wonderful and it’s an absolute class if you like early Genesis. I think it’s a must for music that’s detailed and at times complicated. The style of music is pan-genre; it ranges from sci-fi to social commentary, to humor. Most of the songs are stories; they tend not to be a Boy Meets Girl, it tends to be more complicated than that.”
When asked how he is the only former Genesis member performing the Peter Gabriel Genesis Era “I think it’s an aberration that the others don’t but I think the band (Genesis) became something else later on post Peter Gabriel or post MTV should we say. But I’m talking about music from an era when John Lennon gave us a name check and said he considered Genesis to be true sons of The Beatles and I’m very proud of that and it’s this era that he was talking about. So you can hear that influence if you hear ‘Willow Farm’, in the middle of Supper Ready a great long piece you can hear the Beatles all over, let’s be honest it is really the son of Walrus. It’s kind of circus music in a way, it’s cartoon music, it’s it’s parody. There’s a kind of Vaudeville tradition that it’s drawn from as well. It defies description really but the stuff on Foxtrot it’s very wide ranging there’s a lot of different styles, as I say pan genre is how I see it. It’s inclusive music, there’s so many styles that were being hinted at on that album. I think the original sounds good but I think the live version that I’ve done, you know 50 years plus later with my band I think it sounds better because we can play it better. It’s more in time, it’s more in tune. These guys are virtuosos. Genesis at that time were a Young Band struggling to keep up with the ideas that the entire team were able to come up with together. So you can say well that’s sacrilege and shoot me down in flames but hey you know until you’ve heard what this sounds like in its entirety which Genesis did not do. Genesis never did Foxtrot in its entirety, some songs were considered to be too difficult or insufficiently, or not audience worthy. But now with the passing of time the fact that it’s come to be regarded as a classic, stuff like Time Table and Horizons they’ve all found their place.”
When asked about also performing his solo material on upcoming tour “It’s 40 minutes 50 minutes or an hour of solo stuff. I think it’s got a lot to offer, it’s a really great show if I may say so I’m very proud of it.”
When asked about being a finger taping and hammer-ons guitar technique pioneer and how he influenced Eddie Van Halen “I love Eddie’s playing and he credited me with an influence that’s good enough for me. It’s a prototype tapping, the technique that I did and that he (Eddie Van Halen) named, that’s something that I was doing from 1971 onwards. You can hear it on Nursery Crime (album), Musical box (song) you can hear it on the song ‘Return of the giant hogweed’ on the same album. You can hear it on Selling England by the Pound (album), the first track, ‘Dancing with the moonlit Knight’. When we were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the band Phish, they were talking about the guitar solo. So the first thing that gets talked about was that guitar solo which included sweep picking, tapping and octave jumps which all of which I think you know it’s all part of the glossary of terms. No heavy metal guitarist wouldn’t want to be seen dead without being able to do all of those things. “ When asked about the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis live experience “Pete (Gabriel) was, I think, extremely important, really clever and marvelous lyrical ideas. I think his sense of theatricality rivaled Alice Cooper at times, once he embraced that totally. What that means is that an audience that might have walked out during an earlier era of complicated music. When you had visuals to accompany it, that made a big difference so production values the show itself that’s what really makes the difference. And so you know you hope that if you’re in a band like Genesis you’re going to survive the departure of your lead singer. You hope that you’re going to survive the departure of or leaving the group, as I did but what survives is the quality of the music. “
When asked about his departure from Genesis “I joined a band that was a democracy, a songwriters collective. I left the band that was becoming a dictatorship. I think that when I was told by Mike (Rutherford) and Tony (Banks) that I could no longer do solo work the hackles rose there because they also wanted to control who was writing the songs and that wasn’t the basis that I joined the band.Great band (Genesis) probably the best band in the world but at the end of the day you can’t keep a good Hackett it down. So you’ve got to be true to yourself and your Muse I think once a band starts to lose people, it lost Peter Gabriel, it lost me similar to sort of circumstances in in terms of being told that you can’t have a parallel solo career blah blah blah blah blah blah and all of that. And you figure well why not because it would have strengthened the band and of course the great Poetic Justice at the end of the day was that Phil Collins solo career outpaced the band in terms of sales. So I think that’s ironic justice for them but I still love the guys in the band. It’s different now we’re all very much older and I think that there would have been a rethink if anyone had been sensible enough frankly. Why would you want to lose the singer of the quality of Peter Gabriel, a great performer, writer, humanitarian all of that. You have to allow people room to grow. You can’t run a band by thinking that you own people, you can’t run it like that. You can’t suppress.”
When asked if he joined Genes as a full member or a hired gun “I was a fully fledged equal member that’s what I joined, that’s how I joined, on the understanding that there would be that. I joined on the understanding that there would be a Mellotron. I joined on the understanding that there would be a light show, that we would work towards these things. I joined on the understanding that we would get a synthesizer. I joined on the understanding that we would become more than a folk singing band. Now the band surpassed my intentions and desires. I felt my job was done, now I’ve got to see what I can do on my own.”.
When asked about the roadblocks and hurdles over the years of reuniting the Gabriel led era “The extreme competitiveness at the core of the band and I think there’s always been this idea that oh well if we let these guys back in again this is going to be seen as the real band where as the real band we want it to be seen as three-man team. At one point we all had a meeting, this is right back in I think in 2005. Anyway, nearly 20 years ago we were having a meeting. If we can make Lamb Lies down on Broadway, the thing that we will all do together and can we do it as a musical? Is that possible? Can we use avatars way before the stuff with ABBA. But competitiveness that’s the problem. We had this meeting in Glasgow where Phil (Collins) was doing a gig and straight away Tony (Banks) said I think that it won’t work, it won’t work as a musical, it’s too complicated. Well if it had worked it would have changed the shape of musicals. If Queen could do it, then I think that Genesis could do it. But it’s maybe too much power to Pete (Gabriel) you know because Pete very much wrote the story not the music, we all wrote the music. But the idea of relinquishing that amount of power and reflected Glory was just a little too much for the guys who were holding the name. Sadly because because I think Genesis was capable and is capable of of much.”
About Steve Hackett Steve Hackett joined Genesis at the beginning of 1971 and gained an international reputation as the guitarist in the band’s classic line-up alongside Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Hackett’s intricate guitar work was a key element of Genesis’ albums from Nursery Cryme (1971) to Wind And Wuthering (1977) including the classic Selling England By The Pound.
After leaving Genesis at the end of 1977, Hackett’s solo career, which now spans more than 30 albums, has demonstrated his extraordinary versatility with both electric and acoustic guitar. Hackett is renowned as both an immensely talented and innovative rock musician and a virtuoso classical guitarist and composer and this was recognized in 2010 when he was inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame. He has also worked alongside Steve Howe of YES in the supergroup GTR.
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Ex-Whitesnake guitarist and solo artist Adrian Vandenberg about Vandenberg’s new album ‘SIN’ that was released on August 25, 2023 via Mascot records.
Vandenberg also spoke about how he was asked to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band during the Speak to the Devil tour and how he was asked to join Whitesnake multiple times throughout the years and refused.
When asked what the difference is musically from Vandenberg’s latest album SIn to their last album 2020. ” I realized I was really happy with the 2020 album but when we started doing a bunch of live shows under our belt I realized I would like to try to get a little closer to how we sound live. So I turned everything up a little bit, a little bit more umph out of the amplifier, a little bit more punch on the drums. Just a little bit more of everything and go a little heavier, heavier than the 2020 album.”
When asked if he was ever approached by Kiss or Ozzy to join their bands, since Vandenberg supported these two bands in the 80’s ” I did. A story that I never told before. Ozzy actually. First time I met him (Ozzy) during the tour. But I must say he was not quite sober, which was unusual for Ozzy of course (laughs). His tour manager introduced me to him and he was in a lunchroom of one of the hotel and he said Adrian do you want to join my band? (Adrian said), we are supporting you guys and Jake (E Lee) is a fantastic player. He (Ozzy) mumbles something, like stay in touch or whatever. But later on um some people mentioned that Don Airey (keyboardist) and a couple of other guys in the band um mentioned to Ozzy that my style of playing had a lot of resemblance with um Randy Rhods’ playing and in the sense of classical influences like Euro metal type of stuff combined with American and blues.
Adrian Vandenberg. Joined by vocalist Mats Levén, drummer Koen Herfst and bassist Randy Van Der Elsen, the influential axe-slinger delivers a vibrant, visceral, and vital vision on the group’s fifth full-length offering, “Sin”, brought to life in broad strokes of anthemic hard rock and airtight metal and produced by Bob Marlette (OZZY OSBOURNE, ALICE COOPER, ROB ZOMBIE).
Recorded in Holland and Los Angeles with Marlette, “Sin” represents a natural evolution for VANDENBERG. Scorching pinch harmonics light up the first single “House On Fire” as the groove underlines a chantable chorus from Mats.
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley. In the chat Bayley talks about his new live album, new studio album and his recent heart attack.
When asked about the new live album “You got this vibe and energy on ‘Damaged Strange Different and Live’ that just comes from being with the fans that this music is for. On one side it’s songs from the studio album ‘War within Me’ and the other side are those Maiden songs that I like to do that I have changed the arrangements slightly, (just) subtle differences, it’s the Blaze Bayley version of those old songs.These songs just come to life, i enjoyed them before but now. I don’t feel like I am just enjoying them, I feel like I’m bringing to life these old songs over 20 years old. Bringing them to life in a new way, in a different way. And so far all the fans that have seen me do these old songs live have loved it. it just follows that we want to get that on the record and we had them in the set so we managed to record them and make them a party of this album.”
When asked if he is working on a new studio album “We are getting things together. You can expect a new studio album next year.”
When asked about his heart attack ” I’m at home on Saturday. On Monday, I’m scheduled to go on tour in Europe to continue with ‘The Man Who Would Not Die’ tour. And there I am, and I’ve got chest pains, and I think, Oh, is this indigestion? I’m having a heart attack. I live two minutes from the ambulance station. I’m on the phone, and apparently the paramedics, they were going on their break towards the ambulance station and they said, Oh, we heard that call. It’s on our way. We’ll take that call. Two minutes, they’re in my house. I’ve got wires on my chest. ‘You’re having a heart attack.’ I live in the city, but I’m between four hospitals. In 15 minutes I’m having treatment, and they’re injecting me with dye to see what the problems are and everything. So that’s it. I’m safe. I’m in hospital 15 minutes later. They said, the paramedics, if that had been 10 minutes (later), there’s no way you’d make it. So I was 10 minutes from death. I had a heart attack, not heart failure. They got to me in time. But if I’d have been somewhere else, if I’d have been in Eurotunnel, if I’d have been in a hotel room alone, or on the autobahn in Germany anywhere, man. It’s just terrifying, really, to think about where I could be. And when they said, ‘Oh, you should be able to make it back,’ I said, I’ve gotta get back to work. I can’t leave it like this.’ I’ve done an album called ‘War Within Me’, and I haven’t toured the whole thing. I’m thinking of my fans and everything. I thought, ‘I can’t leave it like this. I’ve still got more music to make. I’ve got things to say, and I don’t wanna feel like I’m letting my fans down either.’ So I was so focused. It took a while, like a few weeks before they could put me in for the surgery. It was a quadruple bypass. Basically, they cut you in half. They cut me in half, they do a load of plumbing and then they put you back together. “
Metal Hall of Fame inductee, Blaze Bayley, releases a brand new live album, featuring versions of songs from his last studio album ‘War Within Me’ and also songs he wrote and/or performed during his time in Iron Maiden (1994-1999).
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Kick Axe co-founder and guitarist Larry Gillstrom about the bands new album, upcoming tour, the bands legacy and how the band was asked to write for other metal bands in the 80’s such as Black Sabbath.
Larry Gillstrom explained to The Metal Voice how the band was asked to write for Black Sabbath during the Gillan era he said,” while we were doing ‘Vices album’ we got the keys to the studio to go in and record some songs that were supposed to go to Black Sabbath with Ian Gillen singing. That was kind of what was going on at the time. Spencer (Proffer) was going to be involved with that and he needed some songs and he asked us to try to write some. So we went into the studio with Hans who was the the second engineer on our Vices album. We were just on our own and we we put together four songs and two of them were songs we wanted to actually do on our second album if they didn’t get picked up by Black Sabbath. And they didn’t get picked up because the whole Ian Gillen, Black Sabbath kind of didn’t work the way Spencer wanted it to work. So we wrote the song ‘Hunger’, Piece of The Rock and two other songs ‘Running Wild in the streets’ and another song that really wasn’t worth mentioning. But those three songs are all recorded. We did eventually release Hunger and ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stand on our way’ which is a song we recorded with Randy Bishops. But ‘hunger’ and ‘Piece of the rock’ we thought they’d be on our second album but when I went to LA and talked to Spencer he said no they’re already on King Kobra’s album so….”
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed KK’s Priest singer Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens about the band’s upcoming album ‘ The Sinner Rides Again‘ which will be released on Sept 29, 2023 via Napalm Records.
When asked about the feedback from fans in regards to the first few live shows with KK’s Priest “It’s been unbelievable. I think if anyone has read the reviews or seen anything on it, it’s been incredible. I read someone’s review saying they were shocked at how good it was. I think what they are shocked at is that we have a pretty big production, pyro and the screens. It’s a great show and it’s a costly show. We have been on fire and we have been having a lot of fun.”
When asked about challenges of singing the current set list “The classic Priest songs have always been easier to sing than my own (Judas Priest Era) so it’s kind of funny. Even KK’s Priest songs are much more difficult songs in the set list to sing than the classic Priest songs. In the past five years I have said in interviews I wasn’t singing as great but the past year, I’ve gotten it back, full on all of a sudden, it’s been pretty good.”
When asked about including more Ripper era songs in the KK’s priest setlist “We wanted to do that right out of the gate but the problem was, we were doing festivals and not our own shows. So you have to make a set list that is kind of adaptable to everybody. I think eventually when we start touring and doing our own shows what is going to happen, I hope. We add one or two more of my era (Judas Priest songs). ‘One on One’ and or ‘Burn in Hell’ has to be in our set list. It would be nice to also do ‘Cathedral Spires’ because that is the one (song) that fans are asking the most. But I think we are obviously going to be adding more KK’s Priest songs. We have 6 songs now in KK’s Priest (set list) and we will be releasing two new videos soon. So we will be adding two more in and probably add another one from the first record and another one from the new record. There is no doubt people want to hear (Ripper Judas Priest Era songs), Judas Priest ignores them (songs) and acts like I was never in the band. Which is fine because it makes my solo touring and KK’s Priest all that more exciting for people because at least they can go hear them (Ripper era Songs). “
When asked what do you say to people who call KK’s Priest a tribute band “Well it makes no sense, it’s the stupidest comment. I have to be honest since we have been playing live I hardly ever see these types of comments much anymore because now the proof is in the pudding. We are not talking about the sharpest tools in the shed, the people on the internet. People just get on the internet to say things that make no sense whatsoever or they actually give you career advice. I don’t mind if people don’t like us but when they don’t like us and say a tribute band? K.K. (Downing) is the co-founding member of Judas Priest. I was in Judas Priest. Half the set now is our own songs and soon 3/4 of the set is going to be our own songs. It makes no sense.”
When asked to compare KK’s Priest last album to the new album ‘The Sinner Rides Again’ “I think the songs sound more cohesive. Even with all the musical changes in the songs, it all runs great and sounds better. The first record was exactly what we needed, a little more old school, the sound was more old school, everything about it was a classic sound. This one has a little more punch to it, more aggressiveness, the sound is unbelievably good. You can just tell that now we have moved into something even better. I think this new album is a progression and I just love it.”
“The Sinner Rides Again” track listing:
Sons Of The Sentinel
Strike Of The Viper
Reap The Whirlwind
One More Shot At Glory
Hymn 66
The Sinner Rides Again
Keeper Of The Graves
Pledge Your Souls
Wash Away Your Sins
K.K. Downing-(Guitars) Tim “Ripper” Owens (vocals) A.J. Mills guitarist (Guitars) Tony Newton (Bass) Sean Elg (Drums)
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
