Chris Czynszak | Decibel Geek

The Decibel Geek Podcast has released the fifth installment of it’s Vinnie Vincent Special with Episode 135 – Vinnie Vincent Special Part 5 w/Andre Labelle.

In this in-depth discussion, hosts Aaron Camaro and Chris Czynszak are joined by former Vinnie Vincent and current drummer of The Sky Andre LaBelle. Andre was tapped by Vincent for the recording of the still-unreleased Guitars from Hell album that was in production from 1989 – 1992. LaBelle shares his memories of auditioning for the enigmatic former KISS guitarist, the amazing amount of equipment available, and the meticulous recording techniques that seemed to define Vincent as the extremist of which he has been described.

The album went through numerous titles during production. In this long-form discussion, LaBelle recalls a period where Vincent was bouncing between projects; his own and his contribution at the time to KISS’ upcoming 1992 release and how one of his titles plays into KISStory.

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KISSmuseum.com

Click HERE to see the eBay auction An amazing Vinnie Vincent artifact – Vinnie’s personal studio tapes of various demos from the mid-’80s soon after leaving KISS. These were basically tapes Vinnie would copy from the masters for his personal use away from the studio. What makes these tapes extra-special is that the song titles were hand written by Vinnie himself!    Before being in KISS, Vinnie was a studio musician and then, as he is doing here after leaving KISS, is writing songs to shop around to various artist or record companies. Two of the songs are notable – Tears, was recorded by John Wait in 1984 and went on to become a huge hit. Back on the Streets was recorded later by his band Vinnie Vincent Invasion, but was also recorded for the 1984 movie Voyage of the Rock Aliens and later by John Norum in 1987. It also showed up on unreleased Ace Frehley demos and was rumored to have been recorded by KISS for the Creatures of the Night album, but was dropped from the final cut.   Many of the same song titles appear each on the tapes, but they are all TOTALLY different mixes.   Sound on the tapes is crystal clear, as they were recorded straight from the studio masters. Auction ends Sunday evening. Click HERE to see the eBay auction

Chris Stern

Recently at a charity auction I bought this signed Paul Stanley photo from Scarlet Page’s Resonators collection.

The Resonators are the guitarists who created the sound we call rock, this epic collection revealing 29 portraits

features a host of names and faces including Sir Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Brian May, Slash, Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh and Paul Stanley.

Scarlet Page, daughter of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, A photographer for more than 20 years,

Page has turned her lens on these guitar heroes for Teenage Cancer Trust.

With an exebition at The Royal Albert Hall in London and an charity auction on Ebay.

With all the profits going to the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Teenage Cancer Trust is a charity dedicated to improving the quality of life and chances of survival for the six young people aged between 13 and 24 diagnosed with cancer every day.

The charity builds specialist units within NHS hospitals that bring young people together to be treated by teenage cancer experts in a place designed just for them.

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William Michael Redman

1. Preamble

   

   “You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the world … 

   What a great time to be a KISS fan! 2014 marks 40 years since their debut album, and tickets for the summer tour with Def Leppard have just gone on sale.

   April 2014 in particular is notable due to a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where the four original members will be honored. In the same week, Paul Stanley’s long-awaited autobiography will be on the shelves, completing the quartet of published life stories told by each of the original members of KISS.

   And on a completely different note, the professional arena football team, The LA KISS, have made their debut this year.

   I’ve been a KISS fan most of my life, and I’ve decided to take this month of April 2014 — which I am declaring as KISS Month — to write down some things: what songs I like, what album covers appeal to me most, and what each band member has meant to me.

   I’m also going to present a series of writings which will try to explain why I have such a fascination with the band and the brand. I’ve titled this series: Unmasking the Masks of KISS.

   My hope is that my musings here are as interesting and entertaining as KISS is to me. It wasn’t always easy being a diehard fan of this group, but I feel proud to have backed a band which has finally beaten down their detractors and is getting the recognition that they deserve of being one of the most important rock bands of all time.

2. 1 Apr

   The Unmasking of the Masks of KISS, Part One of Five

   

   First Smack to the Head

   I received my first rock music album in 1980 when I was 9 years old. It was a birthday present from my best friend, who had himself been given the exact same gift fifteen days before on his 9th birthday. The album was KISS Alive II, released in October of 1977 over two years prior, which accounted for the sliced off lower left corner indicative of its rescue from a cut-out bin. My pal had fallen under a spell of KISS fever in those two weeks between our birthdays, and he most graciously went to Camelot Music or Musicland at the mall and searched out another copy to present to me as a gift.

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Aidin Vazari | JCCSF

Mitch Lafon

Producer Toby Wright sits down One On One with Mitch Lafon (rock journalist) to discuss his work on the KISS album ‘that fell through the cracks’ – CARNIVAL OF SOULS. As Toby walks the listener through the minutiae of that late ’90s album, he also talks about working with Alice In Chains and Metallica. Toby had engineering duties on Metallica’s …And Justice For All album and explains what exactly happened to the much talked about (and often maligned) “bass sound.”

If you live in the Tri-State area or Eastern PA, you need to come on down to the KISS Mart This Sunday, May 10. Free admission – see your friends and browse the tables of KISS merchandise.

Podcast Rock City

The Talk

The Drive with Alan Taylor

The New Music Buzz

Artie Lange

 Not sure how we missed this one from a few weeks ago, but here it is!

Loudwire

Hodinkee

Talking Watches With Eric Singer from HODINKEE on Vimeo.

Strange Ways

Your STRANGE WAYS bros have a really good time in the studio recording KISS covers, just for the fun of it! This batch has some classics, and a few you might not expect..even a surprise or two… We hope you will enjoy them, KISS ARMY!! And as always, thanks for listening, and keep on rockin’!

Blabermouth.net

The first promotional photo for the “Space Invader” album campaign from original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley can be seen above.

The session, which took place on April 8 in New York City with photographer Jayme Thornton, saw Ace wearing something from the first KISS album photo session to make the occasion extra special.

Reads a posting on Ace‘s Facebook page: “Don’t worry if you can’t spot it, just yet… numerous cool photos from this session will reveal it soon!”

Ace Frehley will release “Space Invader”, his first new solo album in five years, via Entertainment One Music (eOne Music) on June 24. The album will include at least nine brand new original songs as well as a cover of Steve Miller‘s “The Joker”. This album is the first release under Frehley‘s new universal deal on eOne Music.

Frehley has released an official statement surrounding the exciting news: “Life on Earth has been very good to me, and the body of work I’ve created over the years has withstood the test of time. Today I see no obstacles before me and my creativity has never been more fine tuned. Growing up in an Alien world has enhanced my senses and allowed me to succeed where others would have failed. The best is yet to come!”

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KISSopolis

EddieTrunk.com

Ruth Blatt | Forbes

“It’s a pretty safe statement to say that most entertainers have self worth issues and image issues, inferiority issues.” That’s KISS’s Paul Stanley, talking to me about his new memoir, Face the Music: A Life Exposed. “ Let’s face it, getting up on a stage or getting up in front of people is not a normal thing to do ,” he continued. “You do it because you’re seeking approval on a mass scale when you don’t get it on a small scale. So if you’re not going to address that as you become successful then the clock is ticking because of all the possible poisons that will enter into your life. Unless you can look elsewhere to remedy whatever the problems are, you’re a fatality waiting to happen, if not in terms of your life then certainly in terms of your career.”

The statement isn’t too surprising given that KISS is increasingly known for their internal strife. The conflict over KISS’s legacy – and the people who go down in history as the architects of its success – has come to head over KISS’s recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Stanley’s refusal, along with co-founder Gene Simmons, to perform at the ceremony with the band’s original lineup.

The details of their beefs are available elsewhere. My conversation with Stanley focused on how he avoided the career suicide that led to the ousting of original drummer Peter Criss and the ungraceful exit of original lead guitarist Ace Frehley.

First was the realization that the flip side of success is the inevitable precipice you reach. Here is how Stanley describes it in his book: “I was being pulled up the big hill, knowing we were going to reach the top at any moment and then plunge down the other side, falling, screaming, with no control whatsoever. I could feel the momentum, the process of being pulled up the hill. I could tell we had reached a point of no return. All I could do was hold on real tight.”

But the inevitable fall wasn’t Stanley’s real problem. The real problem was that he had nothing to hold on to, no loved ones to ground him. The relationships he did have were, for the most part, toxic.