WRIF Virtual Rock Room with Falling in Reverse's Ronnie Radke
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00:00Thank you so much for watching Riff TV. Now this interview is obviously with video, but I don't
00:05interview everybody on Zoom. That's why I put it on my Talkin' Rock with Meltdown podcast. We talk
00:10to rock artists from all over the genre. So check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown wherever you get
00:15your podcasts. And now to today's video interview. There you are. Ronnie, how you doing, man? Good,
00:23man. How you doing? I'm doing great. Where are you at, by the way? What was that? Is it a warehouse
00:27or something? It's my stream room. This is a bunch of merch I give away on my Twitch streams.
00:33Oh, that's cool. So how's things going for you? Good. Actually, after this, I have a studio
00:39upstairs and I'm going to go record another radio song. For sure, radio song. It's really good.
00:46Oh, is that right? Now, wait a second. So you've only released the two songs this year?
00:50Did I? Yeah, Zomphified and Voices in My Head, right?
00:54Voices in My Head. Yeah, that's it. So when can we expect a full record or is this kind
00:59of like your M.O. for right now? I can't tell you when, but I'm just making a bunch of songs
01:06right now. You know, I don't want to give it away. I don't like giving stuff away. I don't
01:12like when bands are on their video shoots and they're like posting it on Instagram in real
01:17time. Their outfits and their and the way it looks. And I hate that. I think that just
01:23gives away. There's no mystique anymore. So just telling people exactly when something's
01:28going to happen and they get expectations and then it's a probability of being let down
01:35by something is higher. And there's just it's just this element of surprise is so great for
01:41things like this because you don't know what to expect or when to expect it. So you don't
01:46have expectations, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I was just telling somebody the other day, I think
01:50it was three years ago that Slash told me Guns N' Roses was recording a new record. So
01:54we know how that went so far. Well, it's always like that, right? Yeah, it is like that.
02:02Sometimes there's no doubt about it. So so how has this past year treated you? Oh, it's
02:06fantastic. I mean, Zombified went number one on on alt rock. I mean, alt rock, active rock,
02:13you know, and then Voices in My Head looks like it's projected to be number one here, which
02:21is for me, that's so awesome because radio is so important when it comes to making your
02:28band larger. And, you know, it's the next step, you know, and I've just been so blessed
02:34that people have taken a chance and played my music and stuff like that. And it's, you
02:38know, it's out streaming and doing all these crazy numbers. And I mean, I can't be any more
02:43grateful for that. I'll tell you that. I want to ask you a question that a fan actually
02:47submitted. This girl actually won on my radio show the other day. And as I was taking her
02:51information, she says, I want to go see Fallen in Reverse so bad. And I and she goes, oh, thanks
02:56for following me on Instagram, talking to me. And so I went on her page and she had one of
02:59your one of your hoodies on and stuff like that. So I messaged her and I said, hey, send me a
03:03question. And so she said, your inspiration and your influence on music has been a very
03:08passionate connection with your fans. Voices in my head, you go through such an elaborate
03:12interpretation of your own demons and what your own mental health struggles you may face.
03:16What drives you to talk about such unuttered topics within your songs, such as mental health
03:22and full accountability for oneself? I think I've always been like that. And I just wear my heart
03:29on my sleeve. It opens me up for to be attacked and heard a little bit more and stuff like
03:35that. But it's it's more worth it because I'm playing the long game, you know, and I don't
03:41want to be I've never been a superficial kind of guy and stuff. I'm not saying I'm real or
03:46anything. I'm just saying that, you know, I don't want like the, you know, like if you
03:51listen to popular monster, I mean, it's straight up. So it's hard to talk about or sing
03:57about or whatever, you know, it's very direct. I've always been direct with my lyrics. And
04:01I'm not really the kind of guy that likes to make too many crazy analogies, you know, sometimes,
04:08but I just like to be very direct of what I'm going through. And I mean, it helps because
04:14the songs have exploded, you know, so that means a lot of people understand that, that,
04:19you know, that's the only reason, you know, they're listening to the lyrics and the melodies
04:23and stuff like that. So it feels like a lot of people are going through that.
04:27Yeah. So and as I've talked with, with several artists over the past several years doing
04:32interviews, there's somewhat of a cathartic release, right?
04:36Yeah, because then you like, over time, yeah, you people are like, Oh, I get that too, man.
04:44I'm a I'm a military vet. And I get a lot of that. I'm a military vet. I think I see that
04:50the most, not the most, but I see that a lot. I think it just rings true to me when it comes
04:55to that kind of stuff. When you see, like, military vets and stuff like that going through
05:01and they say that I'm like, dang, this is reaching not just some seen kids, you know,
05:07with their hair and you know what I mean? It's like reaching like a full spectrum of people
05:12in general, not not just like a niche market. So yeah, I was gonna say like a broader spectrum
05:18for sure. Yeah. So yeah, the videos are out and the videos are kind of cool. And it seems it's
05:23the videos are kind of like, I mean, obviously, they're like mini movies, these videos, and it
05:27almost looks like they're where they recorded like in the same place on the same soundboard
05:31soundstage. No, I imply it with the city, you know, but just to like keep a connection. I love
05:40connecting all the videos in one way or another. If you pay attention even closer or watch it a hundred
05:45times, whatever you'll be able to tell. But sometimes it's green screen. Sometimes it's
05:50like a city location, you know, stuff like that. But it is it's larger budgets for sure. And I've
05:57seen bands hire my guy and try to do what I do. And it's a little aggravating. I'm not gonna lie.
06:02Like, like, bro, I get it. Hire, hire my guy, get it. Hire my producer. I understand you're not
06:09going to get the same outcome. But don't look like me. You know what I mean? It's like, there's videos
06:14right now. I'm just like, man, find your own guy, you know, but you can't get they got to make
06:19money. You know what I mean? So it's just like, it's a compliment. It's annoying, though, but it's
06:24a compliment. You have a certain vision in your head, I'm sure of what you're going for, right?
06:29Yeah, yeah, I do. And it's awesome. And, you know, I just don't like seeing a bunch of people doing
06:36the trying to do the same thing, you know, like the large music videos, budgets, it's non existent.
06:43And before that, you haven't, you didn't really see that the weekend, you know, the weekend,
06:47that guy, singer, he had those in his own realm. But not not a lot of other, have you noticed any
06:54other like rock artists, they don't, no labels want to do that. You know what I mean? I'm very
07:00fortunate. I really try my hardest to, like, put the money in and the effort in to, you know,
07:09because it's all about the fans and the viewers perspective, you know, it, it's got to look
07:14expensive. It's got to look good. And, and, you know, it's for the for the fans, you know, so
07:19now, if I'm not mistaken, correct me if I'm wrong, are you going to be 40 next month?
07:23No, 39. 39. Okay, sorry about that. Yeah, it's fine. Gen Z has considered me 40 for like 10 years.
07:32So, well, I was going to say, because you've kind of grown up where videos were kind of really cool,
07:36then all of a sudden they went out. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So you want Yeah, you know,
07:41you know, of course, you know, remember when videos were super cool, man, it used to be so cool. And
07:46MTV, there was like, you know, a reason why people wanted the videos cool, because MTV,
07:53but who cares, YouTube, people are going to see it if they if it's good, they're going to want to
07:58try to see it. So wherever it is, they're going to go see it, you know, so YouTube is like MTV now.
08:03I guess, you know, so I'm just going to go off with videos and stuff like that. So yeah,
08:09because you were talking about, you know, spending the money and stuff. And I can remember in the late
08:1290s, when I think a Limp Bizkit had the most expensive video ever known to man. And
08:16you know, now that's been surpassed, I'm sure. Yeah. Back then, there was like million dollar
08:22budgets, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's when labels would pay for that, you know, it helps.
08:29I mean, I don't understand why people don't do that. Maybe they want to save the money for
08:34themselves or something. I don't care about spending the money. It's my money. My label always tells me
08:38like, well, that's your money, man. So if this is what you want to do with it, I'm like, this is what I
08:44want to do with it. It's for the fans. Yeah. You got to give the fans a visual experience.
08:48Correct. Exactly. Yeah. So you got the shows coming up here, if I'm not mistaken. Is it is only the
08:53four shows here in December? I think they're all sold out too, right?
08:57Yeah, they sold out. I don't know how long ago they sold out like the first week or maybe or
09:01something like that. That's what my manager was saying. They're smaller shows. They're like
09:052000 cap rooms or something like that or 3000. But I'm excited. You know, it feels like more
09:14intimate with the fans. We're going to go crazy, you know? Yeah, it's cool to get out there and be
09:19like right in front of them as opposed to like being at maybe maybe a festival or something where
09:23there's more fans, but you're not right in front of their face. Yeah, it's like punk rock. Yeah,
09:28right. Exactly. For sure. And of course, you're playing St. Andrew's Hall here in Detroit,
09:31which has a huge history with I mean, all sorts of bands playing there from Nirvana to you name
09:36the band. So it's an M&M. Yeah, M&M. Right. Yeah. Down the shelter. Right. I love that. I love
09:42M&M. So that that's so sick to me. Yeah, I played there a couple of times. And, you know, it's kind
09:47of run down. But I mean, it is what it is. You just got to remember where you're at. And it's like
09:52there's like a chicken wings place across that I always used to get. Yes, we water tavern. The place is
09:58delicious. I don't know about now, but it used to be super good. So yeah, somebody told me about
10:04that. I think Ed from Collective Soul told me about that. It took me about a year and a half to get
10:08down there. But I finally went down there and growing up in Buffalo and having wings. Oh, they were
10:12pretty good, actually. Really good. Yeah. Buffalo is wing central, isn't it? Yeah. Well, they'd like
10:17to think so. So that's where it was, I guess. But so, well, earlier this year, of course, did you ever
10:23think you were getting some sort of internet, you know, tipped with Sebastian Bach? No, I didn't.
10:30But, you know, I stand my ground and I just stand by what I believe in. He's so rude. He's rude. But,
10:36you know, I'm not going to name some pretty prominent people that music DM'd me. Made me feel a lot
10:41better. Like, I don't want to call them out because, you know what I mean? Understandable,
10:47yeah. But they're on my side. And even some famous wrestlers, too, honestly. Some huge,
10:54like, legendary wrestlers hit me up, too. And they were like, he's always been an asshole,
10:59you know? So I'm like, what do you mean? I didn't know this. I had no idea. It's like, yeah, look.
11:04And then he shows me screen. I'm like, God, he's so rude to a lot of people. Like, oh, my God.
11:09But yeah, it started because I said I couldn't play the show because our laptops were like our engine
11:15and I stand by that. I mean, half of my biggest song is almost multi-platinum. And it was number
11:23one on the radio. And literally 60% of the song is literally a rap beat, dude. I mean, like,
11:30am I supposed to, like, they don't understand that. They just don't get it. It's not like Skid Row or,
11:39you know, Motley Crue. Even Motley Crue. Nikki Sixx came to my defense, man. I think that's super cool.
11:44So he defended me, too. So, yeah.
11:49Yeah. For those that don't know, earlier this year, you were without your laptop.
11:53And therefore, like you said, it was your engine and you had some certain backing tracks and stuff.
11:58Exactly.
11:59I'll let you speak for yourself, but correct me if I'm wrong. You sing the songs and your guys play
12:03the music and stuff, but there are certain things and certain, like, soundscapes that you can't
12:07create live. Is that what you're saying?
12:08Yeah. I mean, for anybody that's like a dinosaur that doesn't understand what I'm saying right now,
12:13that's literally a dinosaur. Every single band that you've heard in the past 20 years has laptops.
12:22Kiss. I mean, all these older bands, they have laptops. I mean, we use laptops. We cannot. I will
12:28not go on stage without a laptop. It has a click track to keep the time. It has rap beats that we
12:34cannot perform without our biggest song. Fans will be very let down if we don't play Popular Monster or
12:41Voices in My Head because Voices in My Head is just a new mix. It's like a different way to
12:47operate. So, you know, so it is. It's like the engine. Without it, we can't operate. We're the
12:53parts of the engine and it helps. I mean, yeah, I can sing acapella. It's not going to sound as good.
12:59It's going to, you know what I mean? I don't know what they want from me. I think they're just mad.
13:03I don't know. They're mad. Well, let me ask you about this. Not being a musician, never having
13:07sang anything on stage before. You're talking about the click tracks in your heads and stuff
13:11and you're in your, your inners, I'm assuming, correct? Yeah. Okay. So when you're, when you've
13:16got those click tracks, you're playing to that. Is there, is there like a, does it feel a little
13:20bit confined sometimes that you have to stay within that realm? I take it. I take an ear out. I need to
13:26hear the crowd. I have one ear in and one ear out. Okay. Got you. I can hear it. And then one
13:30ear out. I need to be able to hear the crowd. Well, I guess, I guess by confined, I mean with
13:34the song, like for example, if you wanted to do a little bit, something longer in the interlude or
13:38whatever the case. Oh, you have to stick to the script. Yeah. Like, uh, because you'll get off
13:42time or something. Yeah. Uh, no. Cause I say I'll sing a different melody or I'll sing something else,
13:47but I mean, the drummer's a drummer. You're going to have, you have to, you have to play the part.
13:52Hey, if you don't, it's not going to sound good. And the audience is not going to appreciate it.
13:56They come here to hear what it sounds like, like on the record, you know,
14:00that's why the, when they leave, they're like, you guys sound like the album. It's awesome,
14:03you know, or better, you know, but, um, you know, and you know, it's funny. It's just all
14:08my fans came to my backing and stuff like that. And with that, that scenario, I'm like, bro,
14:14if you think I'm, I'm faking it, just go on YouTube and watch any video and tweet me a video
14:19where it looks like I'm faking it and nobody can, we don't, there's no like faking it. We're not
14:25faking it. We just need rap. We need our rap beats. We need our sense. You know,
14:29we could have like 25 people on stage if that's what makes Sebastian Bach happy. I'm sure it
14:36doesn't, nobody else would care, but you know what I mean? Like 25, six different fucking keyboard
14:41players. I mean, yeah, let me, let me, let me hire, let me get two more buses on tour,
14:47which will cost $250,000 and pay their pay in hotels. And just so Sebastian Bach is like,
14:54that's real, you know? So I don't know. Yeah. That is something, you know? Yeah. It's,
15:00I just saw, I just saw a band the other day. I'm not going to say who it was, but it,
15:04it looked like they were using quite the tracks as far as I'm concerned. You know, I don't know.
15:09I guess, I guess some things as far as, as far as me, I think some things should be real,
15:13but if you're kind of like your vocals, yeah. Right. Like the lead singer, I do not lip sync. And,
15:19uh, I dare anybody to go try to find a video of me ever lip syncing from 2005 all the way to now,
15:25you're not going to find it. I refuse to lip sync. I'll just cancel the show. If my voice is
15:30gone or something, you know what I mean? I would never do that. It's not about the money.
15:33And that's why people get mad that I cancel shows. I'm not going to lip sync, you know?
15:37So I challenge anybody to try to find a video of me lip syncing. You can't,
15:41you know, and some people, you know, they'll call me out and say, you are,
15:45and I'll be like, no, that's my vocal. And then it's like a huge compliment for me,
15:49you know, cause I'm proud of, uh, of being able to sing and stuff like that live,
15:54you know, um, you can tell, you know what I mean? If you've been doing this a long time
15:58and been to a lot of shows, you can tell the difference. And it's just usually people on
16:02the internet that say that, you know, nobody at the shows, you know, it's like,
16:07you know what I'm saying? So yeah, that, yeah, no, exactly. That's the world we live in right now.
16:10Right. Yeah. One second. I'm so sorry, dude. Hold on one second.
16:15Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you just fine. Yeah. Everything else.
16:18There's a, there's a call here. I'm in the middle of this. I'll just call him back. It's fine.
16:24So anyways, I was going to say, uh, one of my friends bands, I'm not going to say who it is,
16:27but, uh, they actually don't have a light guy with them and, uh, they use a click track and they go
16:32to that click track and their lights are actually hooked in each song individually. So once again,
16:36they cannot veer off that path or else the lights will be all screwed up.
16:39Exactly. The lighting, the lighting, the lab, like the lighting, the tracks, dude,
16:46I hate to do this, but Aerosmith uses tracks, man. And you know, like, you know what I mean?
16:53Like, I mean, kiss literally has literally vocal tracks, man. And like this guy, like Eddie trunk,
16:59that's supposed to be this rock connoisseur of like history buff and stuff like that knows this.
17:04And he still talks crap. I just, he defends them, but like talks crap about newer artists. And I
17:10just, I just never understand that. It's like, no, no, you tweeted, you tweeted to him. Did he
17:14ever take you up on your, uh, offer to, to do an interview with him? Uh, no, it would help his
17:20ratings, but no, you know, like I, I, I'm not trying to be rude. He's not, you know, he would
17:25subtweet me. You wouldn't tweet me back. He would subtweet me. And then everybody would attack him
17:29because of it. He's just not brave enough to say it to me because he knows, because he knows I'm
17:34right. I mean, it's not like we're millie vanille, man. I'm a band's incredible. My drummer's
17:39incredible. Both of my guitar players are lead guitar players. They're insanely talented. My
17:44bass player is a fantastic singer as well. You know, it's, you know, I'm proud of it. So.
17:51Yeah. Well, I just want to get that out there and see which I, I, I have you talked about this
17:56since this whole thing happened? Cause I can't find any interviews or maybe I just did. I did on,
17:59uh, with Jose Magnin on Octane Radio Twitch live actually, you know, uh, yeah, but it was a while
18:08ago and, uh, you know, not on radio, not on, not on, uh, uh, you know, gotcha. Yeah. No, I just want
18:15to give you a chance to like, you know, give your side of it too, because, uh, you know, there's two
18:18sides to every story as you know. Um, so what do you guys got coming up as far as a 2023 is concerned?
18:24Uh, uh, headlining a cruise and then I'm about to announce the, I can't announce that. Oh, you
18:33can't. Okay. You got stuff. You can't. The cruise I can announce. I can't cause it's already sold out
18:37and announced and everything, but a tour that's super sick, two tours that are super sick that I
18:43can't announce, but soon I can announce. I just have to watch what I say. You know what I mean? Cause
18:50I don't want to, I got you. Yeah. I don't want to get you in trouble. So, so let me just ask you
18:53about this. Uh, you know, cause, uh, uh, you, you were in escape the fate and this might be like an
18:59idiotic question for your diehard fans, but you were in escape the fate and then you went to jail
19:03back in, uh, in, in Vegas and you formed falling in reverse and now you're touring with them. You
19:08probably toured with them in the past. So how does that work? Uh, very well. Yeah. Very well. I mean,
19:14they're opening for me. They know it. Yeah. You know, it's what happens, man. I don't know.
19:19Uh, I don't blame them, man. I'm still friends with them, dude. I really love Robert Ortiz. He's
19:23a drummer. He's I've known him since high school and Craig Mabbitt. I've known him for a long time,
19:28you know? And, uh, I think the fans like it. It's all, like I said, it's about the fans. They
19:32like that. They got songs that a lot of fans love, so might as well put it together. So they sing
19:38like, they're not just sitting there waiting for us to go on, you know, you know, some Metallica show
19:44where nobody cares about the opener. I mean, so I got you. Well, I'll tell you what, Ronnie,
19:50good luck in a 2023, uh, with everything. Of course, a couple of songs came out this year,
19:54uh, uh, that did really well. And, uh, your girlfriends, you've been using your, your songs
19:58in AEW and, uh, and that's, that's really cool as well. Jericho is a friend of mine and it's like,
20:04uh, you know, I love that guy. I think that guy's so cool, man. He's like such a nice guy,
20:09man, for reals, hands down, you know, in that, in that industry, there's a lot of, uh, people that
20:15are kind of full of themselves, you know, but, um, he's a really genuinely good guy. So. Yeah,
20:20he is. He's a super good dude. So we'll, uh, we'll tell him to send your best of course, but
20:24anyways, going through the motor city on December 2nd, playing the famed, uh, St. Andrew's hall.
20:28And we'll look for big things, uh, coming with you guys in 2023.
20:32Hell yeah, dude. Appreciate you. Thank you.