Guitarist Tony Hernando is a founding member of the band Lords of Black, alongside singer Ronnie Romero. He is the driving force behind the Restless Spirits project. The new Lords of Black album “Alchemy of Souls Pt1” was released by Frontiers Music on 6th November. I had the opportunity to talk with Tony via Skype on 4th November to chat about that new album and ongoing work with both Lords of Black and Restless Spirits.
The interview is included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 6th November. That Show also includes an interview with guitarist Reb Beach from Winger and Whitesnake and it is now available from our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interviews-with-reb-beach-and-tony-hernando-on-the-friday-ni-rocks-show-6th-nov-2020/
The interview can be read below.
Playlist for the Show
SCREAMING EAGLES – Rock n Roll Soul
REB BEACH – Aurora Borealis
Interview with REB BEACH Part 1 (6 min)
REB BEACH – Little Robots
Interview with REB BEACH Part 2 (9 min)
BLACK SWAN – Immortal Souls
Interview with REB BEACH Part 3 (8 min)
REB BEACH – Attack of the Massive
WHITESNAKE – Hey You (You Make Me Rock)
WINGER – Deal With The Devil
LORDS OF BLACK – Dying to Live Again
Interview with TONY HERNANDO Part 1 (6 min)
LORDS OF BLACK – Shadows Kill Twice
Interview with TONY HERNANDO Part 2 (6 min)
RESTLESS SPIRITS – Stop Livin’ To Live Online
Interview with TONY HERNANDO Part 3 (5 min)
LORDS OF BLACK – Alchemy of Souls
Interview with TONY HERNANDO Part 4 (4 min)
LORDS OF BLACK – Brightest Star
NI ROCKS – Hi Tony, thanks for taking some time to talk to us. The new Lords of Black album is released this Friday. We just played a track from the album called “Dying to Live Again”. What can you tell us about that track?
TONY – I think it’s a very good opener for the new album and a song that pretty much set the vibe, at least lyrically, for much of the album. It’s a good opener I think. A very powerful and yet melodic track and the lyrics are for the current times very appropriate. It’s like a call to arms, a call for awakening. Definitely I feel that we dying to live again because of this situation.
NI ROCKS – It’s a great track. The new album is called “Alchemy of Souls Pt1”. Where was it recorded and who did you work with in terms of production, mixing etc.
TONY – Again, as in previous records, we used several recording studios here in Spain. Then I went to Slovakia with Roland Grapow, former guitarist of Helloween and now with Masterplan. He’s an engineer and producer who has been working with us, pretty much like he was the fifth member of the band. Roland is such a great co-producer and one of my best friends in business and it’s great having him in the team.
NI ROCKS – When did writing actually start for the new album?
TONY – January 2019. When I was writing these songs I didn’t know that many of the lyrics, themes and titles were going to be prophetic; with the things that are currently going on in the world right now. I had that strange feeling; a very weird feeling that something was going on, that something was cooking; that something strange was coming somehow! I think “Alchemy of Souls”, the lyrics, the topics and the themes I’m talking about through the lyrics are very appropriate for the current times; but in a positive way. Like with “Dying To Live Again” I like to approach dark issues or dark matters in a positive way, not a negative way.
NI ROCKS – This is the first album for new drummer Jo Nunez, leaving yourself and Ronnie as the only original members of the band. Was it difficult finding a replacement for Andres Cobos and how did you find Jo?
TONY – I knew Jo from playing with Firewind and Marty Friedman. We had played in a few festivals together. I liked his drumming and his style. He came down for the auditions and it was immediately clear that he was so powerful that he uplifted the songs to another level. So it was clear that he was the man.
NI ROCKS – Touring of course isn’t an option at the moment, with the covid crisis, but does the band have any plans for live shows in 2021?
TONY – In the current situation, where nobody knows what it is going to be next week; I feel that it is very irresponsible right now to talk about serious touring schedule for next year. Ronnie and I have been talking about doing something for the second half of 2021, but again with the situation right now no one knows what it is going to be really, so I am feel it very naive and irresponsible to be talking to fans or promoters to advance money for tickets or budgets. People need their money right now for their next rent or next food, or something like that. So I think it’s very irresponsible talking about touring right now; but hopefully things get better and clear and maybe second half of 2021 might be possible.
NI ROCKS – That makes a lot of sense and is a good way of looking at it. We’ll play another track from “Alchemy of Souls” now. Do you want to pick a track and tell us something about it?
TONY – Let’s go with “Shadows Kill Twice”. It’s a song that has different sides. It’s a very melancholic intro with piano and guitar and then comes some in your face riffs. The lyrics are about standing your ground and fighting for your beliefs and your moral codes in this current world where so many disgusting and evil narratives are taking over every day with a lot of oriented psychology for money polluting the masses and everything. I’m talking about that in this song.
NI ROCKS – You released a number of solo albums between 2000 and 2010, and earlier this year the Restless Spirits album was released by Frontiers. That was largely a solo album, but with you working with a different vocalists. Why was the decision taken to call the project Restless Spirits rather than just using your own name?
TONY – Because I felt that all the people involved in that project, just like myself, we are like restless spirits in some way. I thought it was a good moniker for that album which was more hard rock than AOR oriented, and also I remembered that when I decided to go with that name, that ‘restless spirits’ was in the very first phrase of the song “Women” by Def Leppard on the album “Hysteria” and I loved that. I loved that album and I love that band and all of a sudden “Restless Spirits” resonated to me as the right way to go.
NI ROCKS – Deen Castronovo plays drums on all the tracks on the album and also sings on three of the tracks. Had you worked with Deen before and how did you link up with him?
TONY – No, it was the first time that I met him, and it was one of the best experiences that I have had in my life. He’s such an incredible drummer, and singer of course; but also a restless spirit and a beautiful heart and soul. A very sensitive guy and a very nice guy. It was very special because he fell in love with the songs and with most of the lyrics; like feeling the lyrics very personal to him. It was a great experience. Definitely one of the highlights in my life, because when I was very young, and listening to all the instruments and records of my guitar heroes and everything, Deen was one of the names that was almost on every one of those records. So, I aways wanted to do an album with him. So, dreams do come true sometimes.
NI ROCKS – There are five other vocalists on the album. Did you know who you wanted to work with from the outset when you were writing the tracks or was that determined as you went along?
TONY – Both. I knew that I was going to have Johnny Gioeli; that was mandatory for me. And I knew that I was working with Deen of course, because I already knew he was doing to be playing drums, so I wanted to take advantage of him being a great vocalist. Kent Hilli from the Swedish band Perfect Plan, was one of the other guys that I really wanted to try for this project, because this guy has a beautiful, beautiful voice, very much in the vain of Jimi Jamison or people like that. I really wanted Kent and it turned out to be a great decision because we made a song that is really beautiful and powerful (“I Remember Your Name”). The rest of the guys I didn’t know at that time. It was much more a situation around availability of those guys during the process.
NI ROCKS – One of those singers was Diego Valdez from Dream Child. Was that track recorded whilst he was briefly part of the Lords of Black line-up?
TONY – Yeah. When I worked with Diego on that particular track for Restless Spirits it was a good way of checking if this guy and I could work together and get along well and everything. And definitely, we got along very well from the beginning. He did a terrific job on that song and a few months later, Ronnie decided to leave the band and Diego was one of the options, and specifically the option that the record label wanted me to go with. I tried with Diego and actually co-wrote some of the lyrics on this album with him, but during the process we both felt that the chemistry wasn’t really there for Lords of Black. We might work very well for other music, but for Lords of Black, we didn’t feel that we were doing the right thing, so we decided to go our separate ways. Then I got Ronnie back in the band.
NI ROCKS – We’ll play a track from the Restless Spirits album now. Do you want to pick a track and tell us something about it?
TONY – Let’s go with the opening track, “Stop Livin’ To Live Online”, that is obviously, as you can imagine from the title, I’m talking about these stupid times we are living in right now; all the time consumed by social media and this modern technology that is all the time de-humanising us in some way, in my opinion. Better to be living a real life than living a sham through socials and stuff like that; that many people do unfortunately.
NI ROCKS – Getting back to the Lords of Black album. The fact that it is called Part 1 would suggest that plans are already in the works for the follow up. How far progressed is Part 2 and when do you think we might see it being released?
TONY – Yeah, actually I’m almost done with the writing of the second part, because with the situation right now that we don’t know when we are going to be performing live, Ronnie and I have agreed on maybe going quicker with the recording of the new album. As soon as possible. In that way, we don’t waste any time and maybe we can be supporting both albums at the same time at any time in the next year. So we are actually working on the second part.
NI ROCKS – Traditionally there has been a two year gap between albums, but that is going to change this time. It’s going to be less than a year possibly between them then?
TONY – Yeah, definitely. You can expect a 2021 release for the second part. We as a band have been together for six years and have been releasing an album every two years. If we didn’t have the problems we had with Ronnie, maybe now we would be talking about the sixth or seventh album of the band, I don’t know. I like to think that this band will at least release an album every two years – it’s not a bad timing.
NI ROCKS – You mentioned there that most bands are using the time during the current crisis to do more writing and recording. You mentioned you were working on the Lords of Black. Is there any chance of doing another Restless Spirits album too?
TONY – Yeah, absolutely. We have been talking about this. It depends on the availability of some of the guys that I want to keep on the project. Because of continuity and currency of the project, I would like to have at least three of the guys from the first record on the new one. It depends on their schedules and their availability. So we’ll see! In the meantime, I’m also working on another project and I can’t tell you right now about that, but I’m working on another project as well.
NI ROCKS – One of the singers on the Restless Spirits album was Dino Jelusic from Animal Drive. He has also worked on with George Lynch and others. Is he one of the singers that you’d like to work with again on something?
TONY – Yeah, absolutely, Dino is such a great singer. One of the best one the scene right now. It’s very rare, because he is so young, and he is one of those guys that really knows everything about classic singers like Ronnie Dio, Ray Gillen, everyone! It’s very rare for a young guy, praising all those old guys as being his influences, and definitely I would like to work with Dino again.
NI ROCKS – We’ll play another track from “Alchemy of Souls” now. Again do you want to pick a track and tell us something about it?
TONY – Let’s go with “Alchemy of Souls”. That is the long, epic song on the album. It’s something we love to do and our fans love and expect on every album, one very long song. This one starts very softly with my nylon Spanish guitar, setting the mood for the long and epic song of this album. It’s a very special song I think with very deep and reflecting lyrics, and Ronnie is singing in an unbelievable way.
NI ROCKS – You were a member of the band Saratoga for a few years, releasing three studio albums and a live album. Is there any chance that you might work with that band again?
TONY – I don’t think so. I don’t want to go to the past if you know what I mean. I don’t think that is a relevant musical proposal for me to do any time, present or future. So, I don’t think so.
NI ROCKS – I couldn’t let you go without talking about the late Eddie Van Halen (who passed away a few weeks earlier). You’d posted a few things on social media. How much of an influence would you say Eddie was on your playing?
TONY – Everywhere! As a guitar player of course, both rhythmically and as a lead player. The whole thing about him, was that he was just a genius, an inventor, the guy that definitely made everything possible on the guitar for all of us after him. Not only him, as a guitar player, but the band itself. Everything that we know about hard rock and heavy metal and lead guitar wouldn’t be the same without him, so it has been a tremendous loss in an already horrible year.
NI ROCKS – Yes, definitely. It hit everybody hard I think. Who else would you list as your big influences?
TONY – In the beginning, my very first guitar hero was Vivian Campbell, because I was very into Dio and into the “Holy Diver” and “Last In Line” albums. I was very much into Vivian Campbell and any one, like Vivian himself, who was a Gary Moore influenced guy. Gary Moore, of course, John Sykes, Vivian Campbell, Richie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Schenker, Brian May. Later on, I went to the more clinical guys like Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai. All those guys were a huge influence on me back in the day.
NI ROCKS – For all the guitar fans out there, can you tell us which guitars you used principally on the new Lords of Black album?
TONY – I’ve been playing Ibanez guitars for as long as I can remember. I’ve been endorsed by them and have artist support and everything. Ibanez all the way in Lords of Black and all my other albums.
NI ROCKS – We’ll finish by playing one more track from “Alchemy of Souls”. Can you pick a track and tell us something about it?
TONY – Let’s go with “Brightest Star”. That is a very different song. A little more prog; and I’m talking about, you know that expression, ‘only the good die young’? Normally, those most powerful hearts, those who give more than they receive, are like stars and because they have so much energy and intensity they get consumed quicker as well. They leave a trace of life, a guide and inspiration for others. Anyone can make this song and it’s message their own; thinking about someone of that nature, just like I did when I wrote the song.
NI ROCKS – Thanks for taking the time to talk to us and best of luck with the new album.
TONY – Thank you much for having me. Stay strong over there and stay safe. I hope you like the album.