Where were you born/raised?

I was born in Downey California at Downey Community Hospital. (It's now a Condo Complex!)  I grew up in Norwalk and graduated from Norwalk High School.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Biggest pet peeve?  Neurotic Lead Singers, Stupid People and Posers (Aren't they one in the same??)

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 5 CD's would you bring with you?

I'd say RATT "Greatest Hits", Marvelous 3 "Hey Album", Kate Bush "Greatest Hits", Steve Vai "Passion and Warfare", Anything from The Chemical Brothers!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

When I have spare time which is rare these days, I like to Torch Guitars with a blow torch, Skateboard, Surf and Golf. When I grow up I want to be a PGA Pro!!!

What's the cr - Wait a minute...guitars....blow torch?  What???

I've always been fascinated at how some things look very cool after they've been burned by fire.  I also saw how Jimi Hendrix's Strat looked after he burned it at the Monterey Pop festival and I also liked the way Steve Vai's burned Jem 7 string looked (There was an article on it in Guitar World Magazine in the late 80's).  I also read recently that Reeves Gabriels also burns all his gear. Anyway, once I decided I was going burn a guitar I started looking around for a new guitar to try it out on.  I soon found a very cool mint 86' Kramer Pacer in the Recycler and I purchased it from a guy in Whittier (I got a great deal on it!)  On the way home I stopped by Home Depot and bought a blow torch.  Well, as soon as I arrived home I disassembled the guitar in nothing flat (I actually have pictures around here somewhere of me burning the Kramer!)  Anyway, I found out a few things about burning guitars my first time around.  First off it looks best if the guitar is a light colored (The Kramer was white!)  The paint on some guitars is very very flammable and can be quite dangerous if the guitar is near anything that can catch on fire while you're doing the burning thing (I do it on my drive way after we move all the cars!)  When I started to burn the Kramer I noticed that if you got the paint hot enough that the paint would start popping like popcorn!  After I burned it to my taste I put a couple of coats of clear lacquer on it (I bought a can of it when I bought the torch!)  It was just the kind in the spray can.  Well, the experiment was a total success and the guitar looked very cool once I reassembled it.  I used the guitar for years as my main live guitar in NORTH.  Everybody that saw it was very fascinated with its look.  Even my friend Warren DeMartini thought it looked cool when he saw it while we were opening for RATT.  Well, after that I decided to hone my technique and have burned several other of my guitars ever since including a brand new Tipton guitar that is currently being built for me.  The new Tipton is the best burn job I've done to date.  Over the years I've got my technique and now put sparkles and write stuff on the bodies with a nail.  I also burned a new guitar that Carlson Guitars built for me that I'm currently waiting for delivery on.  (On a related note, the guitar was recently finished by the Carlson guys and was going to be delivered to me until the guitarist from Great White saw it when he went to the factory to pick up a guitar that they made for him for their March 2005 tour of Canada!  Well, once he saw my guitar he fell in love with the way it looked and sounded and talked the Carlson guys into letting him use the guitar as a back up for his guitar for the tour until they could make him one more guitar!)  Bill Tipton from Tipton guitars has mentioned that we might make a signature line of Ronny North Tipton guitars that I would personally burn and sign.  It all comes down to that I just wanted something that looked a little different.  Another benefit is that you no longer have to polish the guitar and the more it gets dinged up (From my sedate laid back style!) the cooler it looks!!!!  Here is a picture of the new burned Tipton Guitar.  These pictures were taken in the morning a couple hours before my near fatal car accident on Jan 8th!!  When we were in the accident we were on the way to Michael's (craft store) to get some more sparkles for the guitar before I sent it off to Tipton so they could put it together for me!!

Would you like to talk about the accident?

On Jan 8th, what happened was a 75 year old lady came across the yellow line into on-coming traffic floored it and tagged us head on!!  Well she hit us so hard that we actually spun around 3 times. The police said that they estimate that we hit at a combined speed of 75 mph!  Well my Montero was totaled and my girlfriend Arlene and I got messed up and have been seeing a doctor 3 times a week ever since.  I just recently got a new car last week and we're still a long way from getting the case settled!!  I guess it's great that we were able to walk away (The old Lady had to be cut out of her car by the Fire Dept!)  It takes a lot more than a Kamakazi crazy old lady in a Saturn to stop me!!

So, you wanna be a PGA Pro, huh?  Do you do much golfing?

I do try to play golf as much as possible. I have recently started to go to the driving range again to get my golf chops back. (My back injury from the accident has made it difficult to swing a golf club but I'm getting back into it slowly!)  I really do love the game and have actually been playing golf longer than I have been playing guitar.  I used to be very good when I was a kid and did quite well in tournaments.  (My friends and I would regularly ditch High School to play golf!)  I used to worship Jack Nicklaus and wanted to be a pro golfer in the worst way.  I can definitely hold my own and usually win.  I would like to start playing in tournaments again sometime soon but to be great in golf it takes a lot of practice and time is not something that I have a lot of these days.  I do play with my Dad on holidays and I also manage to play with a few friends.  (We have a golf group!)  We play every now and then when our busy schedules allow.  We have a great time and talk about all the latest industry gossip.  (Most of them are in the music industry from various major music companies!) I also play in the two tournaments a year that my Mom's bar sponsors (So far I haven't done well in any of them!) and I do go to the driving range when I get a chance just to stay in my groove.  My friend Mark is a PGA pro so he gives me pointers from time to time.  I use Taylor Made everything.  My gear is all pro stuff all I need to do is start playing like a pro.  On a related note, I've beat a lot of big rock stars on the course!! On that note, I was approached by MTV to do a rock and golf pilot.  They want to do a show where the host would play a round of golf with whatever Rock star they had on the show and they would interview them during the round while they were playing.  I was going to be the stand in Rock star for the pilot so they could interview me and ask me about my musical stuff.  They're even talking about possibly having a little jam at the end of each episode!  Truly a great game!!

What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

Crazy stuff?  I'd say that going to traffic school was pretty crazy as are any family functions (The Holidays!).  Arlene and I went to her friend's wedding a few years ago and this 40 something year old fat cowboy married a 25 year old skinny cute girl.  The Groom sang during the ceremony (He couldn't sing!!)  After they were married they went on their honeymoon with her parents and then moved in with them!  Is that crazy or scary?

Probably a little of both.  What would people be most surprised to know about you?

People would probably be surprised that I'm actually a very private person when I'm not doing the band thing.  Another thing that might surprise people is that I always listen to current pop, rap and dance music.  I also really like the current Spanish rock stuff!

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a kid I really wanted to be a pilot for some reason. I had tons of toy planes. As you can see I definitely chose a different career!

What was the first concert you ever attended? How old were you?

The first concert I went to was KISS at the LA Forum during the Love Gun Tour.  I was 13.  Cheap Trick was the opening band.  The Alive II record was actually recorded during the LA shows on that tour.  My Dad took the whole family to the show.  It was very cool!!!  I also managed to see Van Halen at the Golden West Ball Room in Norwalk and Randy Rhodes with Quiet Riot at the Starwood.  On a related note, I had just started playing guitar earlier that year!!

Do you play any other instruments? Have you in the past?

I actually started out playing piano at age 6 but quickly got bored and eventually got thrown out of music school because I beat up a stupid kid (He was asking for it!) These days I can play piano and bass as well as guitar.  I'd also like to mention that my parents were a big part of why I play today.  My Dad actually got my brother and I to take guitar lessons when we were very young.  Well, I really didn't take to it, since at that point I was really into sports.  Both my parents were very supportive.  My dad would actually take my brother and I to gigs since both of us were years away from being able to drive.  (My brother is a drummer so we grew up playing together!)  He also let us jam in the garage with our various bands.  This is really where I got my chops together.  On the gear side of things, my Mother really backed us as well once she saw we were serious about playing.  She bought my brother a drum set and got me my first guitar and a cool half stack once I started getting better.  Having our parents behind us definitely helped.  My guitar influences when I was starting out were Ace Frehley and then Eddie Van Halen after Van Halen 1 came out.  Eddie's playing was a major influence on my playing and still is to this day.  His playing on the Roth era VH records is amazing!!  I was also into Joe Perry (He looked so cool!), Michael Schenker, Alex Lifeson and Neil Giraldo.  When we were young, we used to play UFO and RUSH songs at Back yard parties.

Were you a lot of bands before you started your own instrumental group?

When I was young I was in all kinds of little bands with my brother on drums.  We did the whole back yard party thing which was a lot of fun and even managed to play some clubs around OC.  I played Gazzari’s on the Sunset Strip when I was 14.  It was my first time doing the Hollywood thing and meeting Bill Gazzari was definitely an adventure.  After that I was in a few Hollywood bands such as Jade, Kidd Comet and Forever Young.  My band NORTH was actually getting airplay all around the world before I put the project on hold to do my instrumental thing.  I also managed to do a couple of high profile auditions over the years as well.  In the end I decided I was much better off doing my own thing my own way.

So you’ve been around Hollywood for quite a while...Any funny celebrity encounters you can tell us about?

Celebrity encounters?  My girlfriend Arlene and I have a bunch since we often go to industry functions.  There are a couple that come to mind…one is Bringing in the new millennium at a private party that Poison was playing at.  I toasted in the New Year with my friend Robbie Crane from RATT.  It was also cool to hang with my buddy Rikki Rocket.  Everyone was at the party!!  Then there was meeting the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer backstage at Marilyn Manson.  On that note, I was actually invited to go outside and hangout by one of the female cast members!!  I passed….  Another memorable moment would be when I was meeting some friends for dinner at the Rainbow and our booth was between Vince Neil and his harem of blondes on one side and Kelly Osbourne and her Friends on the other.  Well Vince was very cool and would chat with us between him playing with his chicks.  On the other hand, Kelly just yelled at the restaurant staff the entire time complaining about everything and basically just making a big scene in front of everyone (Great Girl!!)

What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened at one of your gigs?

Weird stuff on stage? We've had a few over zealous fans and the usual flying girl's undergarments but nothing out of the ordinary!!!

So, is the rock & roll lifestyle all it’s cracked up to be?

The Rock and Roll lifestyle is definitely what you make of it.  When I was younger it was all about doing shows and ruling the Sunset Strip and living the lifestyle (Girls, girls, more girls and parties until dawn 24/7!)  Now days it's about going out and tearing it up on stage and having fun.  I also really enjoy meeting all the fans as well.  These days I rarely drink and I really don't go out if we're not playing.  When I do go out it's usually to see one of my friends play.  These days I'm much more business minded.  Boy times have changed!!!

Do you have a general philosophy on life?

I feel that in Life you really have to go for it since it only comes around once!!!

Talk about your new CDs…

In 2005 I will be putting out 3 new CD's In April I'll be releasing "Acoustify."  It's my first acoustic instrumental CD.  In May I'll be releasing Saturn Suicide Live, it's a live EP with songs from both my current and upcoming CD's.  Last but not least I will be putting out the long awaited follow up to Smeared.  The CD is called Psycho Barbie.  The first single "Benihana Breakdown" will be released in April.

What's in the future for the Ronny North Band?

The future for my band is that I will keep doing it until it's not fun anymore!!!

Anything else you'd like to mention that I haven't asked about?

I'd like to close by saying that I couldn't do anything without my crew. First and foremost, I'd like to thank my girlfriend Arlene.  She takes all of my pictures and definitely keeps me going.  I'd also like to thank my assistant Karen who takes care of all my business stuff and definitely makes my life a lot easier!!  Last but not least, I'd like to thank Tim Mahoney my Production Manager.  He keeps all my gear going and makes sure I have everything I need when I'm playing.  He's also a great friend and he puts up with me (Not easy by a long shot!!!)  I'd also like to mention my drummer and close friend Jason Lee who has stuck with me through thick and thin!!!  I'd also like to thank all of my sponsors for all their support and for believing in me!!