„The musicians should create music which makes people happy and the only way to do it, is to be happy while doing it.“

MH18: Hi Ronnie, let’s start with LORDS OF BLACK. Back in 2018 the band released the album „Icons of the New Days“, which sounds quite actual even today. The opener is the beautiful „World Gone Mad“. Please, tell me what was the madness of the world back in 2018 and what is the madness of the world now? Did something change?
Ronnie Romero: When we wrote this album it was the beginning of the social crisis, all the people started going against the governments and the politicians, because the people have been starting go realize they were lying to us for a lot of years, we were living in a lie. And that was the main reason to write this album. Just think of the title of the album „Icons of the New Days“! As a band, and as musicians we were watching how the society reacted. Those „New Icons“ that we got from the authorities like TV, religion and politicians. Now we are in the middle of this crisis, but we realized, as a society that everything is wrong, and we need to react as a society against these powers in the shadows that control everything. Just see this pandemic situation and how the governments handled it. We were in the middle of a lie, they are controlling us even more than ever. They tell you even if you can leave your home or not! So it’s not different, it’s like an evolution of that crisis.

MH18: You mentioned „powers in the shadows“. In the title song „Icons of the New Days“ there is a verse „Fantasize a new disease“. It sounds like a challenge to these powers and they have reacted to it.
Ronnie Romero: Absolutely (laughing)! Sometimes you don’t realize what’s going on and it looks like we made a little prophesy.

MH18: And what is your prophecy? Can we go through this crisis?
Ronnie Romero: Everybody is acting in so individualistic way, nobody cares about the other. At some point it is understandable because obviously you need to take care for yourself and your family first. The only way to get out of this is to work as a society. If we are able to act like a mass, as a group it would be different. Probably it will take time until we realize what’s happening.

MH18: I think you mean revolution…
Ronnie Romero: Yes, but I am not speaking of the typical revolution when people go out in the streets and burn everything. I think that’s not the solution. We must face the fact we have to do something by ourselves and not just to wait those powers in the shadows to dictate what we need to do.

MH18: The latest album of LORDS OF BLACK „Alchemy of Souls, part I“ sounds again like a warning, it follows the same direction. is it a concept album because it has „Part I“ in the title?
Ronnie Romero: Yes, it is a concept album. The „Alchemy of Souls“ concept was conceived as a long story and we needed to split it in two albums because there were too many songs. That’s why we put „part I“ and Part II is already recorded and delivered to the record label, I mean it is almost done when we released the first part. Actually it is a continuation of the LORDS OF BLACK concept which was conceived in the beginning like 8-9 years ago when we made the band with Tony Hernando. We wanted to show our feelings to the society and how we manage and react to the things that happen in the actual world. You can think of LORDS OF BLACK as a society of superheroes (we are not superheroes of course), but like a hidden society watching over the world. Every time we release a new album we tell the people: „This is happening, look what is going to happen…“ and we want to show the audience the feelings of a normal person about these turbolent times we live in.

MH18: When can we expect the „Alchemy of Souls, part II“ to be available at the market?
Ronnie Romero: I think it’s going to be released latest October this year.

MH18: „Sacrifice“ is very recognizable song of the album. The video is great but it looks like a lockdown production.
Ronnie Romero: The song – not exactly. I was out of the band for nearly two years and when I rejoined the band the album was already recorded with a different singer. Suddenly I got a call from the record label because they thought the singer on the record was not the appropriate one for Tony’s music. So they offered me to go back to the band. I talked to Tony Hernando, and then I rejoined and I recorded the vocals really fast. With the video it is qiute the same thing – obviously at that time – around September – it was lockdown and I wasn’t able to travel to Spain. So I have to shoot my part of the video in Bucharest. It was a kind of a quarantine video.

MH18: Your fiancée is in that video. Was she a rock music fan before she met you? Does she like that kind of music?
Ronnie Romero: Absolutely! Actually one of the things I love a lot about her is that she is a big rock fan. Actually we met for the first time in one of my shows. She is a huge fan of WHITESNAKE for example. We love AOR music and normally we listen a lot of JOURNEY and VAN ZANT, not the typical things.

MH18: Let’s talk about INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT. How did you end up recording music with the band?
Ronnie Romero: I got an email from d-r Milen Vrabevski asking me to explore the chance to work together. It was really easy actually, we have got a lot of understanding each other since we met for the first time. I took this as a challenge because when I was listening to the albums previously released without me, I found it was really different kind of music than that, I normally make – it’s not heavy metal, it’s not hard rock. It was challenging so I said: „OK, I like this“ and it was really easy and really fast how we started to work together.

MH18: And how do you feel now when you know the results?
Ronnie Romero: I like it! I feel proud as a musician and as a singer. We, singers always try to prove ourselves that we can make something different. It’s not just singing heavy metal all the time. As I told you before I found this really challenging to me. There were a lot of great musicians involved – Simon Phillips (TOTO), John Lawton (URIAH HEEP), John Payne (ASIA), Joseph Williams (TOTO), so I asked myself: „Am I able to sing this kind of music, or not?“ And I saw at the concerts, and the reviews of the albums that people liked it – „This is Ronnie Romero and he sounds different that the other projects“. It is really great to have this feedback!

MH18: When talking about different type of singing, what can you tell me about „Let It Go“. This piece is totally breathtaking!
Ronnie Romero: It’s one of my favorite because it has a kind of a jazz introduction, which is totally different! It was exciting and challenging. But when I heard the final result – it sounded really great. That proves that you can do something different, and that’s a great feeling!

MH18: And what about the other gemstone – „Listen“?
Ronnie Romero: That’s probably my favorite song on the record because when we were recording the album we were trying to find the approach for the vocal performance. And it was really hard because as a heavy metal singer you want to scream aloud and push everything but we needed something different. It was a hard work but at the end when you listen to the result you say: „OK, this is great!“ because you sound different, but at the same time you sound convincing because you tell the story and the people believe it.

MH18: Now you are preparing for a tour when COVID-19 tread retreats. Are you eager to climb on the stage and what are your expectations?
Ronnie Romero: Every musician in the world has been waiting for this moment and I feel very lucky and grateful to have the chance to be back to the stage. Probably 99% of the musicians love to be on stage. We have the chance to be back and play for the people and present the new album „The Creation“. I think it is going to be great. The people have been waiting for some live shows. I think it is the perfect moment to go back and enjoy with the fans! We have been rehearsing for the last days, the band sounds great, Bobi Rondinelli is on the drums, he is a great drummer. Carl Sentance is doing great on the vocals as well. We have prepared a great show, it’s going to be a lot of fun, and a lot of emotions. With INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT we will bring this very positive message to the people. People need this because of the difficult times we live in.

MH18: The music of INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT is rather diverse through the years. Is there a song which is not performed by you, but you would like very much and love to sing it your own way?
Ronnie Romero: Yes, actually it happened on the last tour we did last year. Now I have the chance again to sing it, because the singer who is in the record – Richard Grisman is not in this tour, so I will sing the song which is „Don’t Let Them Win“. We were playing the song during the last tour and I was always enjoying the song on the stage, actually I didn’t leave the stage when we were performing the song. It has a great vibe and I really wanted to do it.

MH18: With VANDENBERG you have a nice song with very beautiful title „Shitstorm“. What is it about?
Ronnie Romero: It is a little bit of prophecy again. We recorded the album in 2020, in the beginning of the year in L.A., just right before the pandemic and the lockdowns. And at that time everything was OK. I flew to L.A. to record the album. But when the album came out it was like VANDENBERG 2020 – „Shitstorm“. It was the perfect title for the year actually. But the message in the song is so straight, just like when you try to run away from the problems, but the problems follow you.

MH18: In the social media you had a post about the showbiz machine and the people who try to feed on your back. Is this song somehow related to this experience?
Ronnie Romero: „Shitstorm“ is about problems in general. The song is about when you are messed around, and you try to get out, but you can’t, because you have the shit spread even all over your head. Yes, you can apply this to the music industry, it fits perfectly with the music industry. When I did the statement about the business it was not just about the record labels or the promoters, or managers. It was about everything around the musicians. I am talking about even the fans. You know even some journalists, try to get and sell problems in the band. I have been working professionally for the last seven years and I have found a lot of shit around which shouldn’t be. The musicians should create music which makes the people happy and the only way to do it is to be happy while doing it. But it is really hard to handle it, because of those people who are kind of a pain in the ass. You can hear: „I like like your singing, but I don’t like you haircut“, then they like your haircut, but don’t like the way you sing, or if they like your haircut and how you sing, the don’t like the way you’re dressed, or the don’t like your sneakers, or they don’t like your tattoos. It is impossible to manage it. On the other side you have all these sharks in the music industry and the all want a piece of your cake and normally they want it for free and they want to cheat on you just to get a little money over you. And then you have some people asking you stupid questions at the interviews. Once a journalist asked me in the studio, while I was with my fianceе about the groupies… It is hard to manage it, because you need to show a polite image, that you are a good guy, you are cool with fans and journalists and everybody and you have to eat a lot of shit for that! We, the musicians are normal people and we have feelings.

MH18: You are engineer. Do you sometimes miss the times when you worked as an engineer? Does music give you everything?
Ronnie Romero: I loved what I did in college and I am proud to have this title of engineering. But the music gives me everything and i don’t miss anything from the past. But anyway, as soon as I can get out of the music industry I will be happier. If I can get retired in ten years from the music industry and have my farm with my tomatoes and my chicken and get fresh eggs every morning I would be very happy.

MH18: As far as I know you are very passionate about astronomy. What does stargazing give you which music don’t?
Ronnie Romero: I was curious since I was a kid. Since I have studied engineering I feel myself a as scientist. I grew up in a very religious family. My family was going to church every two or three days and I was trying to find answers by myself. And the only way for people to find answers is to look up and try to check if there is God or not. I got passionate about astronomy and I read a lot of books and that gave me a lot of answers about life. The main thing for me to discover was that some things in the universe are pre-destined, if you find the way. I grew up listening to DEEP PURPLE. When I was 14 years old, I was eager coming back from school to my room to play Made in Japan album and to pretend to be IAN GILLAN in front of the mirror. So one day I ended up performing with RITCHE BALCKMORE. It’s not just luck, it is destiny.

photo: Ronnie Romero's archive

photo: Ronnie Romero’s archive

MH18: In the social media you have a thematic picture with a sign Silver mountain. How did you get there? In fact you are „The Man On The Silver Mountain“!
Ronnie Romero: It is in Romania, in Transylvania area. Close to the city of Brasov is the town in Rasnov. We normally go there with my fiancée. There is a hotel with a restaurant with typical American barbeque food. But one day I got lost with the GPS and suddenly found this sign.

MH18: Are you a recognizable person in Romania?
Ronnie Romero: Actually I was surprised. I didn’t think of the possibility to get recognized. It is not a rock fan based country. But yes, a few times I was recognized: „You are Ronnie Romero from RAINBOW!“

MH18: Now you are a world famous rock vocalist, you have been on the stage a lot of times. But do you sometimes feel the need to be in the audience and enjoy your own favorite band, just as a fan?
Ronnie Romero: It’s the same feeling because I have always been a rock fan. I never felt as a rock star anyway.

MH18: The show of which band would you like to attend to?  
Ronnie Romero: Probably a band I have never seen live yet – WHITESNAKE. I would love to be at the show there, in the audience, just watching the show! It is interesting I have played with Tommy Aldridge already a couple of shows some years ago. I know most of the guys in the band. I am a good friend with some of them. But I have never seen the band playing live, as a fan experience. So I would love to see it!