New Castle PA is about to get SPOOKY..

No it’s not Halloween time yet, New Castle PA is getting visited by the Atlanta Rhythm Section or ARS for short. ARS is going fellow bands Foghat and FireFall for Rock the 70’s at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in New Castle PA.

Before ARS rolls into town, Empire Extreme got to talk on the phone with Singer Rodney Justo about the gig and this crazy life of rock and roll.

Empire: Are you already for the show, Rock the 70’s in New Castle?

Rodney: I am so ready. We have been working so much for the past 6 weeks, were booked into August it’s almost like working for a living. It’s a great way though. I wake up in the morning, get on a plane, I go to a city and some people will be nice to me, then I sing for an hour and half and some more people will be nice to me, then they give me money and I go home. I’m still trying to find the down part of anything I just said(Laughs)

Empire: How was it like working with Roy Orbison with the Candymen?

Rodney: It was a great, great experience. I’m 20 years old and all of sudden I’m traveling all over the world. I’m like look at me, you get a little full of yourself at that age. We were the darlings of the music industry, we didn’t really have any big hits with the Candymen, it didn’t matter to us, we wanted hits but it didn’t change the way we played and worked as a band. The music business and the record business is so much different now from those days.

Empire: So you were just in Baltimore with the M3 Festival on the 3rd day, the Southern Rock day?

Rodney: Yeah, what a lot of fun that was, that venue and those people were so buttoned down and professional, they were great to us, the audience was great, that’s one of the things when there is a lot of acts on the bill, we get to play and then watch these amazing other bands play as well, some of them are old friends and some are ones that we just met but have always enjoyed their music. It’s great for the fans and for us.

Empire: So Travis Tritt did a version of one of your songs?

Rodney: yeah he did Back up Against the Wall and Homesick. We have been fortunate in our careers. The opposite worked for us too, you know our leader, our guru was Buddy Buie, who wrote the hit Spooky with the Classics IV, a lot of people think that ARS is the Classics IV 2.0, But half of the Band was Candymen. So like Travis Tritt doing one of our songs, we did Spooky which was like the same thing.

Empire: What band would you like to see Reunite?

Rodney: Well the obvious is never going to happen, nor will Steely Dan, but I would say Buffalo Springfield, we all loved the spirit of them.

Empire: If you could bring back one dead musician who would it be?

Rodney: The obvious answer for me would be Orbison, it’s tough though, I’ve lost a lot of friends, of the original Candymen I’m the only one left, that’s including our managers and producers. Billie Joe Royal being a very close second. I think about them everyday.

Empire: What’s been your favorite band to have toured with?

Rodney: oh, I had that answer a few days ago, I wish I could remember who it was. I was thinking about that myself. I can tell u a quick story about the least favorite.

Empire: Oh yeah those are always just as fun too.

Rodney: I don’t believe in dissing other bands, I’m like that Record was a hit, it’s terrible but I never talk about it. In about 1966 we use to have Dick Clark and these package shows. Different venues would hire a different package show, and on this show might be like 10 acts, for example we did one with Sonny and Cher, Orbison, The Newbies, Shadows Of Night, The McCoy’s, Billie Joe Royal, and a local band. You each do about 3-4 songs and that’s it. Well Sonny and Cher and Orbison would alternate headlining. We are all low maintenance guys, this one night Sonny and Cher were the headliners. We are all sitting in the back area of the coliseum, and a guy came out and said “Everybody get out of the Hallways, Cher isn’t coming out till this area is cleared” and Orbison looks up and says “ I think Cher might be a little late for her show”( as he says in his Orbison voice tone), so in another words he’s not moving for her.

I’ve talked to lots of people doing this, and usually when you did a phone interview it kind of takes away from the personal level of doing it, but talking to Rodney would have to be one of my favorites, he was just a really down to earth guy, we talked about my parents and that I was a military brat and how I liked it and didn’t like it, it was a surreal experience with him, like talking to a family member you haven’t talked to in a long time.

Make sure to go out to New Castle PA on June 21st 2018 and go See Atlanta Rhythm Section And Foghat, and FireFall. Get your tickets here and support these bands from the 70’s that are still kicking ass.

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Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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