{"id":69221,"date":"2021-02-04T13:45:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T18:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=69221"},"modified":"2021-02-07T04:50:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T09:50:52","slug":"interview-with-ronnie-parkes-of-bonfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2021\/interview-with-ronnie-parkes-of-bonfire\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronnie Parkes of Bonfire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a while since playing acoustic was in vogue. But even with the period of popularity of the MTV Unplugged series long gone, the Hard Rock brethren still seems to find the intimate settings and acoustic rearrangements quite charming. One of those is certainly the German band Bonfire, so perhaps it shouldn\u2019t be much of a surprise that this year sees the release of their new \u201calmost\u201d unplugged album Roots<\/em> via AFM Records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s more to this album than just reworking a handful of band\u2019s classics on a whim. Forced to postpone their touring plans in support of their latest studio release Fistful Of Fire<\/em>, Bonfire not only did keep themselves busy with recording material for Roots <\/em>through the doom and gloom of 2020. Also, they involved their audience in every aspect of it through means of crowdfunding campaign \u2013 including writing and recording brand new songs based on individual stories sent in by fans. Hardrock Haven caught up with Bonfire\u2019s bass player Ronnie Parkes to discuss the new release and the campaign behind it as well as whatever comes next…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: It\u2019s February 2021 and just a year ago everything looked very different for everyone \u2013 including Bonfire. When I talked with Hans [Ziller, lead guitar] back then, there were still plans to tour in support of Fistful Of Fire<\/em>. Looking back, what was 2020 like for you and the rest of the band?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: 2020 was a very dark year (laughs). We put out Fistful Of Fire<\/em>,released on April the 3rd<\/sup>, and had big plans for tour for all of 2020. And of course, everything got shut down, just like it did for everyone else. Maybe [for us it was] a little bit more difficult, because I live in the USA and the rest of the band lives in Germany, so it makes it a little more difficult for me to travel back and forth. That really stopped everything, like there was no chance of me going over to any concerts or anything. So as we sat around talking, instead of getting depressed we decided to do something. We\u2019ve already had plans in our heads to eventually make an acoustic album because we did a bunch of acoustic shows and even tours and they were really all well-accepted and we enjoyed doing it \u2013 and that was our goal to go in and do some acoustic shows. So, we decided to make an acoustic album which we recorded during 2020. Now this album\u2019s gonna be released on February the 26th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: But before the idea for the Roots <\/em>album started, have you considered doing a livestream in support of Fistful Of Fire<\/em>, a method many bands utilized to make up for the lack of live gigs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: The problem was again that I live in the US and they live in Europe. If we all lived in Europe, it would be possible \u2013 but there\u2019s a delay actually from the quality audio that you would need for a livestream. It takes too long and I think there\u2019s like a 30-second delay from the United States to Europe for that quality audio. Of course, you can talk on the phone or through a Zoom call in real time like we\u2019re talking now, but the audio quality there is not the quality that you\u2019d want for a livestream. So that kind of made it impossible for us to actually do it together live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: You\u2019ve already mentioned the Roots <\/em>album. And as the recording process for it took place last summer, am I right in guessing the process of making it was actually limited by some pandemic-related restrictions at the time, forcing you to utilize methods of recording separately or remotely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Yeah. Normally \u2013 if there weren\u2019t such restrictions \u2013 we would have all been to the studio together. But this time, with this particular album, we recorded everything separately. I recorded my parts here in the USA, and the drummer [Andr\u00e9 Hilgers] actually went to the studio to record the drums. So everybody kind of did it partially remotely, and people who were able to go into the studio, like Alexx [Stahl, vocals] and Hans, did their parts there. I believe also the drum tracks were done there. But as for the guitar and bass, you can do this remotely and just send them in. So, that\u2019s what we did \u2013 we assembled together what we\u2019d recorded separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: The process of recording remotely was obviously used way before the pandemic and there are mixed opinions about it \u2013 most artists utilize it but some prefer the traditional way of working on music. But do you think it really matters in terms of quality or the dynamics of the album whether or not it was recorded separately?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Not really. You know, whether I\u2019m playing to the drummer sitting right next to me or the drummer in my headphones \u2013 I\u2019m still playing the same way to him. The only difference is that you don\u2019t have that camaraderie of everybody standing in the same room, so there\u2019s a certain energy that I guess does exist there, if you do it that way. But I don\u2019t really see much of a difference if I recorded my bass using my headphones. I would do the same thing anyway if we were in the same place. After all, normally people don\u2019t sit there and actually record the whole album with everybody sitting in one circle and playing at the same time. Normally it\u2019s not done that way. So it\u2019s kind of almost… normal (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Exactly. So, with the term \u201calmost unplugged\u201d used in reference to the Roots <\/em>album, what does this \u201calmost\u201d mean in reality?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: (laughs) We did it \u201calmost\u201d unplugged because as we started recording the acoustic, we got the original keyboard player Martin Ernst who played on Fireworks <\/em>album [1987]. So he came in and he played the Hammond organ. That\u2019s not really acoustic, so we didn\u2019t want to \u2013 and couldn\u2019t \u2013 say the album was fully acoustic (laughs), as now we have a keyboard on there. And Hans did use some electric guitar, but it was like very \u2018clean\u2019 guitar, more like an acoustic type of sound. So for these reasons we said it\u2019s not totally acoustic… but \u201calmost\u201d totally acoustic (laughs). It\u2019s like a laid-back album, more acoustic-sounding album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Right. Now, Roots <\/em>includes as many as 24 tracks, making it a double album. Whose idea was it and whose choice was the tracklist itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: (laughs) Yeah. We actually had an idea, but you know \u2013 when your band is signed to the record label, you have a contract, so you\u2019re supposed to put out an album this year and maybe next year they\u2019ll say, \u201cOkay, we want a second album…\u201d And you sign a contract for a number of albums \u2013 maybe it\u2019s two, three or one. Could be anything. So we weren\u2019t scheduled to put out a new album, but we really wanted to do it and we figured this was the time when everybody\u2019s home and we can do this… And people still love music, even though they\u2019re maybe stuck in their house where things aren\u2019t going the right way… People still wanna enjoy music. So we said, \u201cLet\u2019s go for it,\u201d but we had problems because the record label [AFM Records] didn\u2019t really want us to do another album. So we decided we were gonna do it anyway. We reached out to our fans and told them what our concept was of making this album and we gave them the options of picking songs. Like, if you wanted, you could buy a song and we would make a song specifically for you \u2013 you would tell us a little story about yourself and we would make a song about you. So, there\u2019s four songs like that. But basically, the whole album was covered cost-wise by the fans. They paid for the album and that\u2019s why there are so many songs [on it], because people picked songs and then we had so many songs that it turned to a double album (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Good for everyone, I guess (laughs). Among the tracks re-recorded for Roots<\/em>, there are Bonfire classics such as \u201cAmerican Nights\u201d or \u201cYou Make Me Feel\u201d. Having been a part of the band since 2015, what’s your approach to their legacy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: You know, I\u2019ve listened to and I\u2019ve been a fan of Bonfire. I\u2019ve listened to the music and I really appreciate all the musicianship and the talent that went into all the albums prior to me being in the band. So I definitely have a certain respect for it and when I approach a song that was already recorded by Bonfire, I give it the same respect and I try to make it my own because I\u2019m now a member of the band. So I try to make the song a little bit my own, but I don\u2019t wanna change it too much because it\u2019s already been recorded and people expect the certain things. So, I can\u2019t really change what was there, you know (laughs), \u2018cause then it would sound different. And I try to always pay that respect to what it is and where it came from, and the talent that was used to make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: It must\u2019ve been a challenge to actually balance these things, paying that respect to the original version but still re-arranging it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Yeah, that\u2019s the thing! And the other part about it is that Hans was the original writer on the songs in the beginning, so now it\u2019s still Hans\u2019 songs. He\u2019s just re-recording them. And you know, we put our input in, but in the end he says, \u201cOh no, that\u2019s too much and that\u2019s too little and that\u2019s not enough… Let\u2019s do this here and something different there…\u201d So, Hans, as the original writer of these songs, is just kind of re-working them his own way that he sees it should be. So it\u2019s basically the same thing \u2013 it\u2019s the person who wrote the song and is just now doing another version (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely! And in general, do you as a musician enjoy playing acoustic shows and the whole unplugged aesthetics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Yeah! Actually, maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m getting a little bit older, I don\u2019t know (laughs). But I think it\u2019s more that I just appreciate all kinds of music \u2013 like Jazz music or Classical music… So to play acoustic stuff it\u2019s a lot of fun for me, because I get to experiment a little bit more, the sounds are a lot cleaner, so we can play off each other a little bit more… The settings for the acoustic shows are usually a little more intimate and they are really a lot of fun. We really enjoy doing those and I personally enjoy it a lot. And as I said, that was the part of the plan \u2013 I mean, we wanted to do these tours and now we have an album that we can support that [way], so now we do a regular tour and an acoustic tour at the same time. Hopefully, in 2021 we could be doing regular shows and acoustic shows and maybe two tours at the same time indeed… hopefully it works out good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Fingers crossed! As you\u2019ve mentioned, there\u2019s something really special about the handful of new songs on Roots<\/em>, these songs being actually inspired by the fans\u2019 stories…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: You know, we wanted to give something special to the fans that were helping to support the album and [the process of] making it, so as I\u2019ve said, we offered that we would make songs for the fans. They wrote us e-mails telling us a little bit about themselves and then I started to work on the lyrics for their songs. And Hans put together a couple of pieces of music that kind of already existed and added them altogether so it\u2019s a new song, and we put a new melody and basically made new songs out of these. So it\u2019s kind of cool, because it\u2019s more personal for the fans and they get to understand how songs are put together and how it all works out. When they write about someone or something, it\u2019s closer to home, so they can understand it all a little bit better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And what kind of experience was it for you as a songwriter to actually write lyrics not from your personal viewpoint, but based on someone\u2019s story?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: It was kind of the same. Actually, a couple of times I had questions as I started writing the songs and I just tried to put myself in their position from what they had told me. I tried to look at it as if I was living that life… And a few times, I had to write them back and ask them a couple more questions, so that I could fill in the holes \u2013 because it wasn\u2019t actually me, it was someone else. So I did it a couple of times, but overall it was a cool experience. A bit tough, maybe, because it was a little bit rushed… Sometimes we have a lot more time [for it] \u2013 we have the music first and kind of decide what song is gonna be like, where this was like, \u201cOkay, this is the music that we\u2019re gonna use for this song and this is the music we\u2019re gonna use for that song…\u201d So I was a little bit limited as to what we can actually do with the song. Under the circumstances, it was unfortunately the way that we had to do it. But I think it worked out okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Definitely. We\u2019ve talked about livestreams, and actually there is one planned \u2013 a streaming release show \u2013 planned for Roots<\/em> and now postponed until August…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Yeah, it got changed basically because of the coronavirus restrictions again. It became too difficult for me to travel from the USA to get to Germany \u2013 \u2018cause when you do that, you actually have to prove the reason that you\u2019re there. It\u2019s because they consider the United States a high-risk area, I think, because of so many cases. So it became difficult for me to just fly over there. I need to have a specific reason \u2013 that the event I was going for was so crucial that the company would close if I didn\u2019t do it… and that it could not be postponed or rescheduled. And we couldn\u2019t actually do that, because it was just a livestream concert (laughs) So, unfortunately we had to change it to August the 12th<\/sup>, and all the people that bought the special tickets \u2013 because we sold special tickets just for this, and I think it was only ten of them \u2013 will see us doing a special concert just for them on August the 12th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And in general, what do you think about livestreams that as you\u2019ve said didn\u2019t work for Bonfire due to technical reasons, but overall, they became \u201cthe next best thing\u201d in absence of live gigs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Yeah. You know, I would hate to see that it becomes the norm. But for the time being, when people can\u2019t get out, at least they can still maybe hear something new or see somebody they wanted to see. But, I don\u2019t know… to me, livestreams aren\u2019t really the same as being at a concert. It\u2019s totally not the same. So, I would prefer that everything goes back to normal (laughs). But for the time being, this is cool that I can see my favorite band playing a livestream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Hard not to agree with you. You\u2019ve already mentioned fans\u2019 financial involvement in making the Roots <\/em>album and the VIP tickets for the livestream event \u2013 and we\u2019ve also discussed the songs being written based on their stories as a part of the deal. What else did you offer to the fans as a part of a StartNext campaign going and what\u2019s its current status?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: I think it\u2019s just ended. The campaign started because of the big problem that was in Germany \u2013 that people who were in bands and self-employed had a lot of financial problems. Especially our band… we\u2019ve had problems because the guys didn\u2019t really get any help from the government. Although they were promised to, by the time they got to it, the money from the government was used and gone already… or there was some kind of caveat made that they really couldn\u2019t get any money. So the idea of this StartNext campaign was to help everybody in the band get a little bit of money and also, to put out this acoustic album. We sold everything that we could possibly get our hands on and that we had \u2013 like special t-shirts and masks with the Bonfire logo on it that Hans made… Hans sold some guitars and paintings he made… We also gave lessons and enabled people to buy songs on the Roots <\/em>album. I forgot how much money it was, maybe fifty euros, but for that you could pick a song that will be on the record \u2013 that\u2019s why we have the double record (laughs). So we did all these creative type of ideas to try to just raise as much money [as possible] and survive through this time, which is really difficult for many, many people, many bands, many venues… And hopefully everything comes back to the way it was. I hope so…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So with that experience in mind, what do you think about crowdfunding in general? Is it a useful tool within the ever-changing music industry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Yeah, absolutely… You know, my view on crowdfunding was… well, I never really liked it. I never really saw the good in asking for money that you don\u2019t have for all the stuff. I\u2019d rather earn it and get it myself. But it actually worked and really helped \u2013 so I think sometimes, if you really, really need it and it\u2019s really detrimental, then yes, it\u2019s a good thing. But should you use it regularly for just anything…? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So especially as not that much of a fan of crowdfunding idea in general, what do you think are some disadvantages of crowdfunding that these who consider it should be aware of?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Well, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s necessarily anything that they should be aware of… But you know, if you ask people for money just for something silly, like \u201cHey, I want a new car…\u201d, to me that\u2019s like begging. I don\u2019t like to do that, so that\u2019s really my opinion on it. If it\u2019s really necessary and it can really help you and you really need that help, then yeah \u2013 you should ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And do you think we\u2019ll see the day when a large part of the music industry, new releases and so on will be in fact funded directly by their audience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: I don\u2019t think so… I mean, that could happen \u2013 it depends. If record labels aren\u2019t there anymore to support the bands in making the recordings and all the stuff… Because to make a really high quality recording costs a lot of money, and not everybody has this type of equipment in their house or the access to it, so many people still have to go to the studio. And then of course you\u2019re talking about people who are masters at mixing and sound engineering and all these things, so you have to pay for that kind of stuff. To get a really super high quality recording, you have to pay for it. So, if there\u2019s no way and there\u2019s no record labels in the future to really pay for that, then crowdfunding might be the only way actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Right. So, we talked Roots<\/em> and the August streaming live show. Once everything is hopefully back to normal, what’s next for Bonfire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: The plan is as soon as things are open, we wanna tour. We still haven\u2019t toured for the Fistful Of Fire <\/em>album, so we have the plan to do that. And having an acoustic album, as I\u2019ve said, we also wanna tour with that. So hopefully our plan is that we can be doing two tours at the same time \u2013 an electric and an acoustic tour \u2013 and this may work out. Like, say, we go to the UK for example. Instead of just playing our two nights of electric shows, maybe we can do four nights with two additional acoustic shows. Or a week, or a month, or… whatever. Doesn\u2019t really matter in terms of the length of time, but it seems like we would be able to double our playing out live. So that\u2019s our plan \u2013 we wanna play double next time (laughs). When it\u2019s open, we don\u2019t wanna play just once, we wanna play twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Twice is always better than once!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Yeah, it\u2019s kind of like playing cards in the casino, when you lose… and they have something called double down, which is basically you bet ten dollars and if you lose, the next time you bet twenty dollars. That\u2019s kind of what we\u2019re doing. (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Any last words?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Parkes: Just a reminder \u2013 the album Roots <\/em>we talked about will be released on AFM Records on February the 26th<\/sup>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credits: Kai Swillus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Bonfire online:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/bonfire.de\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bonfireofficial<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014 It\u2019s been a while since playing acoustic was in vogue. But even with the period of popularity of the MTV Unplugged series long gone, the Hard Rock brethren still […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":69223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8645,15306,15309,203,15308],"class_list":{"0":"post-69221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews-recent","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-alexx-stahl","10":"tag-frank-pane","11":"tag-interview","12":"tag-ronnie-parkes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}