In a new interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com, RAINBOW singer Ronnie Romero was asked about the current status of the band, six years after the Ritchie Blackmore-led outfit first reformed to play sporadic shows. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We normally keep in contact — not very often, because, obviously, Ritchie is a very insulated person. But I don’t think there’s gonna be any plan in the near future because the pandemic was way complicated, obviously, for all the music business. And now it’s like everything is getting back to normal but delayed two years. So there is a lot of shows happening. And until it gets completely back to normal, it’s gonna happen at least a couple of years. So I think Ritchie is not too much into the idea to make anything so far. And he is focused right now with BLACKMORE’S NIGHT — they released an album recently, I think. There’s no plan so far; we were not informed about any plan. So we’re just waiting for… With Ritchie, you never know — maybe in a couple of days he’s gonna come with an idea. You never know.”
In May 2019, RAINBOW released a new digital single, “The Storm”, via Minstrel Hall Music. The song was described as “a rocked-up remake” of an old BLACKMORE’S NIGHT track from the album “Fires At Midnight”, which was issued back in 2001.
A month earlier, RAINBOW released a newly recorded version of its song “Black Sheep Of The Family”.
The original recording of “Black Sheep Of The Family” — a cover of a track by the band QUATERMASS from 1970 — was included on RAINBOW‘s debut album, 1975’s “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow”.
The first new RAINBOW single since 1996, “Waiting For A Sign”, came out in March 2018. The song was penned by Blackmore, with lyrics by Candice and vocals from Romero, who is originally from Chile but is now settled in Madrid.
The latest incarnation of RAINBOW released two new studio recordings in 2017, but they weren’t original compositions; one was an instrumental song called “Land Of Hope And Glory”, which was a reworking of the 1902 British patriotic song of the same name from Edward Elgar‘s “Pomp And Circumstance March No. 1”, while the other was a re-recording of the RAINBOW classic “I Surrender”, which was written by Russ Ballard and was first released by RAINBOW in 1981.
“Waiting For A Sign” is included on “Memories in Rock II”, which was released in April 2018 via Minstrel Hall/Soulfood. The set also contains a double CD of the June 2017 U.K. RAINBOW concerts, a DVD containing over 80 minutes of interview footage with the band and crew, an additional backstage clip and a video for the 2017 studio version of “I Surrender”.
Blackmore stepped away from his Renaissance-inspired brand of music with BLACKMORE’S NIGHT in 2016 to perform a handful of shows with a brand-new lineup of the band he had formed after quitting DEEP PURPLE.
Although Ritchie initially said that he had no plans to make a new RAINBOW album — explaining in early 2016 that he wanted to “just get back to playing the old songs one more time” — he revealed to Japan’s Burrn! magazine that he changed his mind.
In addition to Blackmore and Romero, the current incarnation of RAINBOW includes STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson, BLACKMORE’S NIGHT drummer David Keith, bassist Bob Nouveau (a.k.a. Robert “Bob” Curiano, ex-BLACKMORE’S NIGHT), and backing singers Candice Night and Lady Lynn.
The two shows RAINBOW played in Germany in June 2016 were caught on camera to produce “Memories In Rock – Live In Germany”, which was released in November 2016 via Eagle Rock Entertainment on DVD+2CD, Blu-ray+2CD, and digital formats.
After Ritchie left DEEP PURPLE for the final time in 1993, he reformed RAINBOW for one album (1995’s “Stranger In Us All”) and one tour, ending things in Denmark in 1997.
Romero released a covers album, “Raised On Radio” on April 15 via Frontiers Music Srl.
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