by Alexandra Mrozowska
– Senior Columnist —
A new name in town, perhaps, but certainly not a newbie, Ronny Lee has just introduced us to his ‘70s/early ‘80s arena rock sound with his first album “Original Retro.” Now an ambitious and talented singer reveals a bit more than his soft spot for vintage AOR/melodic rock in his honest and in-depth interview for Hardrock Haven, as he discusses his 30-year-old tenure in the entertainment business, his beginnings in the L.A. scene and strong points of his debut album.
Hardrock Haven: For those of our readers who haven’t heard about Ronny Lee yet, please pick three things or facts they have to know about you and your musical activity.
Ronny Lee: Hi Alexandra – thanks for interviewing me! I hope your readers find these facts interesting. First of all, while I currently reside outside a small rural town in the State of Illinois in the USA, I was born and raised around the Los Angeles, California area. I enjoy performing as a soloist as much as I do playing on the big stage with a full rock band. Other thing is that AOR Rock is not my only musical love. I love the “Southern Rock Sound” exemplified by The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Outlaws and a more contemporary band of that genre, Blackberry Smoke. And well, here’s an extra factoid regarding my personal life: I take care of my mother who has an Alzheimer’s form of dementia in the home that my dad and I built on 20 acres in the country. Sometimes she knows who I am, sometimes she doesn’t. Usually she doesn’t know she’s in the house she’s inhabited for the last 23 years. Whether I’m “Ronny her son” or just “Ronny the guy who takes care of her” she’s always kind and loves me.
Hardrock Haven: Is Original Retro your recording debut? Have you had some studio experience prior to this?
Ronny Lee: Yes, Original Retro is my solo debut but I have done a lot of other recording in L.A. over the years. I have sung on other indie artist’s projects and recorded extensively with another band I was in, in Los Angeles.
Hardrock Haven: What do you think are the strong points of your new album?
Ronny Lee: I believe the strong points include the writing. I am grateful to have friends who are great writers. While I enjoy writing myself and have a dozen songs that I have either written or co-written ready for my second album, I don’t have any writing credits on Original Retro. But I would count the writing as an important attribute; also the melodic hook lines on guitar and keys provide memorable riffs and runs. Vocal harmony is critical to the Ronny Lee AOR sound, so I hope my lead and harmony vocals can be considered strong points.
Hardrock Haven: What does the title of the album stand for? What’s the idea behind it?
Ronny Lee: Original Retro stands for “an authentic sound” of today that reminds us of a classic era, when so much awesome music was on the airwaves. The title came to me almost instantly when I asked myself, “What shall I call it?” I immediately felt strongly that it was a unique title and told myself, “Yeah, that’s it – Original Retro.” I’m glad I chose that title.
Hardrock Haven: Original Retro is also the name of the band you front. Can you tell us more about it, it’s formation, line-up and brief history?
Ronny Lee: Strangely enough, the band is not solidified. It is morphing even as I write. Stewart Marsh lead guitar player, songwriter, excellent vocalist and longtime friend is a mainstay. Martin Fera, one of the great drummer/percussionist anywhere, who has mega credits to his name, is a cornerstone and also very longtime friend. I’ve worked with a couple of bass and keyboard players recently but haven’t set those two spots yet.
Hardrock Haven: Which songs on Original Retro do you think are the most important? Any personal favorites?
Ronny Lee: All the songs are important to me because I believe they are all unique and all have their “own identity” and contribute to the AOR concept. I love to sing “Long After Midnight” and Side by Side by Side” live. They are powerful and dramatic songs. “Backstreets” is an awesome story/ballad that is nice to change the pace of a live set with. “It’s Been Too Long” is just a fine song. Love singing that one too! All ten songs on the album make for a really fun live set.
Hardrock Haven: They say AOR cover artworks now are all eagles and mysterious landscapes, but the cover of Original Retro is very, very simple – why?
Ronny Lee: Because my indie project had a very small budget, I had no “art department” or art budget per se. And while there’s a lot of very cool artwork out there, there seems to be a similarity to much of it. I chose a picture of me because it’s my debut album and I guess I think of myself as the “brand.”
Hardrock Haven: Please tell us about the songwriters responsible for songs on the album.
Ronny Lee: As I mentioned earlier, the writing is the strongest suit. I can humbly say that because I am not listed as a writer. I would like to believe my input and interpretations of the songs have a lot to do with the quality of the music but I’m grateful to Stewart Marsh, Bill Rotella, Clete Keith and Steve Thoma for their tremendous songwriting skills and I am also sincerely grateful to count them among my very good friends. They are all great musicians in their own rite.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of songwriting, how personal do you get while singing songs you didn’t write? Why have you chosen to go for someone else song rather than yours?
Ronny Lee: I was in the development stages of all of the songs on Original Retro at their genesis. I like to think of most songs in story form if possible. While I don’t have a lot of theater stage experience, I do have some and I would say I approach singing songs a lot like one might as an actor in a play, therefore I would say I get very personal with the songs. When I was younger I was mesmerized by Alice Cooper, David Bowie and Fee Waybill of the Tubes and their artist and theatric interpretations. Also, I do a lot of solo work playing a lot of classic cover songs so I’m used to interpreting other people’s songs.
Hardrock Haven: Do you plan to get yourself more involved in a songwriting process in the future?
Ronny Lee: As I touched on earlier, I’ve got a lot of material that I have written or co-written “in the can” and am looking forward to sharing it in a 2015 or 2016 on a second album. I think people will hear a strong continuity with the new stuff and O.R.
Hardrock Haven: Are musicians who performed their instrumental parts on Original Retro just hired hands, or do you collaborate more often?
Ronny Lee: I’ve played in bands or worked in the studio with all of the musicians on the album. I have very long music and friend relationships with all of them. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of geography between the guys on the album, but on several occasions I’ve flown out to do their gigs and visa-versa.
Hardrock Haven: These days, AOR is more about modern-day production and “wall of sound” effect rather than the vintage sound Original Retro represents. Was it a deliberate move, so as to separate yourself from the other contemporary artists of the genre?
Ronny Lee: I wouldn’t say I was attempting to “separate from anyone.” There’s a lot of great new music out there that I enjoy listening to. I guess I just love the tones captured in the classic era of the late 70’s and early 80’s and I believe we captured that with O.R. I think we kind of “ . . . caught lightening in a bottle” in the recording process. I’m really hoping we can maintain the sound qualities on a second recording project. It’s tricky, people often want to hear a bit of a reprise of a debut project but they also want to hear “cutting edge” or a new sound too. Pretty hard to do both and make everybody happy. I’m going to do my best to accomplish both goals.
Hardrock Haven: What do you think about the evolution of AOR? How different it is now from 1970s and 1980s?
Ronny Lee: You ask really good questions Alexandra! I guess I can best answer this question this way: I believe I once heard Jon Bon Jovi say that all of their songs had to be able to live whether played with the full band or with just one acoustic guitar. I think that’s a pretty cool litmus test. So many of the classic tunes that stand strong today are great even “un-plugged.” Can that be said of today’s AOR? I’m sure some of it can. The most important attribute is melody.
Hardrock Haven: If to look back a bit, what’s prompted you to become a musician? Who were your heroes of this early period?
Ronny Lee: I am a preacher’s kid. As a teen there were older kids playing acoustic guitars at church camp outings and such. Those were pretty meaningful times sitting around campfires and singing. Except, most of the songs we played and sang weren’t “churchy.” It was Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger and Crosby, Stills and Nash – you know, “Find the Cost of Freedom.” Great memories! My early heroes were the Eagles, Jackson Browne, the Band, The Beatles, The Stones. And like I said, The Tubes fascinated me. As you can see, I was all over the map. Recently my son and I attended a Def Leppard concert. The last time I saw them was in the 80’s. It still doesn’t get any better than Def Leppard. What a Rock Show!
Hardrock Haven: Do you remember the first album you bought and the first concert you’ve attended? What was the experience?
Ronny Lee: First album was “Abbey Road”, wore that vinyl out! The first concert I ever saw was The Guess Who – “American Woman,” “No Sugar Tonight,” “These Eyes.” I suppose right then and there, I said to myself, “I want to do that!”
Hardrock Haven: How long is your tenure in the music industry and what were the most important moments?
Ronny Lee: 30 years. Way back in the day I was in a band in Los Angeles where we played 5 nights a week and 4 sets a night consistently. In one stretch we played 28 gigs in 31 days. We recorded with some name producers and got very close to a record deal when Quiet Riot, Bon Jovi and Twisted Sister and G ‘n’ R were getting signed but it never worked out for us. Close but “No-go.” There have been many cool moments but I kinda like to think that right now is the most important moment whether it’s musically or whatever.
Hardrock Haven: Back to the present, where can the US-based readers see you live?
Ronny Lee: It’s very interesting. By far, the best reaction to O.R. is in Europe. The AOR movement seems to be significantly more prevalent there, not so much in the USA. I would love to get on a European tour in 2015 but I’m not on a label and am still not very connected regarding touring. Got any suggestions? I will have the band ready to go if any opportunities come up. Most of my live playing in the States is solo stuff. I love playing largely acoustic in my “Ronny Lee – One-Man-Band.” I play about 100 times a year kind of on a “Winery Circuit” in the region that I live. It’s a living and it’s really fun.
Hardrock Haven: What are your current plans?
Ronny Lee: As I said, I’d love to come to Europe I’ve never been to. Got my passport though. I want to continue to promote “Original Retro”. AOR Heaven is distributing the album in Europe and everybody can also get it physically and digitally at CD Baby and also, at most of the other digital places. If anyone would like a signed copy, contact me at www.theronnylee.com and I’ll personally send you a signed copy.
Hardrock Haven: Is there anything you’d like to add in the end?
Ronny Lee: Yes, I’m incredibly grateful to you and all of the people who have looked upon “Original Retro” favorably. I put it out on CD Baby without much thought of grandeur. Since then, I’ve been amazed at how kind people have been, contacting me from all over the globe to let me know they like the music. I’m doing what I love to do. My wish is for all of your readers to be able to do the same; to find their bliss and to be able to share it with the world. If they can do that, I believe they can find some happiness like I have. And thank you Alexandra – you’re the best!
