Interview: ROSS MC EWEN
Hello Ross,
how are you doing? I am happy that I got the chance of talking to you ... and so here I got
some questions for you:
1. Please introduce yourself to my german readers first.
Ross: Hallo deutschland! I'm Ross McEwen, I'm a rock guitarist at the moment based in Scotland, UK. I currently perform with the rock band ROADWAY and have just began performing with former RAINBOW vocalist Doogie White, I was also a member of the Scottish rock band KETIMINE DECO, we played/toured with bands like The Quireboys, Nazareth, Wishbone Ash, Jefferson Starship and a load of others. As well as performing as a guitarist I am also a University Lecturer in Music at the University Of The West Of Scotland. Having a great time doing it and more than happy to talk to the ROCKET QUEEN!
2. Well you got many musical projects running like Roadway and Ketimine Deco and The Blues
Affair. So how do you manage to be part of 3 bands? Would you like to tell us something more
about your bands please?
Ross: It`s very hard work, Ketimine Deco have recently split up, but we gigged all the time all over the country. With all the bands I play with i handle all of the organisational and planning stages of tours and recordings. From booking the travel and transport, to promoting the gigs, and booking rehearsals etc. So I probably give myself far more work than I need to but I enjoy doing it and most of the time I can do it quite successfully.
ROADWAY are a band which are just preparing to release their first CD release. We are a classic rock band with a more heavy edge to our music and a good groove. We have spent the last year and a half recording and fine tuning our sound wanting to develop our own rock sound and make sure we can perform it to 100% every time! WATCH THIS SPACE
The Blues Affair are a blues band i put together with members from ROADWAY in early 2010, we have an EP of original blues material which features guest performances from some of the Mariann Faithful band and just acts as a fun jamming band anyone can come in and be involved with. The next person who will be working with us on material is Spike from The Quireboys. www.myspace.com/thebluesaffair.com
3. You have written the song "This is why" (Roadway) and got the great opportunity you got
Doogie White singing it.... how did you persuade him of singing YOUR song? How did you meet?
Ross: I first met Doogie in 2008 at a gig in Glasgow he was playing with some members of The Sensational Alex Havey Band, as a huge RAINBOW fan I was very familiar with Doogie's work. I met him a few more times at gigs he was doing after that and we shared many red wines and rock stories together, and then I bumped into him backstage at a DIO concert in London, got chatting for ages (as fellow Scotsmen do) and kept in touch. I was desperate to work with him on something and ROADWAY was just being put together at the time so I asked him if he wouldnt mind singing on a song for the band? and luckily!...he agreed! the resulting song "This Is Why" I wrote for Doogie as the kind of song which could allow him to use all the different elements of his voice, its a simple song but I think Doogie did a fantastic job on it, I'm very proud of it. It can be heard on the site player at www.rmmonline.net
Doogie White with Ross Mc Ewen
4. Yesterday you played a concert with Doogie as special guest. How was the concert, how
many people came out to see you and what where the reactions of the crowd?
Ross: I played 2 concerts with Doogie last weekend (10th/11th December) in the Highlands of Scotland, we also did a special acoustic radio performance which was also filmed. The shows were simply amazing, Doogie as a live vocalist gives 110% everytime and just blows everyone away...both on stage and in the crowd :p
Our first concert was in my home city of Inverness, the venue was absolutley packed! You couldn't move! and the crowd were great! Sang a long to all the big hits and screamed so loud at the end of songs, clapped their hands in the air it was magic, a truly brilliant crowd and we got back up for 2 encores each night, (Stargazer and Long Live Rock n'Roll as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio). Doogie and us in the band had a terrific time. We were performing as his backing band playing a set of RAINBOW hits from all the different eras (DIO, Bonnet, Turner, White) as well as a few Deep Purple hits, Cornerstone material and other post and pre RAINBOW material of Doogie's.
Good news is we will be touring in Summer 2011 as the Doogie White band again. Can't wait, Doogie and the rest of the guys are truly professional and great fun, its going to be awesine :-)
5. What is Roadway doing at the moment? Are you writing new material? What else is planned?
Ross: ROADWAY are just about to start finishing their debut EP, we have a lot of material that has been recorded, all simple classic rock with a modern edge to it, we are just picking the best material to focus on at currently and the CD should be finished before the middle of next year with touring to be started not long after that.
6. Do you plan to play over here in Germany some time soon also?
Ross: I'd love to, I have a lot of friends in bands over there, my girlfriend actually is from Germany and lives there currently and my own family are all German but I've never had the opportunity to perform there myself, it's a place I'd really like to get to it just depends what offers we get from Germany.
ROADWAY I think will have the opportunity to tour a bit of Germany once the CD is out and we see what the response is. Doogie performs a lot in Germany as well with a Deep Purple backing band called "Demon's Eye" but who knows, maybe one day we'll go over with him to play, they would be killer shows!
7. What are your current projects you try to realize at the moment?
Ross: The Doogie White gigs have been the main project for me for the last few months, we now have some time off from that before playing again next year so now its time to get ROADWAY up to speed and get the CD finished and released. I started a job as a music lecturer in a University in September so still getting used to that so there are a few projects I am still drawing up at the moment but I have very very little free available time to commit to any new projects and I travel a lot which makes it hard. At the moment my musical projects are just ROADWAY and progressing with Doogie White work.
8. I visited your photogallery on your homepage. And from what I have seen you already met many great rock musicians. So what would you say was the most impressing meeting you had and why?
Ross: Yeah I've been very lucky in that I have met most of my heroes, and did so at a young age. I was 15 when I first met Ronnie James Dio, that was a life changing experience and I got to meet Ronnie many times after that before his untimely death. Always a gentleman and willing to chat about anything. Mostly everyone I've met has been great with a few exceptions...no names though :p
Meeting David Coverdale was perhaps one of the most special and "impressive" moments, It was in Florida in 2005, I'd just seen my first Whitesnake show and the band were having a BBQ afterwards outside the venue and I sat by myself for 2 hours waiting for David and he eventually turned up and he posed for a photo with me and that remains one of my favourite pictures. I'm not really a fan of autographs but love getting pictures taken, I am still in touch with most of the musicians I've met.
9. You created a studio at your home. How long did it take and how did you arranged it?
Ross: It took a while, when I first recorded with Doogie White he did all his vocals at his home studio to save time/money etc and it gave me the idea to make my own. and as I was spending so much money at the time driving to Glasgow (5 hours away from my home) to record it just made sense to make my own place in my home. It took me a while to source the equipment I needed as I wanted it to be designed to record guitars for different projects I had going on, it would save money on travelling and speed up the process.
I have a degree in Commercial Music so I knew enough about recording to do what I needed to do and spent about 4 months on and off putting it all together. The main thing about it all is that I wanted it also to be portable also, so everything I put in, could be taken out again easily if I had to travel. All the guitars for the ROADWAY CD have been done at my studio and taking it to all the other guys houses, the vocals as well have been done in everyones homes by taking the parts of the studio I needed with me in a few cases and in the car. Easy :-) and I think the results are all sounding pretty good.
We are getting everything mastered at a studio called EMPIRE studios in Germany by Rolf Munkes, so he can fix any mistakes I make with recording :-p
10. Last but not least please leave a message for all your fans and future fans?
Ross: Keep supporting classic rock, its the best music on the planet and with so many people new and experienced playing it all over the world now has never been a better time to get involved with it. Please keep an eye out for the ROADWAY release next year and hopefully I'll be seeing you either with ROADWAY or Doogie very soon! Take care and have a great Christmas!
Tschuse!
Ross
x
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