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A few months ago Metal Church disbanded, but at that time singer Ronny Munroe was already working on his solo album. The Fire Within was released meanwhile and Ronny already did some shows... Just last week he played in Houston - see Jody 'Snakebite' Hickman's review - and he shoot a video there. And so we started by talking about the Houston show which should have been a blast... "I was shooting the video for Delirium all day and live at the show. I hope the video is out before Halloween..." Ronny told me. But before we talked more about live shows and his band, I wanted to know if he was satisfied with the feedback he got for his solo album and if had the deal with Rat Pack Records first or offered them the finished album. "It is sort of my first one. I'm not surprised, I got some feedback and it's very good... RockHard likes it. So far I'm pretty happy, but next time I will have a bigger, better production. I was talking to Rat Pack while I was working on the album, but finally signed after the recordings." Now Ronny Munroe is in control and so it seems that there are more live shows in future - not like Metal Church. "Metal Church is a great band and I'm thankful for the opportunity they gave me. I love Kurdt, he's great and I hope we can do something together again in future. But at Metal Church we haven't had the right people on our corner and so things didn't work out. Shows been cancelled, but it was never me!" he explains. And this sounds quite familiar... Talking about cancelled shows brought us back to the Texas Metal Meltdown Tour... "Circle II Circle dropped out. So Militia jumped in, they had an EP in the 80's and I think they play next year at Keep It True..." Part of his band are the guys from Azrael's Bane, how come? "I met Azrael's Bane a few years ago when they were opening of Metal Church in Texas. Great guys, we became friends and I play with them at Rock The Bayou Festival." Ronny told me. It's definitely a good idea to ask friends, a band you played with, coz it makes things easier. Kind of natural choice. "We will play more shows, as much as we can and hopefully we get an opening slot for a bigger band - and that it brings me over to Europe. Metal Church always had a loyal fan base in Europe and when they see us live and make friends... When I was on stage in Houston I had a flashback from Metal Church days, it was just great!"
On the album Ronny Munroe had some guests and with Michael Wilton he had another Seattlite involved. And I was curious, if they somehow ran into each other or how the Queensrÿche guitarist got involved. "We met last August when Metal Church were opening for Queensryche in Puerto Rico. He was really nice, they all were. Then Joe (Rat Pack Records) got us exchange numbers, coz he was working with Michael, and so we got to talk. Michael was interested and at the end he played at 2 songs. I told him I can't pay him a lot and he was like 'no Ronny, you don't have to pay me, it's an honor for me to play on your album'." And it's an honor for Ronny to have Michael Wilton playing on his album, coz even if Queensryche aren't the biggest band in the world, they are one of the best. Ronny Munroe said somewhere that the fire within him is still burning, so I made a guess that he already works on new material... "Yes, I already started working on something and I want to bring some guys of the band in. In a few weeks, months I will fly to Texas for demo-ing. I want this band feeling and I want to establish myself and the band. I want a family and not a pair of hired guys! I talked to Michael Heald and he played me some demos - and I can't wait to work with him!" At the album The Fire Within was a cover version of Man On The Silver Mountain, some like covers, others think it's a waste of time. Actually I really like Ronny's version, but still... Why this cover version? Ronny told me "When I heard the song on the radio it was the first time I wanted to become a singer, not doing drums any longer. I'm not Dio, I'm Ronny Munroe, but back then I said to myself, if I ever do a solo record, then I do this one. And I did!" I agree, Ronny is not Dio, but even if he stayed close to the original he added some Ronny Munroe to it. "Most people like it, said I did a great job. But I don't want to please everybody, I do what I want to do." And that's the best way to do it, coz you can't please everybody, there is no way to do it. And it won't make you bigger... What about social network? "Facebook and MySpace is being pretty good to me. Many fans sent messages and I try to answer them all. Some people from my label run the page, but I check in every day as well!" I wouldn't have expected anything else, coz Ronny Munroe always stayed in touch with his fans and enjoyed talking with them on tour. And now on social network sites. With his MySpace blog, etc. he keeps his fans in the loop about what's going on, but there is something on his schedule in near future which he is looking forward to... "Next week on 26th I'm flying to New York and on 29th I'm on Poughkeepsie Live, a Time Warner channel. I will do an interview and we will play 3 songs live. They call it Spooktacular as it's just before Halloween. I have never being live on TV, it's the first time and I can't wait to do it!" More information about this TV show you can get at: http://www.hvmusic.com/poklive/
I hope that Ronny Munroe and his band make it to Europe in 2010, if so I hope to have another chit-chat with him. If he won't make it to Europe, then we hopefully don't have to wait too long for the follow-up of The Fire Within!
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