In a new feature by music writer Joel Gausten, Little Caesar guitarist Loren Molinare and drummer Tom Morris discuss the band’s new album, 8, and highlights of their 31-year career. Molinare also discusses his experience sharing the stage with KISS all the way back in 1973 (as a member of The Dogs) and playing with the band again when Little Caesar served as an opening act on the Hot In The Shade tour in 1990. An excerpt from the story appears below.
 
Molinare has enjoyed a Forrest Gump-level career that has placed him right in the middle of some of the most important eras in music history. In the late ’60s, he formed the proto-Punk band The Dogs in Lansing, Michigan. During their original Detroit-area run, they shared stages with the MC5, The Stooges and a young guitarist by the name of Ted Nugent. In the early ’70s, The Dogs decided to try their luck in New York. One day, they saw a poster advertising an upcoming performance at the Hotel Diplomat by a new band called KISS. Intrigued, Molinare tracked the band down to see if The Dogs could be added to the bill. Although there wasn’t a spot for The Dogs on the show, KISS did take an interest in what they had to offer.  
 
“They said if we got a gig, they’d come see us. They did, and then they said if we did a favor for them and picked up some gear out on Long Island, we could play with them at Coventry in Queens (on August 31 and September 1, 1973). There was no YouTube and internet in ’73, so I still didn’t know what they looked like (on stage). They showed me pictures of a gig, and I was just went, ‘Oh my God!’ When we played the shows, I just sensed that those guys were so focused that they were going to make it.”
 
Seventeen years later, Molinare was on the road with Little Caesar opening for KISS on the Hot In The Shade tour. In addition to getting reacquainted with his friends from the old New York club days, he received plenty of advice for Little Caesar from an observant Gene Simmons.
 
“He was on the side of the stage a lot taking notes. When we played the Richfield Coliseum, he said we were running around too much on stage – like chickens with our heads cut off. He said it was arena rock and we needed to slow down and that everything needed to be exaggerated. In Indianapolis, he came in and made suggestions on changing our set order. Not many people in this industry will tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. To his credit, he did that, and he didn’t have to.”
 
“I remember Gene coming into our dressing room one time and lecturing us about our facial hair!” comments Morris. “He goes, ‘You guys with your facial hair and your blues!’ He was getting on our case because we were kind of an anomaly at the time. Not too much later, he grew facial hair himself!”
 
The complete feature is available at this location.

Little Caesar have signed a global deal with Golden Robot Records for the release of their new album, Eight, due for release on March 16th. The band fuses no-nonsense hard rock that harks back to 70’s giants such as Bad Company and Humble Pie with an aching ZZ Top groove and overlay it with classic R&B melodies to produce some mighty fine straight up good time rock and roll.

Eight is the band’s first studio album in six years and lead single, "Time Enough For That", is a reflective, semi power ballad that is a total lighters (or phones) in the air AOR smash. With his raspy, soulful vocals, main-man Ron Young, leaves his heart on his heavily tattooed sleeve while the emotive, crying guitar solos build the song into an instantly familiar yet classic track. FM radio slickness with bar band grit, Little Caesar in 2018 is exactly what’s missing in contemporary rock music.

“Little Caesar is excited about joining the ever-growing Golden Robot Records family. We are IN great company WITH a great company. Being based in Australia, which has given birth to some of the greatest rock n roll bands, makes us excited to be part of their worldwide expansion. We see great things in 2018 for us and everyone that we share our music with at our new home.” – Ron Young, Little Caesar

“With Golden Robot Records currently expanding its artist roster to include bands based in the USA, Canada and Europe, when I met Ron Young in LA last year, and having been a fan of Little Caesar for many years, I knew that they would fit perfectly into the growing GRR family.  Little Caesar being one of our first global international signings is exciting for myself and the label.” - Mark Alexander-Erber, President & Founder, Golden Robot Global Entertainment

Bursting onto the LA scene in 1987, big things seemed inevitable for a band who had the winning combination of being managed by Jimmy Iovine, A&R’d by John Kalodner and produced by the one and only Bob Rock.

Their unique blend of soulful, yet ballsy hard rock was a perfect reflection of the musical climate that spawned them. They first appeared on the 1989 Metal Blade Street Survivors compilation which lead to them signing with DGC Records under Geffen. However, within weeks of the release of their self-titled 1990 debut, their label was sold. In the mix-up all their records were lost in transit to the new distributors and the bean counters anvil came down on a band who were just getting going. Such is the rough and tumble music business.

Never to let a thing like a label shuffle get in their way, the band hit the road off the success of their cover of Aretha Franklin’s "Chain Of Fools" and toured with bands as varied as Jane’s Addiction, KISS, Iggy Pop, Billy Idol, Social Distortion and Lynyrd Skynyrd. They also headlined their own tours across America and scored heavy rotation on MTV.

In 1992 they released their second album, Influence, and toured Europe for the first time. The tour drew rave reviews and they sold out the famous Marquee Club in London. That same year Ron Young appeared in Terminator 2 as a tough talking biker that gets into a fight (and inevitably is thrown out of a window) by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Just as they got going again, like so many hard rock bands, they were stopped in their tracks by the grunge wave and ultimately disbanded for over a decade, re-emerging in 2001 for a string of high profile shows at the House of Blues, the California Speedway for NASCAR, and the Rock The Bayou Festival in Houston TX.

The band went quiet again, until 2009 when they released their fourth album Redemption and returned to Europe and the UK. In 2012 they released American Dream and performed at the Hard Rock Hell festival in Wales that December.

They returned once again to Europe in 2013 appearing at The Download Festival alongside such acts as Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Rival Sons, and Queens Of The Stone Age, and in 2016 released the double live album Brutally Honest.

In 2017, the band returned to the UK and Europe, toured the US, and entered the studio with Bruce Witkin to produce their Golden Robot Records debut.