RONNIE ROMERO Says His Time With RAINBOW Is Over: 'I Don't Think That's My Place Anymore'

In a new interview with The Classic Rock Podcast, Chilean-born singer Ronnie Romero, who forged a formidable reputation over past few years with his work with Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW and Michael Schenker, among other projects, spoke about his desire to focus more on his solo career and establish his own name in the rock scene. Asked which of his projects in the last decade and a half has given him the most satisfaction, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, for me, obviously, because I grew up as a big fan, it was to meet Ritchie [Blackmore] and play with him in RAINBOW. It was probably something that I still — I still think about it, like, I would really love to have my father at that time because he died before [I started playing with Ritchie], and he was a huge fan of DEEP PURPLE also. So that's the thing that I [would] love for my father to watch me doing. Even we did not too many shows — at the end, there were, like — I don't know — 12, 15 shows."

Asked if he would do another run of shows with RAINBOW if 78-year-old Ritchie called him up again and wanted to do it one more time before he retires from the road, Ronnie said: "Um, I don't think so. But we've been talking before the COVID, we were supposed to do a tour in 2020. And then because of the COVID everything stops. And then I never talked to him again. But I was thinking about this recently. And since I quit from MICHAEL SCHENKER [GROUP], it's the same thing. And I was, like, I don't think that I wanna do it again. I mean, I really enjoyed it, as I told you, and it probably is the highlight of my professional life and Ritchie gave me the chance to be in the spot and to develop a career and I will be always grateful, but I don't think that I wanna be there. I don't think that's my place anymore — with all due respect, obviously. I think I really wanna face my career from now on in the way that I'm doing now, just putting my name on the front and try to do my own stuff."

Romero previously talked about his decision to focus on his solo career last month in an interview with Lana Teramae of Metal Express Radio. At the time, he said: "I'm not gonna say I got tired, but, yeah, there was a point where, for me, I wanted to get rid of this label of, 'Ronnie Romero, the singer of.' Obviously, I feel really blessed and grateful and to have the chance to work with all those great musicians, especially with Ritchie Blackmore because he gave me my chance on the music industry and he put me on the spotlight and all the stuff. And obviously, I will always be very grateful. But then there is a point, especially at the end of last year, I was doing a tour with Michael Schenker. And then I felt, like, 'Okay, I need to establish my name at some point.' Because those guys, they're gonna stop playing at some at some point. It's gonna be very soon, because Ritchie, I don't think we're gonna do more shows, but Michael Schenker is celebrating his 50 years career anniversary. So at some point, he's gonna stop, and I need to have something to show to the people. I really wanted to establish my name and get rid of this 'the singer of' [label]. So I can show what I can do in the songwriting side and all this stuff. I learned and I grew up with all those great guys and I played with them, but it was enough. And now I need to move on and look into the future with my own material."

When Teramae noted that Romero didn't want to "rely on the safety net" of singing for someone else's band anymore, Ronnie concurred, saying: "Yeah, absolutely. Actually, the feeling was I was in the safety side. It was not my name or reputation in the front of those shows. There was no my name on the tickets. I was playing big arenas, stadiums, long tours, a lot of things, but because it was somebody else there. So I really wanted to have the risk and see how it's going with my own name, and I think that's part of the excitement also."

Romero released his third solo album, "Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters", on September 15 via Frontiers Music Srl. Written by Romero with drummer Andy C. and guitarist Jose Rubio, "Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters" marks the first time that Romero has been involved with 100% of the songwriting on an album he sings on. Romero also co-produced the album with Andy C., marking another first for Romero.