Influences: Ronnie Montrose
A hard-working session player that took it to the next level. A great idol for guitar players at all levels.
Back with some more of my early influences. I was tempted to jump to the shredders with Malmsteen, but instead I settled on another player with a family name that started with ‘M’, Ronnie Montrose.
My first brush with Montrose came from the song “Frankenstein” by Edgar Winter.
Alas, this vintage video was post Montrose, featuring the also awesome Rick Derringer.
Ronnie Montrose was a fixture of the 70’s studio sessions, playing on a ton of things, often unattributed, before deciding that he could go out on his own.
In 1973, Ronnie went out and roped in some of the session players he had been with including Bill Church and Denny Carmassi, then choosing fellow Bay Area vocalist, a relatively unknown at the time Sammy Hagar, and created “Montrose”
On this album were several rock anthems, including the song that most people remember Montrose for, “Rock Candy”
If you haven’t heard this, do click on that and listen.
Of course, Montrose then went on to form another “super” band, Gamma, with frontman Davey Pattison, releasing several albums, and many just wicked jams.
Why was Ronnie Montrose influential?
First, his music was accessible. It didn’t require mad skills and chops. It is straight ahead rock and roll, catchy hooks, open riffs and tons of space to play lead breaks, improv over, and pretty much allows you to fly your pentatonic minor scale freak show.
Also, and this is no small deal for me, he was a fixture in the south bay (SF Bay Area) music scene, and I got to see him literally dozens of times at local clubs and venues (flexing my fake ID to get in before I turned 21). One New Years Eve show at the Keystone Palo Alto, I was front and center, no more than 5 feet from him, and it was glorious.
But it was a lot more than that. A whole generation of guitar players coming of age in the 80’s were exposed to his music, and it wore off. Many have covered his tunes, including Jake E. Lee, and Lita Ford. His riffs were iconic, his ego was in check, and by all accounts he was just a great guy to play with.
Summary
Montrose was a gifted session player that turned his experiences and contacts into a long career of solo and project music.
He is who I point to when I say “master of the pentatonic” tastefully mixing chops, technique and an otherworldly ability to just fit it together. His music never feels cluttered, or trite. It just works.
Time to spin the original Montrose album again to hear my favorites, including Bad Motor Scooter, Space Station 5, and the party anthem Rock Candy.
Yummy!