Robert Fleischman recalls Vinnie Vincent kind of begging him to do another album in 1990
Robert Fleischman recalls Vinnie Vincent kind of begging him to do another album in 1990
Former Vinnie Vincent Invasion and Journey lead vocalist Robert Fleischman was recently interviewed by Metal Mike for the 80’s Glam Metalcast podcast. Flesichman handled the lead vocals on Vinnie Vincent Invasion‘s debut self-titled album (1986) before being replaced by Mark Slaughter who sang on the second Vinnie Vincent Invasion album All Systems Go (1988).
On the failed third Vinnie Vincent album in 1990, Fleischman indicated (as transcribed by the 80’s Glam Metalcast podcast with slight edits): “He confronted me again. I hate to use the word begged me, but it was sorta like that. At the time there wasn’t much going on, so I thought I’d give it a swing. We were doing the record and he was getting really excited about it. So he wanted to talk to some different record companies. He started talking to other companies and they went back and told Enigma. It just all fell apart. They were paying for him to do this record and he goes out behind their backs to get another deal. It was insane. It’s an insane move….. You don’t do that. The whole thing got shelved and he ran off with the masters. I think those were going to be on that box set that he didn’t deliver on.”
On Vincent’s return in 2018, Fleischman stated: “It was like seeing your dead brother sitting next to you. It was just strange. Ultimately, I got pushed up on stage in Atlanta and we did “Back On The Streets”. He was happy, I was happy… It was emotional. It was a slice of history. It was the only time he and I ever played in public. He wanted me to do that thing in Nashville, and I kinda agreed to it. As usual and as always, Vinnie‘s management proved to be bad news. The unfortunate thing is Vinnie picks these people to work for him. He hands them the wheel of his life. They grab it and they usually crash the car. They pop out of it and Vinnie‘s left with the wreckage and his reputation is smeared all over in public. A lot of it isn’t him, it’s people who take advantage of him. It’s sad, but I can’t do anything about it.”
On whether he would ever work with Vincent again, Fleischman indicated: “I don’t know what to say on that one. There would be so many dots that would have to be connected for that to happen. Even if they were connected, how long would they stay connected? I’m thinking of asking him though to play some guitar on my new project of electronic music with heavy guitars.”
You can listen to the interview with Robert Fleischman on the 80’s Glam Metalcast podcast below: