One on One with Mitch Lafon – Episode 13

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Mitch Lafon

In episode 13 of One On One With Mitch Lafon. Mitch sits down one-time Plasmatics bassist and Crown Of Thorns vocalist/guitarist, Jean Beauvoir. The pair discuss Jean’s formative years as a musician and how it lead to a falling out with his father. Jean also talks about his days in The Plasmatics, Crowns Of Thorns and assess the differences between being a writer, performer, producer and adapting to work with artists from different ilks such as The Ramones, Little Steven, Glenn Hughes, ‘NSynch, John Waite and more. The discussion inevitably turns to the minutiae of working with KISS’ on the band’s Animalize and Asylum albums plus collaborations with Paul Stanley that remain unreleased to this day. Jean and Mitch also talk about Beauvoir’s upcoming Beauvoir/Free project with Micki Free set for release at a later date.

Ace Frehley reunites with Ken Kelly for Space Invader Cover Art

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Entertainmentone

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(New York, NY) – Founding KISS guitarist and 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Ace Frehley has tapped long time friend and artist Ken Kelly to create the album cover for his upcoming LP SPACE INVADER, due out July 8th. The reveal comes exclusively through Rolling Stone today.  Kelly, who created the iconic cover art for two of KISS’s best selling LPS, Destroyer (1976) and Love Gun (1977), says,  “It was very exciting when I was approached with the idea of doing an album cover for Ace.”

48cbc4bd-13e2-4eb9-92fd-26b087b7a7c0Ken Kelly is also widely known for his paintings in the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy sub genres, most notably for the Conan the Barbarian novels. He continues, “I had spoken to Ace on a few occasions about the possibility, so I was delighted when it actually happened.” 
Ace Frehley himself comments, ”I’ve been talking with Ken Kelly since 2007 about painting a CD Cover for me and it has finally happened! I couldn’t be more excited about the new Space Invader cover and the music behind it is also going to rock your world!”

With nearly 35 years between projects, KISS fans will surely be excited about this long-time duo working together again. Kelly concludes, “I am very pleased with the results and proud to play a part of Ace’s continuing successful career!”

ACE FREHLEY will release SPACE INVADER, his first new solo album in five years, via Entertainment One Music (eOne Music) on July 8th, 2014. 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.

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KISS Taxi ad sighting

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Our man Dave in Las Vegas sent us this interesting taxi advertisement that has been put on many of the city cabs recently.  As a kid, who would have ever thought you would ever get to see something like this…

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Vinnie Vincent Special, part 5

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Chris Czynszak | Decibel Geek

Ep135-ArtThe 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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Vinnie Vincent personal studio tapes up for auction on eBay – ending Sunday

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KISSmuseum.com

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.

Paul Stanley photo from Scarlet Page’s Resonators collection

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Chris Stern

fotoRecently 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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A declaration of KISS dependance

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William Michael Redman

  1. Preamble

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

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

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    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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One on One with Mitch Lafon, episode 8 – Carnival of Souls producer Toby Wright

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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.”