Interviews

Interview with Rodney Justo Of Atlanta Rhythm Section

Published

6 years ago

June 11, 2018

Ron

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.

About Author

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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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

3 weeks ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

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Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

3 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.