 Welcome to the Metal Voice for the first time. Ronnie Romero, having a man of many hats. Yes, yes. Many tricks. Many tricks, many tricks. So the new album, Alan, before I butcher it, it's Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters that was released on September the 15th, your first solo album. Look at that. Look at that after. So who is your masters and who's lying to you? What's the problem? What's going on? Well, that's actually the perfect resume of my professional career. I was afraid you were going to say that. Yeah, I mean, that came to my mind like a year ago. I was going through kind of a difficult time in my personal life. But it also was affecting my professional life. Even now, it's like after more than two years since I saw my kid for the last time. And I don't have the chance to meet very often. So yeah, it was complicated. And at the same time, I was having some problems on my professional life. So I was thinking how disappointed you get in the music business very often. And that's why for me, I got this Too Many Lies around. So from that point, I started to think also of how much people you have around telling you what to do. So I thought of this, there is too many masters around. There's too much people telling you what to do. And they know about your career and about your life more than you. They think so. They tell us what to do all the time on their show. Yeah. So that was the. Everybody is a professional, right? Everybody is a professional. Everybody is like a president and a professional. And everybody thinks they know better than everybody else. I like the title. It's very therapeutic, I guess, for you, right? To release this. Yeah. Actually, I will say there is a statement. But it's not that important anymore for me. So it's just something like, OK, I say it. And now I can move on. It's like saying it is what it is. Too many lies, too many masters. It is what it is. Yeah, exactly. That's sad. It's sad, but funny. OK, well, I mean, the whole thing is this. OK, go ahead, Alan. So I just want to know, like, OK, too many masters. Does this mean Ronnie Romero is doing his thing now? You've been in. Oh, my gosh, it'll take 15 minutes to name all the bands. But does this mean that you're the master of your future? And this is what you're going to be concentrating on. Ronnie Romero and his solo career. Well, I always been. That's the main thing. It's a mistake that the people think I was not doing my or having control of my career through the years. I mean, I was lucky enough to have Richie Blackmore, Michael Sheehan, Karate, and Vandenberg and all those great guys working with Richie Faulkner. Richie Faulkner and Tony Hernando and Leo Leone from Walthard have many, many more, you know? And but at the same time, it's something like the people they never realized. I was always writing music. On the first two or so black albums, I did like four songs. I did a couple of songs with Michael Schenker on the last two albums, you know? So I think I was not recognized as a songwriter until now that I came with all my own material. So it's funny. It's funny because, you know, the people like you just saying like, oh, finally he's doing, finally he's writing a song. I was doing that since many years ago. But, you know, it's funny at the same time. Well, tell everybody, you know, that have not heard the music yet. Describe it. Is this a Dio rainbow-ish era type music? Is this Judas Priest power metal or what is it? I was made in two ways. The first one, if you heard, if you listened already the first two covers albums I did, you will find all those influences on this album. I mean, it's pretty obvious. Like the covers I did on those two records are totally related with all my influences. So the diddly influences. But also it is true that when I talked to the guys with Andy the drummer and Jose the Giddle player about the songwriting, I told them I really want to go in the direction of kind of a Dio solo career, especially look up the Wolves of Last in Line kind of album. Even Dio with Black Sabbath, that kind of riff and kind of melodies, you know, that you have like a heavy metal, great riffs and the great drumming and all that stuff. But also very melodic and something like the people can remember and sing together on the shows. Because it's also very, very focused on the life side. I always thought that when you're writing a song, first of all, it's really like a mistake to overproduce the vocals and the instruments because you need to bring the song live and you need to play it without backing tracks as possible. But also the vocals, you know, we need to bring something like the people can remember and sing with us on the shows. So yeah, I will say that it's like melodic heavy metal and a little bit of our rubble. Yeah, I've been listening to it, it's quite enjoyable. I can hear, you know, like you said, some rainbow, some Dio, even some sunstorm on a song like I've been losing you, you know? That's funny. Crossroad, crossroad for me is the standout track. It's funny you mentioned that song because, you know, it's not, it's the first person who said that it's similar to Sunstorm, but the funny thing is that's a song I wrote for Michael Schenker actually. Oh, okay. Yeah, when he told me on the last album, the Universal album, he told me to write a couple of songs and I thought, okay, so you can write a song for Michael Schenker that it's not gonna sound like Michael Schenker, so it's kind of a thin line you can move in between on the songwriting. But I thought at the same time that there's a long time and a lot of people were asking about this Robbie Macaulay and Michael Schenker album, like a more melodic and more talking about love, you know, that kind of emotions and relationships. Not only like the last album there, you know, it's typical like a heavy metal and a little bit different. So I wrote the song and sadly they didn't take it for the album, it was probably, it was too melodic for him. And but I really wanted to give a chance to the song because I thought it was a good song. So I adapted a little bit because now it's faster than the original, but it turns out in a really good, like a hard rock melodic song, even more similar than Sunstorm, I would say it's more similar to Pretty Maze probably. A Distant Shore? It's a little more of a techno thing for me. Yeah, yeah, I would say it's even more oriented to the pop side. That's probably the most- It's like a Eurovision kind of song. If again, you know, that sort of feel, right? Yeah, that's probably the most special song for me in the record because it's a song I wrote for my son. We were talking before. We didn't met in more than two years already. Oh boy. Yeah, we have a difficult relation with his mother. And so I wrote a song for him thinking and for him to like the song, not only like a rock song, but and he's a huge fan of those bands like Imagine Dragons and even Coldplay and that kind of stuff. I thought, okay, I will write a song thinking on him that he will like the song. So that's why it's a little bit different. But at the end, I think it really fit on the full story on the concept of the record. Yeah, and I really enjoyed the song Crossroad too. I mean, I don't think that would be out of place on a Vandenberg album. It's kind of got that bluesy feel to it. And it's a standout track for me as well. Yeah, and that's another funny thing because we didn't have that song at the end of the production. Yeah, we were thinking about if you have an extra song, a little bit different. And so the guitar player came to me and said, I have this bluesy song. And I was like, not sure about it. I was like, okay, I don't think it's gonna fit, but let's give it a try. So I wrote a lyric, like it was like a five in the morning before I go to the studio. I was going to the studio that morning like nine in the morning. So five in the morning I woke up and I wrote a lyric. And then I went to the studio and I did a try. And actually all the double chorus after the solo in that song is the very first take I improvised for the song. So yeah, so I recorded and then we were working on the production and it was like, okay, I think this is gonna work. And actually the record label, they were like, okay, this must be one of the singles. You know what's amazing? I hear so much of like you mentioned the Ronnie James Diora rainbow-ish type of songs and the album. And you think like you're one of the very few people that hung out with Richie Blackmore. I mean, that sort of, I mean, not many people do this, right? And even the band he was in didn't hang out with, Richie Blackmore back in the mark, two, three or whatever it was. I mean, what's it like being in the inner circle of, do you feel like there must be this coolness, a factor, right? Like you're in this inner circle and the whole world is outside. I mean, what's the difference between in being in the circle and not being in the circle? What did you find? It is a huge difference. And that's for me was probably the most enjoyable thing of working with Richie. Because at the end, yeah, you're on the stage and you play songs and you are in the rainbow band and all that stuff and that's great. And there were another seven, eight singers who did the same thing before counting the rainbow sing and the purple and all the stuff. There was a lot of singers working with them. But as you mentioned, it's like to be with them 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 Beatles, Queen and Deep Purple Rainbow, 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 Richie, like he's a tough guy and this difficult person and 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 circle. So it's totally understandable. But when you are in, is a very nice guy, is very loyal, is very cool, he treats you really well. I don't have, like if I think about it, nothing to do, nothing to say bad about Richie Blackmore during the five, six years we work it together. Even with my family, they were all nice, all the people that were great. They would treat me like a very good, very good. So yeah, it's very interesting. So he's a notorious practical joker. Did he play any jokes on you? Yeah, all the time is, all the time he is proving, is putting you in a proof. Like, what do you think about certain things? Well, how are you gonna react to certain things? So it's always tempting you, like, you know. Are you allowed to disagree with them? I mean, you can have disagreement with them. But you remember the next day. But it's cool, you know, it's because he's a very smart, very clever person, you know. So it's very challenging to have a chat with him because, you know, you are all the time, you need to be in the same level. And I like that because I'm probably the same kind of people. So, but yeah, he's joking all the time. And sometimes he's telling jokes, very clever jokes that because of my English, especially at that time, because when I met Richie for the first time, I didn't talk English at all. I was like, I see you. So he was telling jokes and I was just like, you know, question mark and he was doing it on purpose. I don't understand, you know. So, but yeah, I remember one day it was on the first tour and it was like the welcome joke. So I was going for running every morning. And then when I came back one of the days, my hotel room, it was full of garbage. It was because I let the window open and it was throwing garbage inside the room. So when I came in back to the room and I saw all of this, I was like, what the fuck is going on here? So I looked through the window and it was outside like saying, hello, welcome to the band. That's funny. How did you connect with Richie? Like how does one go about singing for Richie Blackmore? Like it was a through his wife. Like how did you get that call or that email or that text? Yeah, I get the, I get the first communication was with Candice because everything related to technology, Richie is totally out. You know, it doesn't want to, it doesn't have a phone. You know, it doesn't have a computer. So, so it was still, still, is that the same? I think that the last time we met on 2019, it was starting to use like an iPod, but just to listen to music. It's got a phone. Probably only like, yeah, like, Rotary. House line, not even a phone, a cell phone, you know. Like a landline, something like that. But yeah. So yeah, I got the first communication with the wife, but then I met the in-person and in Munich. And yeah, it was very nice. I think that we had a kind of a very good, and I wouldn't say special, but like a good relationship. You know, he was very nice with me and very protective in the way he was telling me, you know, be careful with this, don't do that, you know, do this or, you know, that kind of stuff. He was very nice with me all the time. That's good too. With this album, what's the goal moving forward? Is this gonna concentrate more on a solo career, or you're still gonna have all the bands that you've, you know, like Elegant with Richie Faulkner, is that Elegant Weapons? What's the plan in the future here? Well, obviously to be focused on less. There was a bunch of side projects. I was doing before that probably not gonna take any step forward anymore, especially the Ferryman and probably Sunstorm also, and all the collaborations I was doing before also, because they wanna be focused on the future. And that's why I quit Michael Schenker at the same time, you know, because I thought it was my time playing covers with all those legions is over. I had a great time with Richie and with Michael, probably to Richie, you know, is the reason that I can be a professional right now. He put me on the spot and gave me the chance to do something on the music, but I think that time is over. I did that, you know, and that's it. I need to move on. And so yeah, I will be more focused on the things that I can think and move forward through the years, especially Lorsal Black, which is my band, and Elegant Weapons, because, you know, the album was great, we received, we did a great tour. We're playing to the second album, and especially my solo career. That's gonna be the main thing. Actually, the main thing for the next year is just making tours with this album. So yeah. So you're gonna continue, like, is Elegant Weapons more of a project, or is it becoming a band, a permanent band that you're, at least you're hoping it to become? That was the idea from the beginning. So obviously there is a moment where you need to figure it out and you need to try if it works or not. But actually with Elegant Weapons, what we found when we did this tour in June, July, is, I mean, the album works really well. The people they really like and they love the band, we were playing a tour just one week after the release of the album, so the people they didn't have really like a time to listen to the album. But anyway, the people they were enjoying very much, the shows and the songs, they were like enjoying the song. So we were very surprised about that. So we think that this is something like we can build on in a more solid way. And we have the support of a nice record label, like Nuclear, so yeah, and we're actually thinking on the second record already. Scott Travis, he was in and he was out, he was in, like, what happened there, like? It was, you need to think that this album, it was recorded independently. Actually, I recorded 2021, the vocals, and the album was already recorded by Scott and Rex, especially Rex, it didn't know that he will tour with Pantera after. Right. Oh, you know, and then Scott, it was the same. He was in the pandemic, he was doing this, but nobody knew that, you know, that Judas Priest will come with another new album and then a tour and all this stuff. So when all the plans were clear, Scott and Rex, they say, listen, we cannot do this because we need to come in with the main project. So, but that was it, you know, nothing, no hard feelings, I mean, nothing to do with that. You know, I'm glad to hear you're focusing on your career, your solo career, and was there ever times you felt a little overexposed with all these different bands that you played with? I never thought in that way, actually. I was just enjoying. You know, it's really hard to say no to all those musicians that I was working with last years, you know, especially after Blackmore, when Vandenberg came and then Michael Schenker at the same time, who was hard to see. What else do you need? Like, geez, it's like, who are you missing? You're missing Evie Malmsteen, that's who you're missing. I was never interested because of the stories I heard. But, yeah, probably Tony Ayumi will be the only one. That's right, that's right. He'll have on my to-do list. You never know, he might call. You never know? He was very happy with the cover I did. And he talked to us, like, you know, we did this, the shining on my, on my covers. And he posted on his Twitter and he said, like, that was, that's a great cover. Thank you very much and all that stuff. So, yeah, you never know. Have you ever gotten any calls from anyone else that you were surprised that you just said, you know, not now, it's not because you didn't like them, but you just said, this is just too much. You know, like an Angi Malmsteen type. There was a couple. There was a couple of things that I needed to say no because it was, I thought it would be too much. And, you know, cool people and people that I like also. But I think, you know, because I move, I move, I move for, you know, the feelings. And for me, it's very important to have a good feeling. But with something is like, only about business. And, you know, how much is gonna be your fee? Like the first word is, the first question is, like, how much are you gonna charge? You know, I didn't even listen to songs to tell you if I like it or not. Yeah, yeah, they want your fee up. You didn't have a chat by phone to see if we can hang together, you know? So, that kind of things, I don't like it. And I say no to a couple of guys. No hard feelings also, but I was pretty clear that for me, it's very important to be comfortable working with the people. And so I say no. I mean, your voice, no matter what you do, your voice is fantastic. What's your secret? How do you preserve that powerful voice of yours? Well, the secret is there is no secrets. It's very simple. Besides, I never took vocal lessons in my life. I learned, you know, just practicing. And so there's a lot of practice behind. There's a lot of hard work in that way. You need to spend a lot of time. And then obviously to have a healthy way of life. That's very important because the most of the singers, they prepare for a recording or they prepare for a tour. But if you are taking care of your body through all the year, you don't need to be especially prepared for anything. So because you are prepared all the time. So that's will be something like I will say to all the singers, you know? I have a healthy way of life. You know, I do a lot of sports and with my wife we eat very healthy. We are not that kind of a vegan or vegetarian kind of stuff. We eat everything, but you know, in a healthy way. And that's it. And to be happy, you know, probably it's stupid to say, but it's the main thing. And you need to love what you're doing and you need to be happy with. And that's why probably the people say, oh, you're doing too much or you're working with too much people because I'm happy doing it. It just like, you know, I was reading the article about when you're talking about it, you went through your down, your darkness, let's say. You know, and I could see the too many lies, too many masters, the title, and you know, you're the suicide. And I mean, again, you just talk about what you want to talk about, but you don't come across that way. You know, you really come across as a positive guy who's, I mean, what could drive you? Was it the fan negativity, the comments? It was just the pressure of too much work. What brings you to that low point? Because I just don't see you like that. And I just, I mean, if you want to talk about it, if you want to talk about it, I'm not gonna push you. I'm not gonna push you. I'm glad you asked. Well, there was a mix of a lot of things. There was a bad period of my life in terms of, I mean, all the aspects. It was a sum of everything coming at the same time because I mean, most of the times you can deal with certain things when it comes, like you know, in your personal life, you have a problem, you can deal with it. Or if you have a problem in your work, you can deal with that if you are okay in your family. But when you have everything coming at the same time, and not only that, I was really disappointed about people, how people behave. And that's actually part of also the title of the album because I felt, especially in 2021, 22, I felt like the people, they don't care of each other anymore. They don't care, they don't care about anybody. They can, I mean, they say whatever they think they can say about you. I was having this personal problem with my ex-wife and she did a complaint about, she said that I was threatening to death to her, which is totally a lie. Actually, two weeks ago, they disclaimed this complaint. So it's totally, everything's totally solved, but because it was not true, but it was not only doing that. He was putting the news, she was going to the television to say that, talking about me. So obviously the people who was listening and watching this, they was calling me whatever they wanted to call. They were telling me, criminal, they were telling me that I would be in jail. Many horrible things that I felt I didn't deserve because I'm not a bad person. I feel that I'm not a bad person. So if you take that and at the same time, we're coming from the COVID, which was a very hard time for musicians. And also you see, I mean, you see on the social, all those comments, we were having like a bullying with, even with my wife, even my wife, she was getting messages, nasty messages, like, you know, you are married with this criminal and it was happening every morning, you know. Geez. So obviously there is obviously also I was missing my kid because I couldn't talk to him, I couldn't see him. I was not allowed to even send him a message to see how is it going, you know? So during a couple of months, your wife is working every day and you have a lot of time alone at home overthinking all of that. And you lost hope on people, you lost hope on yourself and you start to think that you are the problem. So if you think that you are the problem, the solution is, okay, if I am the problem, I'm gonna release everybody from the problem. And that was the way of thinking. Gladly and luckily I have my wife with me and she was taking me out of that darkness. I was going through, but it was really hard. It was really hard to manage, especially because, as I told you before, I think that I'm not probably the best person in the world. I'm not the Dalai Lama, but you know, I have my things. You know, I have my behavior also, you know, I'm not a perfect person, but I did mistakes and through my life and everything, but I'm not a bad person also. And I just felt that I didn't deserve that treatment. Even today, you know, the people is talking about that. And it happened, especially when I went to- It's like once it's out there, people, no matter if it's true or not, people still push you and push you and it's just- They don't care. Now the people, they don't care. Russell Brand's going through that right now where I just to see how that turns out, right? It just takes a few people to bring stuff up and then you'll see if it gathers momentum or not. Sorry, I cut you off there, Ronnie, yeah. But yeah, now I'm okay. You know, I have my wife, she's a very strong person and she was supporting me. And now all the legal things are getting solved because, you know, we proved that it was not true. So hopefully in a couple of months, I will have the chance to talk to my kid again and that will be okay, yeah. What I've learned, Ronnie, is you know yourself, you know the type of person you are inside, nobody can take that away from you and there's stuff that you can't control, you just got to let that go and focus on the stuff that you can't control. That's what I've learned in my life, so. I find that public figures are sometimes the loneliest and the saddest, even though they're loved by so many fans. It's crazy. Well, because I think it's because of, it's a mistake of think that the most of the people they think that because you're a public person, they can say whatever they want and that's not true. I mean, I'm pretty much okay with criticism where they're talking about my career and my voice or my band or my music, whatever it is, obviously it's part of the job, the people they can say, I don't like you or I don't like your band or you are in too many projects or whatever it is and I'm pretty much okay with that. You know, it's part of the game. But when somebody who never met me in person comes and tells me you are an asshole or as I told you before, you are a criminal, you should be in jail, that shouldn't be allowed. You know, that's not correct. That shouldn't be. So yeah, hopefully in the future, all these anonymous accounts gonna end it up, you know and at least the social, to open a profile, you're gonna need your ID and all those problems gonna end it up in that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I actually had a last question on Michael Shanker. Did he ever talk about his brother? Did he ever talk? Cause every time we talk up to Michael Shanker, he just give, we asked him about his brother, he just goes on for hours. He goes on for hours. He doesn't stop, he's so mad at him. Do you know if he's gotten over it? He's okay now, you know? Yeah, but you know, I mean, I'm not in his head, but yeah. There's just a joke, it's just a joke, it's just a joke. But yeah, yeah, he obviously has, he must be something, but you know, the funny thing is I met a Rudolph like two years ago and we were playing the same festival and then the manager came, Scorpion's manager came to my room, to my dressing room and he say, you're running, you play with Michael, right, and say, yeah, nice to meet you on the Scorpion's manager. I want to introduce you to Rudolph. So we went to his dressing room and he was such a nice guy and he was talking really good about Michael. He was saying this such an amazing and talented guitar player is great. He's doing great now. I wanna say hi when you see him and blah, blah, whatever. Then I came back to Michael and I say, Michael, I met Rudolph last weekend and he told me to say hi to you and he was like, oh, this is fucking awesome, blah, blah, okay, that's not my thing. Okay, never mind. I love them both, I love them both. On the record, I love them both. Michael's amazing. We got to see him on the last time and I mean, he played for three hours straight. It's unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, he's probably the most amazing musician I play with. Considering he is celebrating 50 years of career, we did a tour in the U.S. for, we did like a 28 shows in a month. Wow. Wow. It didn't miss any single note, any of the shows. It's just amazing. I don't know how we do that, but I was amazed every night, just watching while he was playing the solos on the songs. I was watching him like, what the fuck? It's amazing. And he doesn't play for 45 minutes, right? I mean. No, it's two hours, two hours show. This guy is a workhorse, man. In rock bottom, he does like a 10 minute solo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he keeps cranking out albums. He's writing and writing and writing and touring. He never stops, man. He's amazing. Yeah, he's just amazing. I guess on that note, Arani, it's been a pleasure. Look forward to seeing you on tour, hopefully with Elegant Weapons or your solo album. We're in Canada, just so you know. Hopefully you guys will come around here one day. And the album. I'm glad things are getting better for you. I'm glad you're feeling good. Stay positive. And it's been a pleasure really speaking to you for the first time, Arani. If you're ever feeling down, just call us up. We'll let you hear you, Apple. Thank you, man. Too many lies, too many masters. It's already out. It was released on Frontiers. It was released on September the 15th. Pick it up. Check out Arani Romero on tour. Thank you for everything, Arani. Thank you.