Hard Rock Never Dies: Ron Freschi on Scar Chamber, Musical Legacy, Streaming, and Ugly on the Inside

Speaker Identification

Speaker 1 – Host: The program opens by identifying the host as Katherine Nadal, a professional psychic medium. The closing announcement says “Katherine Adele,” creating a name discrepancy that requires verification.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi, Guest: Identified as the episode guest and as a guitarist associated with Scar Chamber and Babylon A.D. The raw transcription renders his surname as “Fesci,” while the uploaded source filename identifies him as Ron Freschi.

Speaker 3 – Recorded Song Vocals: Vocal performances heard during playback of “Warpath,” “Torn in Two,” “The Sky Is Falling,” and “Ugly on the Inside.” Several lyric lines are too garbled in the automated transcription to reconstruct confidently and are marked accordingly.

Speaker 4 – Closing Announcer / Station Identification: The closing voice identifies the program, host, audio editor, studio, and radio station. It is not clear from the transcript whether this is the host or a separate prerecorded announcer.

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Speaker 1 – Host: This is Bringing the Darkness to the Light with Katherine Nadal, professional psychic medium. Today’s guest is Ron Freschi. Ron is a guitarist with Scar Chamber. He’s also well known for Babylon A.D. It’s a pleasure to have you on.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Thank you so much for having me on today.

Speaker 1 – Host: Ah, thank you. We finally connect. It’s very interesting because I know Jaren Glino—he’s in your band, Scar Chamber—and I know John Kivol. I was just like, “Oh, well, I know this one and that one.”

Your music is really, really cool. I had an opportunity to see the video from your new album, which is also the title of a single called “Ugly on the Inside,” and your band just has a lot of energy. It’s really, really cool.

So tell me how you got this project together, because I know a lot of people know you from Babylon A.D. How did Scar Chamber come together?

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Well, as you know, Babylon A.D.—we released a couple of records in the late ’80s with Arista, and we did our thing until around ’92-ish. Then there was this cat named Kurt Cobain and his crew that kind of changed the world. A lot of bands like us didn’t go away, and the fans didn’t go away, but we kind of went underground, so to speak.

During that time, Babylon A.D. was active, but I didn’t stop writing or coming up with ideas. A while back, I built up this library that I felt was collecting dust and was too important just to collect dust. So I think I put it on Craigslist, and I was lucky enough to get a response from the singer, Jeff Winslow. I liked the uniqueness of his voice. He was a cool dude, a very smart guy, a smart lyricist, and we just started writing.

I had some riffs, and as we built the record—or the demo, so to speak—he was really smart. He learned about me and my life experiences, in combination with his life experiences as we got older, and he incorporated that into the lyrics of the record.

Again, it was in my downtime. I’m still in Babylon. We still get out and play. We will outlive the cockroaches, as I’ve said online. It’s just another outlet for me to produce maybe more guitar-oriented stuff. The mix is going to be heavier. I didn’t mix it; a fantastic guy named Ty Sims mixed it. He’s done a lot of House of Lords stuff. He’s done a lot of stuff. He’s actually in a band [affiliation unclear in source].

My stuff is going to be me, but I’m happy that it’s heavier. The leads are louder. The rhythms are heavier. People could recognize it as similar to Babylon A.D., but Babylon has contributors, not just myself. Of course, Derek is the main songwriter. Manny De La Rosa, one of the guitar players, was a major contributor, a master songwriter. Guitar player John Matthews also contributed. And one of the creators of the band, before I got in it, was Jamie Cachaco.

Babylon A.D. had a collection of dudes who wrote, but this one started with me and Jeff. Then I was lucky enough to hook up with Dylan Sos, my drummer—an amazing drummer. I found him in Modesto. I said, “That kid’s going to be a star,” and luckily enough, he’s playing with me.

Jared—what can I say about Jared? Great bass player, songwriter, just an overall great guy. We had fun this weekend. Of course, he’s playing with Lynch Mob and Heavens Edge. He’s very highly in demand, so I’m lucky to have him.

We have another guitar player named Austin Mo, who is kind of a secret, but maybe not so much now. There will be a press release. I like playing with two guitar players because most of what I write has a second guitar part. I wouldn’t want to play live without being able to pull off what we recorded. “Ugly on the Inside” has two distinct guitar parts. Anytime I have a picking acoustic part, there’s always going to be something behind it. In the studio, I can stack up multiple inversions of chords and different sounds, but I would never go out live and not come as close to that as possible.

So that’s the band. We played Saturday with Rocket Mafia in Tracy, California, and it was a blast. It was our debut show. After we played, it’s unheard of, but we got a standing ovation. I was kind of blown away. We had a lot of our friends and family there. We closed with “Bang Go the Bells.” That’s one of my songs, and people dug it. It came off very well. It was just a good weekend.

The record just came out a few days ago, and we’re just at the tip of the iceberg as far as what I believe is going to happen. I have no illusions about thoughts I might have had as a kid. I’m just happy enough to be playing again, that people are coming out to see us play, maybe picking up the CD on [record label name unclear], and being interviewed by people like yourselves.

At this stage in the game, to use the cliché, to have a second bite at the apple—a third bite at the apple—it’s kind of strange, to be honest with you. When I was younger, I didn’t foresee all this happening again, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I would do it all over again, and I’m kind of getting to do that. So it’s all good.

Speaker 1 – Host: Yes. I had interviewed Derek Davis. It was such a fun interview because he really brought me back to the 1980s and that feeling of almost shock and awe, because you guys were kind of discovered by Clive Davis. There was a bit of that “pinch me—what’s going on here?” feeling.

He even talked about how you guys had to stay in the area and how people were kind of living in that apartment complex. He just brought me back to that ’80s feel, which to me is iconic. When I spoke with him, only several months ago, they were going out on the road and were going to be playing again. He talked about that feeling like it hasn’t gone away.

The greatest thing is that kind of music, and your vibe of music, where people really seek out that hard-rock feeling. Those songs are still in high demand. It’s not the alternative. People still know what they want.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Again, the cliché: rock will never die. The people who liked it then, of course, still like it now. They’re still going on the Monsters of Rock cruises. They’re coming out to the clubs. And if you’ll notice, there are young guys in their twenties gravitating toward and emulating this type of music.

I want to stay away from classifications like glam and hair and all that kind of stuff. We’re a hard-rock band. We’re all just hard-rock bands. That’s what we are now, and that’s what we were then. I’ve seen a lot of younger guys who are finding it. It’s a trip.

I see people walking around with the AC/DC shirt that I wore walking across the quad in high school. There’s a picture of me in the yearbook with this bushy long hair and the AC/DC shirt, and there are kids doing the exact same thing. There’s something special about this music that people gravitate to.

My stuff is going to have heavy guitar riffs. This type of music needs that. But good lyrics and sing-along anthems will always be there. A lot of substyles—and I hate to use that term—have come and gone already, but this music has always been there.

I didn’t say this, but I’ve been told a bunch of different times that if you put on “Ugly on the Inside” and try to classify it as ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, or 2000s, I’d be surprised, because it’s good hard rock. Some stuff—not that particular song, I don’t think—but some stuff, you can tell there was a lot of thought put into, “Let’s make it an ’80s rock song.” To me, that’s kind of artificial.

When I write stuff, it’s got to have the heavy guitar riffs, but I’m not thinking about decades or time. I just write what I enjoy based on the guitar heroes I grew up with. Timeless music—rock, in this case—will live forever. Good pop music will live forever. Good music is timeless, to put it simply. I believe, anyway.

Speaker 1 – Host: Absolutely. So you mentioned being in high school and wearing the AC/DC shirt. What were your influences, and when did you learn to pick up the guitar and start playing?

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: My family—on my dad’s side, everybody’s a musician: a drummer, a singer, a guitar player. My dad cut a record, an A-side and a B-side 45, right before the Beatles came to America. He was touring and all that kind of stuff, and then he got married and kind of had to put that on the back burner. But you ought to hear my nana sing. Oh, man.

So music was kind of part of me. I did a lot of different things growing up—baseball, soccer, football—but I started playing trumpet in sixth grade. When I was 12 or 13, I heard “Runnin’ with the Devil” on my little crappy AM radio. I went to the record store, bought the record that day—Van Halen I—and it changed my life. If that hadn’t happened, you and I would not be here. Van Halen was a major influence on me. I can remember listening to the Ratt EPs.

I was lucky enough to live in the Bay Area, where we had some of the best guitar players ever. We had Dave Meniketti, who’s from our area. We had Neal Schon. I had all these godly guitar figures. The proximity doesn’t matter so much, but I was exposed to them early.

My first outdoor gig—my first gig ever—was [unclear wording] Lynyrd Skynyrd opening for Peter Frampton. I mean, come on. Those are major guitar gods right there.

I saw AC/DC at the Oakland Coliseum at the same gig—or Monsters of Rock, the original Monsters of Rock. They walked right past me. Angus was on Bon Scott’s shoulders. There’s another guitar god.

I remember I was a little older and I heard [unclear phrase transcribed as “break of the change”]. If I asked him anything about a rock song, he’d laugh at me. We’d open up the jazz book. I already knew how to read music because I played trumpet and stuff like that. That helped me when I started studying jazz. I still employ a lot of those concepts now with my rock playing, I believe. That’s a decent history of where my playing came from.

Speaker 1 – Host: Absolutely. You mentioned that your dad was touring when the Beatles started to become popular. What was his band like? Would you consider them to be rock, or what was he involved in?

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: This was very much doo-wop-style music. This was Elvis. When the Beatles came here in 1964, it was kind of maybe like the Nirvana thing. It changed music forever. My dad’s type of music was sidelined as America moved into this transition phase.

My dad was a solo artist. His manager was actually Judy Davis from Oakland, I believe, in the Bay Area. She was a famous vocal teacher. They signed him. He had a record deal. He didn’t like the B-side, but they told him, “Listen, son, you’re on a record label now, and you’re playing that song.” Very similar to some of the stuff I had to deal with.

So anyway, it wasn’t a band. He was traveling. He said it was a lonely experience—going back to the hotel, getting up, going and playing somewhere else. He would be supporting maybe another solo act. It was just a different environment back then.

Again, it mirrors some of the same things that happened to me and bands like us around ’92. Now, a lot of those bands actually kept it going. A band like Tesla, again from our area, kept it going all this time, and they’re still going really strong. I like those guys.

I have a good story there. There’s Troy Lechena [surname uncertain]. His younger brother was the singer the very, very, very first time I ever played guitar onstage, and Troy brought the PA system so we could play. So there’s a lot of various stuff that, for me, is all kind of hooked together.

Speaker 1 – Host: I think it’s amazing that you come from a musical family, and I think that actually probably helped you in your lifetime. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Oh, without a doubt. I believe you can learn to play music, but I also believe there’s a lot of it that’s born in you. You’ve seen these young kids playing piano. They’re four years old, and that is not by accident.

Music is one of those things that, again, can be taught, but it can’t be forced. There’s a certain type of brain that is capable of understanding the language of classical music, hard rock and roll, blues, or any type of genre. I believe you’re born with some of that talent.

Speaker 1 – Host: Yes. I think music and musical families—it’s in their DNA.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: It is. It is. Yeah. On my mom’s side, I can’t think of one musician. I remember my brother trying to play violin. I think we all ran out of the house because it was so bad. Now, he is very talented in other areas that I’m not. Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses, and it’s all good.

Speaker 1 – Host: You make a really good point there. One thing I want to go back over, because I’ve interviewed quite a lot of people, is that you’re the first person who has actually kind of hit the nail on the head. There are a lot of references about what happened in the ’80s into the ’90s with grunge, and you’re the first person to make the comparison between the ’50s and the ’60s.

I have to say that’s great, first of all, because a lot of people don’t really remember that time, but a lot of people know that music. When you think back to the icons at that time—Bobby Darin, people like Elvis Presley—I mean, Elvis Presley was kind of more of a rock guy, but still, the Beatles almost overshadowed Elvis because he ended up going into the movie scene.

You really make a strong point there. I think that what happened to your dad, and then what you went through, is why you see that. You see the bridge between those experiences, where maybe some other musicians haven’t had that experience.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Yeah. There’s no doubt that history repeats itself in many different ways. I just have the case in which I wasn’t alive when it happened to my dad. I was the outcome of what happened because he settled down and became a working Joe and a father.

When we had to deal with the downturn in, say, ’92, I looked in the mirror, got married, bought a house, and had my son Aaron. The parallels are uncanny.

Speaker 1 – Host: Yes.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: And it will repeat itself again. I believe hard rock, in any form that you want to understand it, will always be there. Good guitar playing and good hard-rock songs will never go away, as they haven’t since Led Zeppelin in the ’60s or Pink Floyd. If it were going to go away, it would have happened a long time ago. So that will always persist.

But as history repeats itself, something will happen again. There’s no doubt about it. Sometimes these flash-in-the-pan events at the time may be authentic and important, but durability is something else. Chasing fads and thinking of flashy new things—that’s part of human nature, but durability will also exist. Rock and roll, hard rock, will always be here.

The one thing that is a bit interesting is I’m not scared of AI. I use it for technical things. I will never use it when it comes to music.

I was going to make a post along with the release of this record because music is different now. People are used to not buying their music, and then they wonder why tickets are $200. They wonder why bands like us can’t tour.

Do you know how much I get when “Bang Go the Bells” is streamed—not purchased, but streamed? Take a wild guess.

Speaker 1 – Host: I don’t know. Two cents?

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Wow. Well, let’s see—you’re at least a thousand times too high. When I was younger, I believe it was like 0.08 cents per stream. You know what it is now? Now, this is an average. This isn’t the “Bang Go the Bells” case: 0.003 cents. That’s three-thousandths of a cent that the artist gets. So for that person to make one penny, it would have to be played 3,000 times.

Our governments and these companies that believe music should be free—it’s a travesty. It’s against the law. When people don’t buy their music, they are contributing to the hardships that musicians deal with at any level. Taylor Swift—she’s got it nailed. She’s doing the right thing.

I’m not a political person. I have no axe to grind with any one company. But if you look at the bigger picture, if you like a band’s music, buy their music. Because if you don’t, that band’s not going to be around. They’re not going to be able to afford to tour. It’s so expensive just to get out on the road.

My objective when we go out and play is to break even. I’ve never made any money. I’ve never been in this to make money. I do it for the enjoyment. Now, had I made some money and been able to buy a big huge house and do all that, of course I wouldn’t have turned it down, and I would have enjoyed every minute of it. But that’s not the objective.

Any true artist—I mean, art across the board—they don’t do it for the money. How do you think there’s a term called “starving artist”?

So my point is, if you see somebody stealing music—and that’s not even streaming it, okay, that’s downloading the music for free, which everybody’s done. I’ve done it, of course, but I’ve really started to analyze it.

If they want a world where AI [garbled transition in source]—and I can tell right away when I hear it. In the future, who knows? It will probably get really good. When people don’t buy—at least pay a dollar for the song or $10 for the CD; albums used to be $20—you’re contributing to the end of being able to see a band. You may be contributing to things that we just can’t predict.

I’m not going to get up on my soapbox and make a big deal out of this, because these large corporations have a lot of power. But the corporation or the person who said music—whoever creates it—should be in the public domain, I would love to get onstage and debate that person.

I would ask them, “Okay, dude, I want you to work over at my house. I want you to do all my yard work and wash my cars, and for every hour I’ll give you .03 cents. Is that okay with you?”

If you’re going to make the point that the time I spent writing music for the love of it, the time to rehearse it, the time to record it—which costs a lot of money—and all the time involved in producing that song should be free to everybody, then I want you to give me your car, your house, and all of your work for the next five years, or maybe the rest of your life, because that’s what we have to deal with. Why do you think we should give it away for free?

I want all the musicians I know to share this. If somebody would go so far as to boycott some of these streaming sites and just buy some music for a buck, the world would be a better place when it comes to music. The musicians would be happier. Maybe we’d get something to eat every now and then.

Now listen, I’m not broke, but I know a lot of people who have struggled throughout their lives trying to make music, staying at it to do what they love. I have no axe to grind with any one company, but there it is.

I’m going to make one post, and if it gets traction, great. If it doesn’t, so what? I just want to keep playing, and that’s my priority. But if I can make one single comment, I should. I don’t post that much. Most of it’s just hot air anyway. This is not hot air. This is a real thing that all musicians deal with.

Speaker 1 – Host: Well, I’m so glad you’re bringing it up.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: I went off on a tangent there.

Speaker 1 – Host: No, it’s fine. I’m so glad you brought up this point because it’s happening, and people say, “Well, you have to move with the times,” but you don’t have to move with the times. You have to really appreciate the passion of the musician. Part of appreciation is like when people say, “Oh, you have good service in a restaurant.” You tip for it. Nothing should be free. It’s really amazing.

I wanted to move into talking about this album, “Ugly on the Inside,” by Scar Chamber. The release is by [record label name unclear], and the distribution is through BraveWords Records. It came out in July of 2026, which was only about one month ago.

The first song we’re going to talk about is “Warpath.” Tell me about that song.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: So this is interesting. As I’ve told you, I don’t sit down with an objective of writing a song. All these riffs have happened because I’m warming up before a gig or I’m practicing for whatever reason. If I come across something accidentally, I’ll formulate it, hit record, or get into my studio and lay down just a demo. That’s what happened with “Warpath.”

My son’s mother passed away from cancer. I don’t believe the word “cancer” is in that song. If you look at the lyrics, it’s not a song about war. It’s not a song about Native Americans. It’s a song about the body fighting cancer inside itself.

It may be hard to glean, and not all songs have a perfect meaning. “Stairway to Heaven” certainly doesn’t have one single, obvious meaning; sometimes it’s interpretation. But with that particular song, Jeff knew what happened to Kathy, Aaron’s mom, and he worked around that.

There are songs about divorce on this record, including one that is very difficult for me even to listen to. It’s one of the ballads. It’s not “The Sky Is Falling.” There are frivolous things about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, as we’ll always have, but there are some serious matters.

Again, we’re not Debbie Downers. We want to play hard rock and roll. I think continually writing about sex, drugs, and rock and roll is boring. I think we’re more mature now, and, hey, let’s explore life a little bit—the good and bad, sad and ugly. Anyway, that’s the story we worked out.

Speaker 1 – Host: Okay, so we’re going to play “Warpath” now by Scar Chamber.

Speaker 3 – Recorded Song Vocals: [Song playback: “Warpath.” Several lyric lines are unclear in the automated source transcription.]

I can’t see the [unclear] in my head.
[Unclear lyric line.]
Bleeding, laughing, grasping, [unclear].
Trouble flowing through me, [unclear], and I—
I’m on the warpath, I won’t turn back.
I’m here to stay, ’cause I’m on the warpath to take your passion.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.

[Unclear lyric line.]
[Unclear lyric line.]
Creeping ever closer to the end.
[Unclear lyric line.]
I’m on the warpath, I won’t turn back.
I’m here to stay, ’cause I’m on the warpath to take your passion.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.

Bleeding, laughing, grasping, seeing red.
Trouble flowing through me, [unclear], and I—
I’m on the warpath, I won’t turn back.
I’m here to stay, ’cause I’m on the warpath to take your passion.
To find a way, to find a way, get out the way.
To find a way, get out the way.

Speaker 1 – Host: You and I have discussed a lot of the songs prior to this interview. The second song we’re going to talk about is called “Torn in Two.” Tell the audience about that song. I can’t wait to hear all of these. It’s so exciting.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Here’s another song that, as it starts out, you might think is just another relationship song—man, woman, I’ve heard it all. I’m not going to give it away, but at a certain point in that song, you’re going to go, “That’s what this song is about.” It’s going to make you think.

So listen to the whole song. Don’t just skip it because it’s not simply a guy-girl thing. It is, but it morphs into something more interesting. Ty did a fantastic mix on this. Again, it’s the best mix that I’ve heard of this song.

Speaker 1 – Host: Wow, you’re leaving me in suspense here. We’re going to play “Torn in Two.”

Speaker 3 – Recorded Song Vocals: [Song playback: “Torn in Two.” Several lyric lines are unclear in the automated source transcription.]

Yesterday I had you.
It seemed like it would be forever.
We were destined from the start.
[Unclear lyric line.] The heaviness was too much,
Crushing my abandoned heart.

I’m torn in two. When I close my eyes, I’m still with you.
I’m torn in two. Can’t believe you’re gone.
[Unclear lyric line.]
Double-crossed by sands of time.
Falling down through stained glass,
[Unclear lyric line], fading hard into the night.

I’m torn in two. When I close my eyes, I’m still with you.
I’m torn in two. Can’t believe you’re gone.
What am I going to do?
I’m torn in two. All the dreams of life that won’t come true.
I’m torn in two. Can’t believe you’re gone.
What the hell am I going to do?

I’m torn in two tonight.
It was over in that instant, at least that’s what they told me.
But this pain inside my soul goes on and on and on and on.

I’m torn in two. When I close my eyes, I’m still with you.
I’m torn in two. Can’t believe you’re gone.
What am I going to do?
I’m torn in two. One day, I know I’ll be back with you.
I’m torn in two. Can’t believe you’re gone.
What the hell am I going to do?

Speaker 1 – Host: You and I had discussed another song, which we’re going to talk about now, and that’s called “The Sky Is Falling.” Tell the audience about that song.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: “The Sky Is Falling” was written by Derek Davis, the singer for Babylon A.D., and myself. I think it appeared on “American Blitzkrieg,” I think. But during the Babylon hiatus, I reimagined some things. I rearranged it a little bit.

When you have a basement of things that you know are good, you can keep going back to the well. Just because you did this doesn’t mean you have to forget about things that are special. I always felt that song was special, and we reimagined it. We didn’t rewrite any of the lyrics. I believe Jeff sang it pretty close to the way it was originally recorded.

I’ve added some guitar things. We have a special appearance that I’ll let the audience discover. That was a fantastic idea by the record company, and we’re getting ready to shoot a video for it. It’s a semi-apocalyptic story about life, love, death, the future—stuff like that.

Speaker 1 – Host: You’re giving us a lot of teasers here, so I’m very excited.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: I’m doing a good job, then.

Speaker 1 – Host: Yes, you are. I know. I want to know who this surprise guest is. All right, cool. So we’re going to play “The Sky Is Falling.”

Speaker 3 – Recorded Song Vocals: [Song playback: “The Sky Is Falling.” Several chorus lines are unclear in the automated source transcription.]

If this is the end of the world, give me one last kiss.
If this is the end of the world, give me your last breath.
Wait a minute, what’s the time?
We have just begun to live our lives.
Every moment, every hour, with my arms around you.
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line.]
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line ending with “fly away.”]

There’s ocean waves crashing over ground.
I will hold your hand.
And when the stars fall through the clouds, I’ll be [unclear].
[Unclear lyric line.]
Wait a minute, what’s the time?
Are we on our way to paradise?
Every moment, every hour, with my arms around you.
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line.]
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line.]
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line.]
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line ending with “fly away.”]

Wait a minute, what’s the time?
Are we on our way to paradise?
In this moment, this final love,
Be right beside you.
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line.]
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line.]
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line.]
Even with the sky falling,
[Unclear chorus line ending with “fly away.”]

Speaker 1 – Host: Before we discuss the last song, which already has a video that I’ve seen on YouTube, it’s called “Ugly on the Inside.” Tell the audience where they can follow you—Instagram, Facebook—and tell everyone about Scar Chamber and your media.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Scar Chamber right now has a Facebook site. We’re building our Instagram site, but it’s not ready yet. All inquiries can go to Scar Chamber on Facebook. [Record-label reference unclear.] If you’d like to purchase the record online, that’s where you would go. I believe you’ll be able to download singles and all that kind of stuff.

I’m harking back to the whole streaming thing—maybe think twice about that.

Speaker 1 – Host: Yes. I also want to give a shout-out to Michael Bramble because he’s the one who introduced me to you. Thank you to Michael.

Tell everyone about “Ugly on the Inside,” because the video, to me, is really so great at creating a visual of something a lot of people often talk about. It’s really a big concept, and it’s coming out more because I think a lot of people are focusing on visuals—how people look, not necessarily how someone feels.

I think there’s a really big message in that, because someone could look really beautiful, but do you really want to be friends with them? Do you really want them in your circle?

That song really hones in on something that’s very important to me because it brings me back to younger people now and the big weight of social media on children, bullying, and what people think they should look like. You really hit a home run with that for me because it sends a message to the public.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Yeah, I think Jeff did a great job of crafting lyrics around just what you said. Now, there are different interpretations of that, but we all have a presentation that we have for our friends and family, which may or may not be different from the one your neighbor sees, which may or may not be the same as what your coworkers see.

I mean, how many times have you been flipped off on the road when that person might be the nicest person on the face of the earth? We all have a cover, a shell, and then we all have who we really are.

Who we really are—the person you have to live with and look at in the mirror—is the most important thing. Anytime you have a parent saying something negative about you, which is horrible, or some brat at school bullying you, or your job bullying you, if you have a strong, good inner self and you know you’re a good person, you can tell all those other people off.

Now, if you’re weak and you’re doing wrong things in your life, those people have to live with a lot of guilt if they have empathy. There are narcissistic people in this world who don’t have a lot of empathy. I feel sorry for those people, but most of us, I think, are good people who deal with bad people. You’ve got to always navigate that. But the most important thing is, I believe, that you know who you are inside.

That song obviously is about someone who may have a beautiful shell. “I’m ugly on the inside”—and I’m talking about the song itself—but I think I’m generally a good person, too. So I can sleep at night. I do have empathy and all that good stuff.

Speaker 1 – Host: Wow. Well, we are going to listen to “Ugly on the Inside.” We’re going to roll out the interview with that, and it’s been a pleasure to talk with you, Ron. Thank you again, and everybody check out Scar Chamber. Thank you again, Ron.

Speaker 2 – Ron Freschi: Okay, thank you very much. We’ll see you on the road.

Speaker 1 – Host: Thank you.

Speaker 4 – Closing Announcer / Station Identification: You have been listening to Bringing the Darkness to the Light with Katherine Adele, professional psychic medium, Dream Central Station LLC. My audio editor is Al Hemberger at [studio name unclear; transcribed as “Law for Quoting Studios”] in Bronxville, New York. This is WNEW 102.7 FM radio.