Brian Forsythe recalls how KIX wanted to breakthrough and be “huge” but timing not on their side
Brian Forsythe recalls how KIX wanted to breakthrough and be “huge” but timing not on their side
KIX guitarist Brian “Damage” Forsythe was recently interviewed by Metal Mike for the 80’s Glam Metalcast podcast.
The guitarist was asked about KIX‘s album Hot Wire, which was released in 1991 and was the follow up to the band’s break through record Blow My Fuse.
Forsythe indicated (as transcribed by the 80’s Glam Metalcast podcast with slight edits): “We had high hopes for that record because of the success of Blow My Fuse. Musically, I thought it was a better record. That was the next step in the evolution of our sound. We wanted to breakthrough and be a huge band. Timing was not on our side.
There was something that happened two times in our career. First time, we were mixing Cool Kids [released in 1983]. So our A&R guy from Atlantic comes down and plays the final mix of Def Leppard’s Pyromania. It’s this big rock record… and then we listened to our little pop record and thought, “We could have done that.” We knew that was going to be a giant success and ours was going to fall by the wayside. Then the same thing happened with Hot Wire. It was just about to be released and we met with the president of the label. He pulls out this CD out and it’s Nirvana. He told us this was gonna be the next big thing. Basically telling us you just recorded the wrong thing!
When it came time to do the ballad, we thought we would have another hit. “Don’t Close Your Eyes” was big and we thought “Tear Down The Walls” was a better song. We went to do the video and we were actually halfway through it. We got a call from the label telling us that the plug has been pulled. They decided they weren’t putting anymore money into it. That was the end of that record.”
You can listen to the interview with Brian “Damage” Forsythe on the 80’s Glam Metalcast podcast below: