CRUZADOS premiered 'Land of the Endless Sun' music video
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Apr 18, 2023
"Recording our new 6-song EP Land Of The Endless Sun brought me back to our early days in the CRUZADOS. The guitar sounds we got thanks to Loren Molinare and Mark Tremalgia are tough as nails and set the mode for the entire EP. Ron Young belts out even stronger on this collection and the songs cover a wide range of classic Cruzados styles from the desert sound to 60s garage, all rounded out with a backbeat by drummer Rob Klonel that propels each track,” says Tony Marsico, co-founder/ bassist.
“This was a fun group of songs to record. It highlights so many of the band’s influences that we love to weave into our set. It keeps the Cruzados legacy going. Getting to work with our favorite Producer, Bruce Witkin again was also a blast as he makes us so comfortable all through the tracking that it makes the music flow out of us and he gets great performances from each of us," says lead singer Ron Young.
Tracklisting
"Dead Inside"
"Land Of The Endless Sun"
"Golden Child"
"A Little More Time"
"Queen Of The Quake"
"Johnny Pay To Play"
"Land Of The Endless Sun" video:
Tour dates:
April
27 - Verviers, Belgium - Spirit Of 66
28 - Besançon, France - Bar De L’U
29 - Dortmund, Germany - Blue Notez
May
1 - Girona, Spain - Sala la Torrentera
3 - Madrid, Spain - Rockville
4 - Zaragoza, Spain - Rock & Blues
5 - Aviles, Spain - Sala Malecón
6 - Cangas, Spain - Salason
7 - A Coruña, Spain - Mardi Gras
8 - Leon, Spain - Babylon
11 - Orihuela, Spain - La Gramola
12 - Castellon de la Plana, Spain - Sala Because
13 - Barcelona, Spain - La Textil
14 - Vitoria, Spain - Urban Rock Concept
16 - Marseille, France - Cherrydon
17 - Chambéry, France - Brin De Zinc
19 - Kufstein, Austria - Fufa
20 - Lauchhammer, Germany - Real Music Club
22 - Norderstedt, Germany - MusicStar
23 - Bremen, Germany - Meisenfrei
26 - Krefeld, Germany - Kulturrampe
27 - Fürth, Germany - New Orleans Fest (Open Air)
Lineup:
Ron Young: Lead Vocals
Tony Marsico: Bass, Vocals
Rob Klonel: Drums
Mark Tremalgia: Guitar, Vocals
Loren Molinare: Guitar, Vocals
The Cruzados attracted national attention in the ‘80s with their stormy, Latin-inflected brand of post-punk hard rock. Signed to Clive Davis’ Arista Records, the quartet issued two albums, Cruzados (1985) and After Dark (1987). They also made a high-profile screen appearance in the 1989 cult classic Road House. However, familiar rock ‘n’ roll pressures capsized the band in 1991; guitarist Marshall Rohner died in 2005, and drummer Chalo “Charlie” Quintana died in 2018.
In the intervening years, Marsico worked on the debut album by Plugz and Cruzados singer-guitarist Tito Larriva’s band Tarantula, today based in Austin. He also carved out a notable career as a top session musician and touring sideman with such artists as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey, Marianne Faithfull, and Willie Nelson. The bassist’s studio and road stories are collected in two books, Late Nights with Bob Dylan (2009) and I’m Just Here for the Gig! (2020).
With the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the enforced solitude that followed, Marsico began to contemplate a new project under the Cruzados handle.
“Being penned up with the pandemic at home for a year, I started questioning my mortality,” he says. “I felt like I got shortchanged with the Cruzados. We never got to put out a third album, due to a lot of crazy circumstances that cropped up. I wanted to do the band justice and go out on a high note. That was my goal, and to pay tribute to Chalo and Marshall.”
Material for a new Cruzados release came quickly. It didn’t take long for Marsico to decide on the right musicians to carry on the Cruzados’ legacy in the studio: He turned to singer Ron Young and guitarists Loren Molinare and Mark Tremalgia of Little Caesar, who were also active on the L.A. scene in the late ‘80s as a Geffen Records act. The core lineup was completed by drummer Ron Klonel, who has collaborated with Little Caesar in recent years.
“The Little Caesar guys were Chalo’s best friends – they were pals from back in the day,” Marsico says. “I had to find the best guy to be the lead singer. My tastes have changed a little – the influences are blues and rock ‘n’ roll. I knew that Ron Young from Little Caesar loved blues, and we got to talking and we hit it off with the same style of music. I knew that he could pull this off and get behind it.
“Loren Molinare was in the great ‘70s L.A. band the Dogs, of course, and I loved the Dogs, and Mark Tremalgia is a new guy I’ve been working with for a couple of years now. Rob Klonel is a great, solid rock ‘n’ roll drummer. It was really important for me to get someone who hit ‘em hard like Chalo. They were a perfect combination of guys, and they had a lot of enthusiasm.”
With Bruce Witkin engineering and producing, the new Cruzados set up shop at Unison Studios in L.A. Marsico recalls, “We did it all “old style “– we just set up in a room all together, like we used to do records before they started putting everybody in isolation booths and all that crap. We got the band together and rehearsed, and we went into the studio a week later. Before we knew it, we had the album. All live, no click tracks. We all played in our own little area, with our masks on. Set up, play, cut the songs, boom. It felt great to rock with a bunch of like-minded guys. With our special guests, half of them came to the studio, and half recorded their parts at home.”
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Apr 18, 2023
"Recording our new 6-song EP Land Of The Endless Sun brought me back to our early days in the CRUZADOS. The guitar sounds we got thanks to Loren Molinare and Mark Tremalgia are tough as nails and set the mode for the entire EP. Ron Young belts out even stronger on this collection and the songs cover a wide range of classic Cruzados styles from the desert sound to 60s garage, all rounded out with a backbeat by drummer Rob Klonel that propels each track,” says Tony Marsico, co-founder/ bassist.
“This was a fun group of songs to record. It highlights so many of the band’s influences that we love to weave into our set. It keeps the Cruzados legacy going. Getting to work with our favorite Producer, Bruce Witkin again was also a blast as he makes us so comfortable all through the tracking that it makes the music flow out of us and he gets great performances from each of us," says lead singer Ron Young.
Tracklisting
"Dead Inside"
"Land Of The Endless Sun"
"Golden Child"
"A Little More Time"
"Queen Of The Quake"
"Johnny Pay To Play"
"Land Of The Endless Sun"
"Golden Child"
"A Little More Time"
"Queen Of The Quake"
"Johnny Pay To Play"
"Land Of The Endless Sun" video:
Tour dates:
April
27 - Verviers, Belgium - Spirit Of 66
28 - Besançon, France - Bar De L’U
29 - Dortmund, Germany - Blue Notez
27 - Verviers, Belgium - Spirit Of 66
28 - Besançon, France - Bar De L’U
29 - Dortmund, Germany - Blue Notez
May
1 - Girona, Spain - Sala la Torrentera
3 - Madrid, Spain - Rockville
4 - Zaragoza, Spain - Rock & Blues
5 - Aviles, Spain - Sala Malecón
6 - Cangas, Spain - Salason
7 - A Coruña, Spain - Mardi Gras
8 - Leon, Spain - Babylon
11 - Orihuela, Spain - La Gramola
12 - Castellon de la Plana, Spain - Sala Because
13 - Barcelona, Spain - La Textil
14 - Vitoria, Spain - Urban Rock Concept
16 - Marseille, France - Cherrydon
17 - Chambéry, France - Brin De Zinc
19 - Kufstein, Austria - Fufa
20 - Lauchhammer, Germany - Real Music Club
22 - Norderstedt, Germany - MusicStar
23 - Bremen, Germany - Meisenfrei
26 - Krefeld, Germany - Kulturrampe
27 - Fürth, Germany - New Orleans Fest (Open Air)
1 - Girona, Spain - Sala la Torrentera
3 - Madrid, Spain - Rockville
4 - Zaragoza, Spain - Rock & Blues
5 - Aviles, Spain - Sala Malecón
6 - Cangas, Spain - Salason
7 - A Coruña, Spain - Mardi Gras
8 - Leon, Spain - Babylon
11 - Orihuela, Spain - La Gramola
12 - Castellon de la Plana, Spain - Sala Because
13 - Barcelona, Spain - La Textil
14 - Vitoria, Spain - Urban Rock Concept
16 - Marseille, France - Cherrydon
17 - Chambéry, France - Brin De Zinc
19 - Kufstein, Austria - Fufa
20 - Lauchhammer, Germany - Real Music Club
22 - Norderstedt, Germany - MusicStar
23 - Bremen, Germany - Meisenfrei
26 - Krefeld, Germany - Kulturrampe
27 - Fürth, Germany - New Orleans Fest (Open Air)
Lineup:
Ron Young: Lead Vocals
Tony Marsico: Bass, Vocals
Rob Klonel: Drums
Mark Tremalgia: Guitar, Vocals
Loren Molinare: Guitar, Vocals
Tony Marsico: Bass, Vocals
Rob Klonel: Drums
Mark Tremalgia: Guitar, Vocals
Loren Molinare: Guitar, Vocals
The Cruzados attracted national attention in the ‘80s with their stormy, Latin-inflected brand of post-punk hard rock. Signed to Clive Davis’ Arista Records, the quartet issued two albums, Cruzados (1985) and After Dark (1987). They also made a high-profile screen appearance in the 1989 cult classic Road House. However, familiar rock ‘n’ roll pressures capsized the band in 1991; guitarist Marshall Rohner died in 2005, and drummer Chalo “Charlie” Quintana died in 2018.
In the intervening years, Marsico worked on the debut album by Plugz and Cruzados singer-guitarist Tito Larriva’s band Tarantula, today based in Austin. He also carved out a notable career as a top session musician and touring sideman with such artists as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey, Marianne Faithfull, and Willie Nelson. The bassist’s studio and road stories are collected in two books, Late Nights with Bob Dylan (2009) and I’m Just Here for the Gig! (2020).
With the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the enforced solitude that followed, Marsico began to contemplate a new project under the Cruzados handle.
“Being penned up with the pandemic at home for a year, I started questioning my mortality,” he says. “I felt like I got shortchanged with the Cruzados. We never got to put out a third album, due to a lot of crazy circumstances that cropped up. I wanted to do the band justice and go out on a high note. That was my goal, and to pay tribute to Chalo and Marshall.”
Material for a new Cruzados release came quickly. It didn’t take long for Marsico to decide on the right musicians to carry on the Cruzados’ legacy in the studio: He turned to singer Ron Young and guitarists Loren Molinare and Mark Tremalgia of Little Caesar, who were also active on the L.A. scene in the late ‘80s as a Geffen Records act. The core lineup was completed by drummer Ron Klonel, who has collaborated with Little Caesar in recent years.
“The Little Caesar guys were Chalo’s best friends – they were pals from back in the day,” Marsico says. “I had to find the best guy to be the lead singer. My tastes have changed a little – the influences are blues and rock ‘n’ roll. I knew that Ron Young from Little Caesar loved blues, and we got to talking and we hit it off with the same style of music. I knew that he could pull this off and get behind it.
“Loren Molinare was in the great ‘70s L.A. band the Dogs, of course, and I loved the Dogs, and Mark Tremalgia is a new guy I’ve been working with for a couple of years now. Rob Klonel is a great, solid rock ‘n’ roll drummer. It was really important for me to get someone who hit ‘em hard like Chalo. They were a perfect combination of guys, and they had a lot of enthusiasm.”
With Bruce Witkin engineering and producing, the new Cruzados set up shop at Unison Studios in L.A. Marsico recalls, “We did it all “old style “– we just set up in a room all together, like we used to do records before they started putting everybody in isolation booths and all that crap. We got the band together and rehearsed, and we went into the studio a week later. Before we knew it, we had the album. All live, no click tracks. We all played in our own little area, with our masks on. Set up, play, cut the songs, boom. It felt great to rock with a bunch of like-minded guys. With our special guests, half of them came to the studio, and half recorded their parts at home.”
