Jim Crean feels Carmine Appice, Tony Franklin and himself could have put Vinnie Vincent “back on the map”

Jim Crean feels Carmine Appice, Tony Franklin and himself could have put Vinnie Vincent “back on the map”

Singer Jim Crean (Hair Nation, Appice Brothers, Scream Taker) was recently interviewed by Andrew Daly for Vinyl Writer Music. Crean along with drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, King Kobra, Ozzy Osbourne, Blue Murder) and bassist Tony Franklin (The Firm, Quiet Riot, Blue Murder, Whitesnake) were scheduled to be Vinnie Vincent‘s backing band for two shows in Nashville, Tennessee, USA back on February 8 and 9, 2019 before the former KISS guitarist elected not to proceed with those two shows.

In terms of his recollection of how things went down, Crean indicated (with slight edits): “I was contacted to audition for the band after Robert [Fleischman] backed out. I demoed out a few songs for Vinnie, and he ended up really liking me and picked me from a few other big-name artists. We had everything in place and had a few dates scheduled. Everything was going well, Carmine, Tony, and I were learning all the songs, and had scheduled rehearsals in Nashville, Tennessee a few days before the shows. Carmine and I were performing in Anaheim, California at the Metal Hall of Fame event during NAMM when we received the news that Vinnie flaked out, and wanted to cancel everything. I was literally on the Red Carpet being interviewed by Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice when Carmine came up to me and said, “Vinnie flaked out, and blew out the shows and the whole event.” A lot since has been said, but the bottom line is that this was a shame, because we would have been an AMAZING band and would have really put Vinnie back on the map! My thoughts of the whole thing were to help make Vinnie look good as a backing band, and show the world what a great guitarist he really is. It wasn’t about us, it was his thing, and I really wanted to help him look good. What could have been, was a great band.”

With respect to the other vocalists that he was up against for the Vincent gig, Crean stated: “There were actually a few other big-name vocalists that were being discussed who demoed out songs for Vinnie. He liked my demos and the agent, Derek, said he liked mine the most and wanted me.”

In terms of Vincent‘s ability level after many years away from the spotlight, Crean noted: “I really have no idea. Carmine had asked Vinnie if he could still play, and Vinnie reassured him that he could and that he was the best guitarist on the planet.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Jim Crean at Vinyl Writer Music‘s website.