Doug Aldrich thinks KISS would have sounded similar if he got job rather than Vinnie Vincent in ’80s

Doug Aldrich thinks KISS would have sounded similar if he got job rather than Vinnie Vincent in ’80s

Current The Dead Daisies and Revolution Saints, and former Whitesnake and Dio guitarist Doug Aldrich was recently interviewed by the White Line Fever Podcast and spoke about his audition for KISS due to guitarist Ace Frehley‘s departure from the band in 1982.

The following are excerpts from the interview (as transcribed by the White Line Fever Podcast):

“At the time, everyone was looking for guitar players who had a little more chops, in the early eighties.”

“Whitesnake did it, they got John Sykes. Ozzy… Tony Iommi is amazing, he’s the riff-master but Randy Rhoads, he’s more of a soloist. Everybody wanted to have an Eddie Van Halen so KISS also … they were having trouble with Ace or whatever and I think they wanted someone who was also had a little bit more of a technical style, maybe.”

“Vinnie [Vincent] is very technical and I think we were all kind of going down the same road at that time. It probably would have been similar at that time.

“But I really like that stuff that Vinnie did with them. That was some of my – aside from the Ace classics – favourite stuff that they did. “

Aldrich also told of the story of how he ended up using Simmons‘ phone number, obtained via his audition, to try to get backstage passes for himself and a group of friends.

“It was funny. It’s so long ago but my mates were with me and we were going to try and get backstage, first time. There was a party at his house, you could hear it. They were partying. I called him and he was, like, ‘lose this number’.

“I was crushed, I was devastated. I turned around and I was, like, ‘I’m sorry guys, I don’t think we’re going to make it to the show’.

“Actually, I don’t have his number anymore but I know how to get hold of him. I have his email.”

You can listen to the entire interview with Doug Aldrich at White Line Fever Podcast.