RON KEEL Talks The Return Of STEELER And Being The 'Metal Cowboy': 'I've Always Been An Outlaw And Outcast'

By David E. Gehlke

The 1996 MTV documentary, "It Came From The '80s II: Metal Goes Pop" revealed what several prominent hair metal musicians were doing after their success had died down. (The irony of such a special put on by the channel that largely popularized the style should not be lost on anyone.) Former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch took up bodybuilding, VIXEN singer Janet Gardner started hitting the golf links, ex-RATT guitarist Warren DeMartini became "Mr. Mom" to his two kids, while KIX guitarist Brian Forsythe found work painting billboards. Yet perhaps the most memorable appearance was from KEEL frontman Ron Keel, who transitioned into country music.

Keel took up country music after his metal fortunes ran out in the early 1990s. Instead of swimming against the tide of grunge, Keel moved to Nashville, found steady work under the name of "Ronnie Lee Keel", released the 1995 album, "Western Country" and later fronted THE RAT'LERS. Considering that other musicians from the hair metal scene have attempted to cross over (see Michaels, Bret),Keel can be regarded as a trailblazer of sorts. Circa 2024, he's resurrected STEELER (minus a certain Yngwie J. Malmsteen, of course) and released the "Keelworld" album that features a variety of music from his multiple bands playing multiple styles — including country. With the new STEELER single, "Give Me Guitars (Or Give Me Death)" making the rounds, BLABBERMOUTH.NET caught up with Keel for an update.

Blabbermouth: After 40 years, was it hard to get back into STEELER mode?

Ron: "It wasn't. It was really easy. It came naturally to me. I'm still that same kid who moved to L.A. in '81. I'm still the same person; I've never subtracted anything from who I am. That part of me is still alive and kicking. To create a new STEELER song after 40 years, it has to be driven by the riff. When I came up with the riff for 'Give Me Guitars (Or Give Me Death)', I thought, 'This could be a STEELER song.' Looking through my notebooks of lyrics, titles and phrases, I found that title. It sounded cheesy enough to be a STEELER song. The rest was history. To create an anthem that captures the essence of that era and pays tribute to our heroes, like 'Smoke On The Water' (DEEP PURPLE) and 'Paranoid' (BLACK SABBATH),the first metal songs we heard and grew up listening to. We paid tribute to those and put it in a context that is relevant today and harkens back to the glory years of the early '80s."

Blabbermouth: It was surprising to see you do this under STEELER when you do so many things under your personal umbrella. What made this a STEELER song out of everything else?

Ron: "It's a classic metal anthem. That's what STEELER was built on with songs like 'Cold Day In Hell', 'Backseat Driver' and 'Hot On Your Heels'. The feel of the riff, the energy, power and the electricity and the subject matter of the lyrics, which I thought were timeless. I was looking for a STEELER song for the new record. Of course, we have the RON KEEL BAND material. We've got the new KEEL song, 'Moving Target'. The album wouldn't be complete without a STEELER track. I felt this was the one to put it back on the map. Once I wrote it and sent it to the guys in the band, they loved it, embraced it and played their asses off on it. We went ahead and shot the music video, which I'm really proud of. STEELER lives. After 40 years, I would have never dreamed that in 2024, we'd be releasing a new STEELER song and video."

Blabbermouth: The first STEELER album has a cult following. What, then, has been the reaction to the new song?

Ron: "The response has been incredible. We're sitting around 50,000 legit YouTube views. You know how that goes. You can buy views, followers, likes and all that stuff. We don't do any of that at RFK Media. It's all legit; it's all real. The response has been great. You'll get a couple of negative comments from some of the Blabbermouth people. [Laughs] The most surprising to me is that, 'Oh, that's not metal.' But, to me, it's just as much metal or more metal than anything on the original STEELER album from '83. It has all those classic metal elements: Blazing guitars and screaming vocals and the fast tempo and anthem attitude. What else is metal these days? For us, when we were growing up, 40 years ago, it was SCORPIONS, JUDAS PRIEST, VAN HALEN, DEF LEPPARD — all that. That was our metal. This certainly fits right into that era and genre as far as I'm concerned."

Blabbermouth: Have you thought where STEELER would have ended up had that original lineup stayed together?

Ron: "I haven't. I just moved on immediately in early '84 and realized that STEELER was not going to be my vehicle for success. I put a band together and called it KEEL. That was in March of '84. Within a few months, we were recording our debut album, 'Lay Down The Law'. Then, we got signed to Gold Mountain / A&M Records and Gene Simmons [KISS] was recruited as our producer. Within six months of putting KEEL together, we were signed and in the studio with Gene Simmons producing. There wasn't a lot of time to look back. I'm always focused on the road in front of me. My windshield is huge. My rear view is quite small. I'm proud of my accomplishments and all the places I've been and things I've done, but I'm always looking at the road ahead so I don't crash the vehicle."

Blabbermouth: You handle everything today under your own record company. Do you miss the days when they held such sway?

Ron: "It is what it is. I miss my mom and dad. I miss my friends who have passed away. When it comes time to miss something, there's real shit to miss. I don't miss anything about the old days. I'm very happy where I am today. Today is the best day of my life. I live for the moment, for the next song, for the next show, for the next kiss, for the next scream and the next high-five from the guy in the front row. That's all I'm about."

Blabbermouth: Maybe that's the best approach, then.

Ron: "There's a lot to miss. I miss my 1982 Trans Am. I got a really nice vehicle now, so I'm in four-wheel drive. These are choices we make every day. When I wake up in the morning, I choose to be positive, creative, productive and happy. Those are choices we make every day of our lives. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. We're all on a one-day contract. We all see how life can change in a New York minute. I look forward to the future, but I live for today."

Blabbermouth: Can we get into RFK Media? What goes into it? What's the day-to-day like?

Ron: "There's a fantastic group of people working on projects like 'Keelworld', the new album. It's more than an album. It's a statement; it's the album of a lifetime. It's a compilation of songs—all new, brand new, original material from all of my primary projects: RON KEEL BAND. KEEL. STEELER. IRONHORSE. Solo material. EMERALD SABBATH. It takes a huge team and I couldn't have done this without all the great musicians who have stayed friends with me. The guys in STEELER. The guys in KEEL. These are all families of mine. I'm lucky to have all these people around me that contributed and gave their all to have this music come alive."

Blabbermouth: Is this a 24/7 enterprise? Are you constantly working on it?

Ron: "I'm always working. I'm proud of that work ethic. I get up with the first cup of coffee, crack open the laptop and go to work. I always make sure I save time to be creative. I take time to rehearse. I just got done with rehearsal. I sing for a couple of hours every day just to put the business, phone and computer aside. I pick up the guitar and play. It's all-encompassing. I have a few hobbies. I play chess. Ride a motorcycle. Play fantasy football. I'm not very good at any of them, so I should stick to the music and business."

Blabbermouth: Well, chess is a noble pursuit. There was a report from not too long ago that found chess players burn tons of calories when they're playing. There's a lot of brain power involved there.

Ron: "I've been an avid chess aficionado for over 50 years. I learned how to play when I was ten. I believe there's an analogy between chess, business and life. You're only allowed to make a couple of wrong moves. If you make two or three wrong moves, you're going to lose the game. It's all about planning ahead and having a strategy. That applies to life lessons in your relationships, business and music. I enjoy that aspect of it, especially on the long road trips with the chess computer. It's taught me that primary lesson about being careful. That's why sometimes I will wait to make a move until I'm sure it's the right move. Winning the game in terms of music and business and all that—this isn't a win-or-lose thing. You don't keep score. You sell three million records. That means billions of people don't like you or don't want to hear what you do. You have to keep that in perspective. I enjoy that aspect of it. You don't really win or lose. Success is quantified by how proud you are of what you've done. Being able to change people's lives, put a smile on their faces, put their fist in the air, give them entertainment, give them a distraction from their everyday lives and create something that makes them feel something, whether it's happiness, sadness, loneliness, or excitement. Music can change your life in so many ways. It's been my best friend and constant companion since I was a child. The music encompasses all that. I'm glad nobody is keeping score."

Blabbermouth: Perhaps success is also measured by your longevity and the fact that you're one of the few who have been able to hop from metal to country.

Ron: "It's important. Looking back, I've performed onstage and live in six different decades. To me, the longevity is a big factor. I credit that to the genes. I've been able to stay in shape and stay at the top of my game for so long. A lot of it is determination and hard work, but a lot of it is luck and genetics as well."

Blabbermouth: What scene was more difficult to break into: Metal or country?

Ron: "Both scenes were challenging and both are different art forms. I'm not comparing myself to DaVinci or Michelangelo, but one could either paint or create sculptures. You have to immerse yourself in those art forms. Rock and metal was easier. It was more primal. It's that instinct within all of us to scream, beat stuff, yell and get wild. Country music was a little more — you have to be born with it. You don't put on a cowboy hat and walk out into a rodeo arena in front of 5,000 rednecks. If you're not real, they will kill you. They will throw bottles at you. Luckily, I had both elements in my heart and soul. I was born in the south. My father was heavily into the country. He played guitar with Hank Williams Sr. It was part of my upbringing on one side of the turntable. On the other hand, my sister, who was ten years old, was listening to the ROLLING STONES and BEATLES. I was drawn to the excitement, electricity and energy that rock provided. When it came time to the early '90s, all of a sudden, you got to realize that in the 80s, we thought it would last forever. 'We made it! Rock is here to stay! Long live rock and roll.' All of a sudden, overnight, there was a change in the culture. Grunge and Garth [Brooks] — the two Gs, pretty much took over. We were the outcasts, again, as we were in the '70s before VAN HALEN. We were the outcasts. We didn't have a record deal. There are no tours…no more Marshall stacks and no lights and smoke. I was driven to create and write songs and to play and entertain people. Country music appealed to me because it was very much—there was a lot of common ground between rock and metal. Songs about partying and chasing women, drinking beer and good grooves, and they started to use the power chord in the early '90s in country. It felt right. I was immersed in that art form and was very successful. I had two records out in the '90s that did well. I ended up in a band called THE RAT'LERS that toured the world on U.S. military bases, entertaining the troops. I had a lot of great experiences with country music, but I was still an outcast in that realm. I was still the long-haired guy putting on a show. I finally settled on a middle ground between metal and country; we call it the 'Metal Cowboy'. For lack of a better term, they call it Southern rock. The fact that 'Keelworld' has metal and country on all the tracks is that every aspect of my personality is displayed here. All the different chapters of my life story, but it sounds like they all belong together. It's a cohesive, sonic experience where the songs feel like they belong together in the same collection. I'm really proud of that and being able to accomplish that."

Blabbermouth: Do you think you should be recognized more for being one of the first rock/metal guys attempting to cross over? You were trying to do it when a lot of your peers were hanging on for dear life.

Ron: "And I was canceled. The VH1 special, 'Where Are They Now?'Ron Keel goes country. At the time, it was their highest-rated special. Dee Snider [TWISTED SISTER] narrated the tale of how 'Ron Keel is a traitor.' I never quite understood that. I've always been an outlaw and an outcast. I've always blazed my own trail. I've found my own niche here in no man's land, 'Metal Cowboy' country, Keel World, where I feel at home, and I'm comfortable doing what I do. I appreciate the fact that a lot of fans have stuck with me through those twists and turns. A lot of them don't understand it. And I get it, but so many fans that have kept me in business still to this day understand that it's Ron doing what Ron does. If you don't like what he cooks today, stick around for dinner tomorrow."

Blabbermouth: No one bats an eye now when some musicians try to cross over to another style of music, yet it sounds like you were getting the stink eye circa the mid-1990s.

Ron: "I'm thankful for those opportunities. It kept me alive in the 1990s. It taught me so much about songwriting. Still, to this day, the country music lessons about writing songs are alive in the new STEELER song. Believe it or not, that STEELER song was written with the vocals and a melody first. In country music, the voice, the melody and the story you tell are the most important things. The music is built to support that. If you listen to the chorus of 'Give Me Guitars (Or Give Me Death)', you can tell that the lyrics and melody were written first. [Sings riff and melody] The music was built to support that. Whereas back in the '80s, the guitar players, we'd write a riff and you'd have to put lyrics on top of it. Country music, the music, lyrics and story come first. I still use those lessons I learned in the '90s to write new STEELER music. I think it paid off in the long run."