Stevie Rachelle recalls KISS members seeing KISS tribute band Cold Gin with Tommy Thayer in 1992

Stevie Rachelle recalls KISS members seeing KISS tribute band Cold Gin with Tommy Thayer in 1992

Tuff singer and Metal Sludge principal Stevie Rachelle continues to share his story via a series of articles on Metal Sludge called the Tuff Diaries and is now on his seventh instalment where he recalls seeing the KISS band members at the time — Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer — seeing Tommy Thayer and Jaime St. James of Black N’ Blue performing in the KISS tribute band Cold Gin at the Troubadour in Hollywood, California, USA back in 1992.

The following is an excerpt from the Tuff Diaries #7 (with slight edit):

“We were also in house and witness to the Cold Gin show that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley attended a few years later (1992)….

It was kind of funny as Gene and Paul, along with Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer sat up in the balcony.

And the Kiss Army fans would be rubbernecking all night long saying stuff like, “Paul is singing along.”

Many say them watching that tribute to Kiss show was the turning point for those 2 realizing, “We need to put the makeup back on.”

This show was talked about in the metal magazines at the time, and is also noted on various Kiss website timelines.

For those who don’t know, the Cold Gin band included Tommy Thayer as Ace Frehley.

This was years before he joined Kiss as an assistant – not the guitarist. That came later as well.

Also, on bass was Chris McLernon of Cold Sweat and Saigon Kick fame as Gene Simmons. The drummer was Jaime St. James of Black N’ Blue as Peter Criss and yes, Jaime played drums.

And the guy who played Paul Stanley was Anthony White.

White was originally the drummer in Mark Slaughter’s band Xcursion pre VVI days and also played in Mark Ferrari’s project Cold Sweat.”