An interview with Ronny North

1. Congratulations on your new signature guitar! How did this
opportunity to design your own guitar occur and who is responsible for making this possible?

Thank you, My new signature guitar is being built by Tregan guitars (www.treganguitars.com) .I met the company at Winter NAMM in January through a friend who is actually one of their endorsers. He kept telling me about the guitars through out the weekend and finally I got over to the booth on the last day of the show right before my last demo of the show for Laney Amplifiers. I tried out a couple of their guitars at the booth and was pleasantly surprised. I then had a chat with the guys from the company and they were very cool and mentioned that they would be interested in talking with me about possibly becoming an endorser. I told them to send me a guitar after they got home and we would go from there. This is something I always do before I endorse a product to make sure that the gear works for my needs. I received a guitar a week later and thought it was pretty cool and started using it immediately. After a few chats with the company we decided to do a Ronny North signature guitar. I already knew what I wanted and quickly drew up my vision for my guitar. The company quickly drew up the plans and refined my ideas and we were off. The proto type was built by Greg Back from Greg Back guitars (www.gregbackguitars.com ) for Tregan guitars. Besides being a great friend of mine Greg is a master guitar builder and has worked on and built guitars for Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai Billy Sheehan, Michael Thompson, Ace Frehley and many more. He also consults with a few big guitar companies and is the co creator of the Feiten Tuning System. The Tregan Ronny North signature guitar has a small single cutaway Mahogany body with a RN PSYKO Green finished flamed maple top with crème binding, a figured thin maple neck with crème binding and 22 jumbo frets, Locking Trem, two custom U.S. made hand wound Monster Tone RN signature humbuckers directly mounted into the body, one volume knob, one kill switch that just kills the front pickup for stuttering effects and one 3 way pickup selector switch. The guitar also features the Feiten Tuning System for perfect intonation. We will be premiering the guitar at summer NAMM in Nashville in June 2008.I’ve already used the guitar for a few recording sessions and it plays and sounds great. The guitar will start shipping in the fall.

2. Is it true that you also designed signature guitar pickups? How are your signature pick ups unique from other products?

Yes, I collaborated on the pickups with Dean at Monster Tone Pickups (www.monstertoneuitarpickups@yahoo.com ) on my signature neck and bridge humbuckers. It didn’t take us very many tries to nail it. The pickups are 100% hand wound in Texas and have great sustain and clarity. They are very versatile for many different styles of music. The pickups will come standard in my signature guitar and will be available on their own as well.

3. You have 2 new CDs coming out this year. When will they be released? What music genre are they in and how do they differ?

I have two very different CD’s coming out this summer. The first is called “Then and Now”. The CD is my first release on Eonian Records who I just signed with recently. The CD will feature mostly material from my past bands with singers going all the way back to the 80’s until present day. It’s sort of a blast from the past thing. We’re also recording a brand new song for the CD with vocals. It will feature me and a couple of high profile friends. The new song is called “Destruction of You”. The CD will also have some music from my present day instrumental project. There is also a few other high profile friends on the tracks as well. The CD will be released in July 2008. I will also be releasing a new instrumental CD as well later this summer. My new single from the new instrumental CD “Permission to Land” will be out later this month. I have no idea what I’m calling that CD yet…..Did I mention that I’m also working on a CD with a high profile singer??? It’s an acoustic CD that he’s doing. Yeah, I’m busy……

4. What is the Nashville Summer NAMM experience like and how does it compare to the other NAMM conventions that you’ve been to?

Well this is actually my first NAMM in Nashville. I have attended the show in Austin and have done the winter show for the last 14 years. NAMM is always an adventure and I’ve had a blast doing trade shows and clinics all over America. Traveling is fun but it does take it’s toll on you….Thankfully I have my assistant Karen to take care of all the travel stuff for us….

5. You’re scheduled to play at the Del Mar Fair this summer. What is the Del Mar Fair and where is it held?

The Fair is in San Diego California on the Del Mar Fair Grounds. It’s actually on the beach. I’ve never played it before so it should be fun. I’m sure playing on 4th of July Weekend it will be packed….
Fairs are always a blast to play. You get a wide assortment of people that normally would see your shows.
We have won over many fans this way….Great exposure. My song “Lost in the 909”off my GOING PSYKO CD
was written about an experience we had with a soundman during our set at the LA County Fair a couple years ago.

6. You are also going to headline the Music Fest for the Troops this summer, where is this event going to be held?

I’m very excited about this show. I’m all about playing for the Troops and have had the privilege to play for them a few times to date. The Music Fest show is being held on September 27th at the Navy Base in San Diego. I was honored to be invited to play the event and then to be the headliner which is just to cool. It’s a Charity event for the Navy and Marines and is an all day event with lots of acts on the bill throughout the day. I’m looking forward to closing the show and best of all it’s for the guys defending our freedom. It doesn’t get much better than that!!!

7. What is The Ronny North Channel? How often are broadcasts played?

Great questions…….The Ronny North Channel is a cool thing we put up on my Myspace pages and my website (www.ronnynorth.com) . We do live video Pod Casts periodically .It’s actually been a little bit since we’ve done our last one. My great friend Richard Morales from Hot House Rehearsal Studios got us going on it and it’s been great. We hope to really get more into it in the future. On that note, I was recently approached by a company that wanted to do a Ronny North live video internet show with me. No deal yet but lets see what happens….I do plan to do a couple live Video Pod Casts on my pages from Summer NAMM in June.

8. You are currently writing two columns, one called Adventures in Guitar with Ronny North for www. guitarjamsdaily. com and the second column for the magazine called Ronny North's "Chatting with the Pros”. How do these columns differ in context?

I actually write a few columns for Guitar Jam Daily Magazine (www.guitarjamdaily.com ) . The Adventures with Ronny North Column is about my various guitar playing adventures, like gear issues, trade shows, and various stuff in between.
The Chatting with the Pros Column is interviews with high profile players. So far I’ve done interviews with Michael Angelo Batio, Gilby Clarke, Doug Doppler, Keri Kellie and a bunch of others. I also do live reviews of shows and have done a few gear reviews as well. I’ve been writing for magazines for over 10 years and I really enjoy it. I’m told that my columns have been getting a great response from the readers and I have met fans of the columns on the road as well which is always cool.

9. Back in January 2007 you played at Shredfest. Was 2007 the first year for Shredfest? What was it like? Will you attend next year? Where is the event held?

Shredfest was a show I put on with a few other instrumental guitar acts. The show was great and everyone had a blast. We’ll definitely be doing more in the future.

10. Last year you released a Christmas song entitled A Day in the Moment. What inspired you to do this and will you be releasing a Christmas CD in the future?

I always wanted to do a Christmas song but I didn’t want to redo an existing Christmas song like everyone else usually does. I had the idea to give it a try. After I wrote the song the adventure began. During the recording I blew up 3 amplifiers, fried various other recording gear and tweaked a few of my guitars along the way. It was probably one of the most trying recording experiences I’ve ever had. I wrecked more gear on that song than I have for my last 4 CD’s. Towards the end I was starting to get the feeling that someone from up above was trying to tell me something. The song came out great and was mixed by my friend Jim Decicco who mixes all my stuff. The main melody guitar on the song was played all the way through beginning to end including doing the guitar solo. One pass all on the same track…..Another interesting note is that my brother Scott is playing drums on the track as well as piano and some jingle bells to boot…He’s a great drummer and has toured the world and even toured and played with Steve Vai…..The song was released on November 3rd 2007 and was world premiered on the Maximum threshold Radio show that night while I was on the air getting interviewed on the show from backstage at my show before I went on stage.

11. "Smeared" was licensed by MTV to be used by their Real World reality show. Did you hire an entertainment lawyer to review the contract for you if no, who advised you that the deal was good?

I had a lawyer look over the contact and they gave me the ok….It is great exposure but it’s not going to make you rich for sure…..LOL….They actually licensed both my Smeared and my GOING PSYKO CDs. In these situations you really do need a lawyer type to look it over to make sure that it’s in your best interest. If you don’t and you get ripped off it’s your own fault. That’s why I don’t feel sorry for a lot of these big rock stars that are now broke because they just signed anything that was put in front of them and never asked any questions. You need to know what’s going on. It’s your career and you have to protect it!

12. What is it like to be featured in several ad campaigns for your sponsors?

It’s always a blast to open up a guitar magazine and see yourself in it…It’s also great exposure as well. That being said I’m currently featured in the new Tregan Guitars ad campaign. The ad picture was shot by my great friend Jim Morris and my assistant Karen laid it all out…
We shot the picture in the subway station in LA…..

13. You were awarded Best Male Guitarist in the 2006 by All Access Magazine Music Awards. What was the experience like? Where were the awards held? Besides the title, did you receive a trophy?

It was a real surprise and an honor. I had no idea that I even had a chance to win…..I have the cool plaque hanging in my recording studio and I see it every time I record. The awards show was held at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood.

14. Describe the Nick Stock Festival as you would to someone who knew nothing about the festival?

Nik Stock was a big Festival that they used to have at Lake Irvine….It was fun but it was a bit crazy and un organized….I’m told it was big when it happened. We survived so I’m good with it. The promoter “Nik” is actually a cool guy and is an Alice Cooper impersonator .You really can’t make this stuff up.

15. Explain what it was like to be interviewed by the Texas Music Cafe cable show?

It was a blast to be interviewed by the show. At the time my friend Joe was the host. They interviewed me during one of my demos at the show. All the usual questions (unlike yours..) It was fun and I did get a few e-mails from people who saw it so I guess that’s great….Once again great exposure.

16. Who interviewed you and your friend Gary Hoey at the world famous Antone's Club in Austin, Texas? What was special about the interview?

My friend Zee from Connection Magazine in Vegas interviewed Gary and I backstage at the world famous Antone’s Club in Austin, Texas before Gary went on stage for his performance. It was a fun interview and Gary is a great guy and now a friend. It was a great club and it’s where Stevie Ray Vaughn got his start. Yes, I had to get a $20.00 Antone’s T-shirt before we left…..

17. During the last year you have been quite busy doing many radio interviews including interviews with Radio Metal Storm, VM Underground Radio, The Primespot Radio, Maximum Threshold Radio and many more. What has been your most memorable radio interview to date? Explain.

I always enjoy doing press and especially radio interviews. I recently did a radio interview on VM Underground Radio and called someone out on the air that was on the show the previous night pretending to be my friend (Who wasn’t..) I hate fake people. If you’re my friend cool, if you’re my enemy for whatever reason I can respect that just be honest where you stand. Needless to say it was a pretty fun show and the listeners loved it!

18. Describe what a radio interview is like and is there any advice you would give a less experienced musician?

Radio is always a blast especially internet radio that goes all over the world (and you can cuss on the air…) It’s always important to be well spoken in interviews and when possible to know what the questions are going to be so you can give great answers….When I know in advance that I’m going to be on a radio show I’ll send them a few questions in advance so we can start there and see what happens…..I have great relationships with several radio stations all over these days. In all publicity situations you need to always be shown in the best possible light…..

Thanks you so much Monica for interviewing me again on you great site. I really appreciate the support of Indieguitarists.com through the years and it’s great to see that we have both grown in the industry….If anyone is interested in finding out more about me check out my website and my Myspace pages….

www.ronnynorth.com

www.myspace.com/ronnynorth

www.myspace.com/ronnynorthfans

www.myspace.com/northgear

© 2008 Yonge Music

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