Ronnie Montrose
Ronnie Montrose
Ronald Douglas "Ronnie" Montrosewas an American rock guitarist, who led the bands Montroseand Gammaand also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock, Beaver & Krause, Boz Scaggs, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, The Beau Brummels, Dan Hartman, Tony Williams, The Neville Brothers, Marc Bonilla, Sammy Hagar, and Johnny Winter. The first Montrose album was often cited as "America's answer to Led Zeppelin" and Ronnie Montrose was often referred to as one of the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth29 November 1947
CountryUnited States of America
I've never known how to read music in my life.
It was very satisfying knowing I could come in not really knowing what I was going to do, and at the end of the session feeling that I'd really done interesting guitar work and knowing that I'd really contributed to the music.
I was following my muse and I was very fortunate in having good people around me and it turned out to be a pretty good recording in my opinion.
I had just basically gotten tired of working, touring on the road with a vocalist and the whole process of doing vocal oriented music.
I had prostate cancer that, for me, was debilitating. I didn't touch a guitar for two years, but when I realized I was seeing the light at the end of the recovery tunnel and was going to live pain-free, I realized again that it was a fun little instrument to play.
I felt like I was in a real rut here and so by doing the Open Fire record I was ready to do another vocal album. It was a logical progression.
When you have a life-threatening illness like cancer, and you're faced with the alternative, it gives doing whatever it is you do a much sweeter taste.
Everybody has their iPhone cameras, BlackBerry cameras, and I see those cameras pointed up at me all the time now, which is actually really good because of what it does for me and my band. There is no time for us not to be on our toes because they're on all the time whenever you're playing. I think it's very healthy.
What made me pick up a guitar? It weighed a lot less than a piano.
I think that Gamma sort of got to that point through management and label and the whole deal and it didn't feel right so I stopped it. Period.
I was working with Bill Graham management at the time and it was obvious to everyone concerned that albums like Open Fire, while they were good for me creatively, were not going to be commercially successful.
My philosophy is, honestly, never collected anything that I don't play. I know a lot of people that collect guitars, but for me, I want instruments that I play. And if I don't play them, I don't' want to have them sitting in a closet collecting dust.
Because it was the original 4 guys, and the dynamic of those 4 guys interacting together that had the power.
But it has been a long process because I'm kind of a renaissance person.