LITTLE CAESAR – Ron Young Gets “Brutally Honest” About Classic Tracks

June 16, 2016, 7 years ago

Michael Brandvold

feature hard rock little caesar

LITTLE CAESAR – Ron Young Gets “Brutally Honest” About Classic Tracks

Hard rock heroes Little Caesar released their first ever double live album, Brutally Honest Live From Holland, on May 6th via Unison. The album contains 21 songs from the entire band’s catalog including favorites “Chain Of Fools”, “Rum And Coke”, “In Your Arms”, and new song “Crushed Velvet”. Vocalist Ron Young gives an inside look on the songs that make up Brutally Honest.

“Supersonic” – “I was cruising around the Internet and saw some great pics of ‘back in the day’. I was reminiscing about CBGB's and how the attitude was ‘loud and snotty’ ruled the day. I have the image of Johnny Thunders taking a leak in that iconic bathroom....”

“Rock ‘N’ Roll State Of Mind” - “Back in the ‘50s kids had to hide their rock records from their parents...especially if it was influenced by ‘race music.’ The great rock ‘n’ roll swindle was how white boys stole r&b and blues and made it accessible to white suburban kids...music has never been the same since.”

“Hard Times” - “Working a day job and trying to make a living...or get the blessing of trying to make a living making music was a huge motivator for us. The sacrifices and shit jobs a musician had to work really sucked....but it made you ‘want it’ even more. Gene Simmons used to give me shit for that song. He said that ‘kids don't wanna hear about work...they wanna hear about play.’ I disagreed and felt they needed a song they could relate to. I had a job since I was 15...I figured many other music fans did too....but I guess when you dressed up as space creatures, you can't really say you have an intergalactic job...”

“Tastes Good To Me” - “A homage to the great double entendre style of old blues about my love for performing oral sex. Mindless, infantile musings in the great humorous vein that AC/DC and Bon Scott were pure geniuses at. Viva Vagina!”

“Down And Dirty” - “We worked with Randy Bachman of BTO on that song. We had a real battle with John Kalodner at Geffen to change the lyrics. The alternate version was on our album ‘This Time It's Different’. John didn't like the expression....but he lived in pure white suits and was a germaphobe, so I can understand the aversion to anything ‘dirty’."

“I Wish It Would Rain” - “I adore Motown. The soul and amazing songwriting of that era still gets to me. One time our guitar player Apache was delivering equipment for SIR to pay the bills after everything crashed and burned for us at Geffen. He went to a house in the Hollywood Hills. It was one of the Temptations house and they were all there. He told them about us covering it and they lit up. They knew the version and started to sing it the way we did it....one of the greatest compliments and honors we have ever received!”

“American Dream” -  “Being an avid Facebook pundit, I was seeing so much discourse about what America was becoming. What many believe it to be, what they love and hate about it. I wanted to observational about it. For the video, I typed in ‘American dream’ into Google and went many pages into the images and video I found from their search algorithm. I collected them and made a montage out of it for the video.”

“Real Rock Drive” - “An older song that Loren wrote years back for his other band The Dogs. We wanted to do a version. It references ‘Dusty on the Rock’....she was a DJ on KROQ that he was friends with...my have times changed on where we get our new music from!”

“Redemption” - “I wrote that song after reflecting back on all the damage I caused when I was addicted to heroin. When you get sober, one of the integral parts of recovery is owning your past and trying to make amends to those that you hurt. Sometimes that's not possible and they only way to make it right is to never engage in that kind of behavior again. It's very self-reflective and music can be a great way to look in the mirror and work on trying to like who looks back.”

“Prisoner Of Love” - “A song about falling in love...or lust...with the worst possible person and the agony that occurs when you realize you just can't stay away from something so bad that feels so good.”

“Wrong Side Of The Tracks” - “A song of pride about being nonconformist, shocking, rebellious, and cherishing the freedom to make that conscious choice every day.”

“Crushed Velvet” - “A new song that hasn't been on a studio album...yet. It's about so many women I know in Hollywood that have not grown old gracefully and are leaving claw marks while clinging to a self-destructive life out of fear.”

“Rum And Coke” - “Years back we had a healthy appetite for substances, weaponry and friendships with likeminded individuals. Needless to say it created memorable situations...and federal investigations too...all worthy of being immortalized in song. Fire in the hole!”

“Chain Of Fools” - “...some bands have greatest hits...this was our greatest miss. I didn't want it on our first album, let alone the leadoff single. It was the first song we jammed on when we formed the band. I wanted to put an r&b based classic rock band together as everything coming out of Hollywood was pop metal with little blues influence. I loved Aretha and wanted to put a great Soul based band with strong emphasis on vocals and melody...we worked this song up as a prototype for the bands vision and it stuck with us. Again, our A&R guy John Kalodner insisted we lead off with it. Oh well....”

“Every Picture Tells A Story”/”Happy” - “We loved both these songs and they blended together so well. We love to play it live as it has so much great classic rock ‘n’ roll energy, melody, lyrics, attitude....and the ever increasing tempo at the end gets us worked up every night.”

“Dirty Water” - “Another tribute to the great blues genre and story of how the devil’s libations have taken so many down to the curb...”

“Sick And Tired” - “After many years of burning the candle at both ends with a blow torch, if you survive you wind up with a retrospective of your escapades. Being ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired’ is a great revelation....but only if that revelation leads to a change in behavior.”

“Drive It Home” - “Another childish, testicular foray into the double entendre world of horsepower and sex and the delicious participation of both hobbies....yum, vroom, giggle!”

“In Your Arms” - “I wrote this song with Greg Sutton from Lone Justice. I wanted to write an original song that had a Motown/Ray Charles kinda feel. The lyrics are about life on the road and missing someone you love. There's water everywhere, but none of it quenches the thirst of that special drink you have far away.”

“Down To The Wire” - “That was the first song we ever had play on the radio. The legendary KNAC debuted it and I can remember every hair on my arms standing up. It was a validation of all the years of hard work, struggle and sacrifice. It's the most ‘metal’ track we ever did. At the time, AIDS was a big issue. All the sexual excesses of rock ‘n’ roll could kill you back then. It pissed us off that we were getting cheated out of the irresponsibility and shallow participation that previous partakers in the perks of ‘bandom’ got to enjoy....but all of us being married took that off the table anyway. But we wept in honor of all of our friends that had to become responsible in their irresponsibility.”



Featured Video

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

Latest Reviews