December 22, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

CRUZADOS Announce European Tour and the Release of a New EP “Land Of The Endless Sun”

The Cruzados European tour kicks off this Spring, April 27th through May 27th of 2023 with stops in Spain, France, Belgium, and Germany. Also coming this Spring 2023, you can expect an all new 6-song EP entitled “Land of the Endless Sun” produced by Bruce Witkin, as well as a collection of live music recorded in Europe from the band’s 2022 tour. “Live from Marseille” is a full-length live album that contains performances of Cruzados band classics and some new tunes from 2022-2023.

Listen to the CRUZADOS EP “Land of the Endless Sun” – https://open.spotify.com/album/4xMLQiu8j4E2UG76bjvmCs

“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”. – Tony Marsico co-founder/ bassist -The Cruzados

“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.”……Ron Young- Lead Singer/Cruzados

The 2022 Cruzados record “She’s Automatic” features 11 songs written or co-written by Tony Marsico, the bassist and co-writer for the Cruzados and a member of the band’s punk-era precursor the Plugz. This album was issued on Deko Entertainment January 2022.

If you haven’t collected “She’s Automatic” yet, hurry while the vinyl supply lasts! This is a live, hot, no-nonsense collection of hard-hitting rockers on which Marsico is joined by the members of his ‘80s L.A. contemporaries Little Caesar. The set’s glittering group of guest musicians includes a host of noted L.A. punk vets, including John Doe (X), Dave Alvin (the Blasters), David Hidalgo and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), and
Melanie Vannem (the Muffs, the Pandoras).

CRUZADOS 2023 European Tour

27/04/2023 Verviers-Belgium @ Spirit Of 66
28/04/2023 Besançon- France @ Bar De L’U
29/04/2023 Dortmund-Germany @ Blue Notez
01/05/2023 Girona-Spain @ Sala la Torrentera
03/05/2023 Madrid-Spain @ Rockville
04/05/2023 Zaragoza-Spain @ Rock & Blues
05/05/2023 Aviles-Spain @ Sala Malecón
06/05/2023 Cangas-Spain @ Salason
07/05/2023 A Coruña-Spain @ Mardi Gras
08/05/2023 Leon-Spain @ Babylon
11/05/2023 Orihuela-Spain @ La Gramola
12/05/2023 Castellon de la Plana-Spain @ Sala Because
13/05/2023 Barcelona-Spain @ La Textil
14/05/2023 Vitoria-Spain @ Urban Rock Concept
16/05/2023 Marseille-France @ Cherrydon
17/05/2023 Chambéry-France @ Brin De Zinc
19/05/2023 Kufstein-Austria @ Fufa
20/05/2023 Lauchhammer-Germany @ Real Music Club
22/05/2023 Norderstedt-Germany @ MusicStar
23/05/2023 Bremen-Germany @ Meisenfrei
26/05/2023 Krefeld-Germany @ Kulturrampe
27/05/2023 Fürth-Germany @ New Orleans Fest (Open Air)

Track listing

1- Dead Inside
2- Land Of The Endless Sun
3- Golden Child

4- A Little More Time
5- Queen Of The Quake
6- Johnny Pay To Play

Recorded at Unison Studios Feb 18-22, 2023
Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Bruce Witkin
All songs written by Marsico, Klonel, Molinare, Tremalgia, Young
Additional Keyboards- Bruce Witkin
Mastered by Dave Schultz at D2 Mastering

CRUZADOS
Ron Young: Lead Vocals
Tony Marsico: Bass, Vocals
Rob Klonel: Drums
Mark Tremalgia: Guitar, Vocals
Loren Molinare: Guitar, Vocals

About CRUZADOS

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.”

Links to Website and All Socials 

https://thecruzados.net/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063778691570

https://www.bandsintown.com/a/95120-cruzados

https://instagram.com/thecruzados

https://youtube.com/@cruzadosbandofficial1057