YoungTurk: The Lost Geffen Tapes

We never won any awards and tours were limited as some of us were in and out of jail during our peak!!  And we loved every minute of it!

Who is YoungTurk?  We were just a fun band or so we thought trying to write the best songs we could with frankly the limited skills we had at the time!!  We had no real message at the time - we were really just writing the best we could but it was an amazing time that at that point held endless possibilities 

What is a Young Turk?  Young Turk we had read was a group of ruffians in Europe back in the day - the name seemed to fit us. 

When? Basically, we all dropped out of high school to start the band. There was little going on in Miami.  Rock City Angels had moved to LA…So it was Young Turk and Nuclear Valdez (the first band to get signed out of Miami in the late eighties) that ruled the scene.

Where?  Miami!!! Miami!!! Miami!!!

Why?  It’s all we know – Rock-n-Roll…We had the world by the balls!

Our band lived together, fought together...might have been the best days of our lives!!!

Tired Of Laughing

Tired of laughing was the product of young Turks first national tour - it was what would make us local legends (along with Nuclear Valdez) and sought not only by music fans but by the FBI and local law enforcement!!!

This album was recorded right after our first tour.  It was meant to get us acclimated to life on the road. The album contained songs that told stories about the streets of Miami - Little Haiti & Little Havana - and the drug induced craze which made Scarface famous. Lou Reed became a catalyst and influence for the stories I would learn to tell. Rick had to this date become one of the best rock drummers I’d ever played with.  Billy at that time had also developed into an incredibly musical bass player and Monte continued his eclectic writing; meanwhile we had brought in Mike Castro. 

“Memories of May”, a beautiful ballad written in the living room (for no one in particular); we brought in the Memphis Philharmonic orchestra. ZZ Top was in the studio next door. 

And we would spend our days writing and recording - drinking away the nights.

We also recorded a few tunes at Sun Studios, at which time I was so fucked up, I don’t remember anything.  Over all it was a fun record… it also had an awesome tune called Tired Of Laughing - leaning on the streets of Miami for inspiration.

One story that sticks out for the band:  Four fifths of the band would be arrested for ‘assault of a minor’ as an over-zealous young lady who enjoyed jumping from bed to bed would inevitably forever redirect our bands career… and so commenced our relationship with virgin records.

Tired of Laughing was recorded in Memphis at the legendary Ardent Studios. Memphis and it's rich history in music was a great place to record - Beale St and all of the amazing guitar shops, Sun Studios and Elvis tours.

The band was even presented with the Key to the city by the mayor. I personally took way too many friends to Graceland for a VIP tour, which Ardent provided us with.

We also mixed the album at Kiva studios, which is partially owned by Joe Walsh. The album was engineered by Multi-platinum mastering engineer Bob Ludwig.