Ralph Renna – an Xperience Interview by Liam Sweeny

Ralph Renna interview.

True friendship isn’t a paved road. I think it’s a road that you pave with shared experiences, and the curves and dips and bumps are hard wrought, but give it its character. In any area, in any scene, you find people who have carved out roads well-traveled.

Ralph Renna has built roads, inroads, by which many of the Capital Region’s shining stars have found their true north. A figure in the metal scene, the progenitor and earnest caretaker of Capital Underground, Ralph is looking back on the map he’s made. Oh, and he was here with us when we turned the lights on. That.)

I connect with Ralph and we discuss old times.

RRX: Capital Underground has celebrated its 35^th Anniversary this year. So if you had birthed it “of your loins” in 1988, it would be a millennial now. At some point, it just becomes an aspect of your life more than something you’re doing. So take us back to the beginning. Did anything then tell you Capital Underground was going to stick around?

RR: The local music scene has always been my baby. But it has nothing to do with my sperm. Haha. In 1988, I started to volunteer on 88.3 WVCR FM. This radio station gave us the freedom and the power to put local bands to the forefront and mix them up with national acts. So the concept has been there, but the name Capital Underground was born until 2006 when I went to 104.9 The New Edge. And no, I did not think that 35 years later I would still be doing this. Although the name Capital Underground hasn’t been around 35 years, the mission is still the same and I think, and from what I’ve been told, it was what I was most known for, the name “Capital Underground,” that is . I’ve been talking about it for a long time, and retirement is not far away. And somehow, someway, I’ll still be involved, but not as much as you have seen me in the past.

RRX: When I first reconnected with you in 2019, when we launched the paper, you had put together The Tradition, and it’s still going strong. Can you take our readers into The Tradition a little bit? Why is it called The Tradition? Is it covers, or originals? What’s the sizzle and what’s the steak on it?

RR: Back in 2017, Zach Leffler and myself, we’re writing some new songs for our band ‘Let Go Daylight’ and we started playing some covers. To tell you the truth, I was looking at it this way; I was booking a lot of bands, making a few bucks, very few dollars while putting a lot of hard work into it. Once I realized that we could do this, it just happened. I never compare the tradition to any of these well-established cover bands in the area. We were something different who worked in our own originals or just very cool, acoustic versions of metal and hip-hop songs. When Zach decided to leave because of work obligations, I did not want to start over again and decided at that moment that The Tradition would be me with hired-on musicians who will become part of the family or the camp as I call it. It was something that I’d never done before and territory that I was very unfamiliar with.  I’m talking about being able to get up there with people who I’ve never jammed with before and improv for three hours. This was very rewarding. It was a big accomplishment for me to get up there, play guitar and sing songs because people were so used to me screaming in very angry hard-core bands. Truth be told, I was a classic rocker way before I became a hard-core kid.  Metal and hardcore music was just what I was good at and Last Call reflected that rock ‘n’ roll side in our music early on.

RR: Now being able to mix this acoustic with a harder edge was my goal all along and that’s where we are at today. The Tradition just released some original music with a full band. The new EP is called “Thunder Mountain” which I honestly I have to say is the rock band that I’ve always wanted to be in. It can go from a pin drop to a train wreck as far as dynamics go. We are playing very few acoustic duo shows, and now are out there as a four piece band again playing original music at some of the coolest clubs in the area like Empire Live, festivals like GEMfest, Rock Oddities and others.

RRX: The metal years in the Capital Region, you have been prolific; Politics of Contraband, Last Call, Trailer Park Moonlight, Black John Wayne, naming just a few. You’ve been in a lot of projects, and as a media person, covered a lot. So what was a project that almost came out, something badass that no one really knew about?

RR: There were four bands. In the late 90s, I got together with my old pal, Dan Ryan, from War-Time Manner and Nick Manupella from Murderer’s Row. It was called A Day’s Torture. They had already written a bunch of songs that I loved singing to. That was very much like Down or Corrosion of Conformity. We played one show at the Chance in Poughkeepsie, and that was about it. I would’ve loved to have seen this band do bigger things. The current drummer in The Tradition, Anthony Delano, started jamming in the 2000’s. Anthony and I were in a metal band together called As Above, So Below. Played a couple shows but that was it. I also jumped on bass again for a brief stint with The Fire Fight with some of the dudes from After the Fall, Dead Stuff, the Night Life and Endicott. We played a few shows. I definitely needed to get my chops up on the bass and they needed someone who was a better and I knew it. To tell you the truth, I was very focused on Last Call, and I could not keep up with these boys. Drummer Jason Nowak and I are still good friends. The Tradition and his band Under the Den shared the stage recently at Heldeberg Meadworks and have more planned. In 2009, Cass and I met, we recorded a few songs, very dark acoustic instrumentals under the name, Ghosts of Godparents. We have been together 14 years, and there’s still some unfinished business with that music.

RRX: There’s always something new on the horizon. New players, new bands, new venues. And with Capital Underground covering things, and with Tradition out there plugging away in the various outlets of the 518, I figure you have a good sense of what’s out there that’s new. What do you see rising in the east?

RR: To tell you the truth, I’m very out of touch of what’s going on. There is a much more organic scene going on out there like venues like No Fun and Empire Live. Sure, I see what’s going on through Facebook, but I think I’m out of touch a little bit. This is part of what I call retiring. I’m more concerned with the simpler things in life, as I lost my mother and father in the past few years. I look forward to family, mowing my lawn, gardening, and smelling the flowers. Life is short, and we must embrace it.

RRX: Our scene has faced challenges, some global and beyond our control, some just a product of new generations coming in with new tastes and sensibilities. I look to people who’ve been in the scene a while like old-timers that have a knee that hurts before a hard rain. You see any challenges coming up, or sunny skies?

RR: Yes, as I get older, my knees ache when it rains. One thing that does keep me moving is the unity between myself and thatfuzzingrockshow.com. Fuzz and I do what we want and we have no one telling us what to do. That is freedom. It feels right that Fuzz and I are partnering with Radioradiox, Upstate Black and Blue, and 518scene.com on the Extreme music Awards and other events. Unfortunately, we traveled the wrong road in the past few years, but we are done walking that dog. I knew it would be only a matter of time that Artie Fredette and myself would reconnect and strengthen our friendship. It’s been too goddamn long, and I don’t wanna go to someone’s funeral knowing we were at odds. I saw Art’s vision and believed in his dream for many years leading up to Radioradiox and Xperience Monthly. Even if we were not speaking or distant. I would still smile and be proud of the accomplishments. The radio station and newspaper have made throughout that time. Although I’m still out on my own. I feel part of the team again that I once helped build 5 years ago. Besides Fuzz, Art is the only person I feel that we creatively shine together when we put our heads together. Plus, we are friends vs. “all about the business fakes” in the 518.

RRX: This is where you answer the question I didn’t ask. Comments? Remarks? Educate, enlighten, emote – the floor is yours.

RR: I feel like in the past 35 years I’ve really worn myself out and spread myself too thin. I am now focused on just writing and recording music, not so much playing live www.thetraditionny.com for what is to come.