Vinnie Vincent states 2nd Vinnie Vincent Invasion album shouldn’t have happened & singer unbearable
Vinnie Vincent states 2nd Vinnie Vincent Invasion album shouldn’t have happened & singer unbearable
Former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent made his long awaited public return at the Atlanta KISS Expo today and gave his first interview in over 20 years. The following excerpts from the interview are as posted by Blabbermouth.
In terms of how he feels about the two Vinnie Vincent Invasion albums, the reclusive guitarist stated:
“I feel very strongly about them. The second record should have never happened. Rob [Fleischman] should have stayed with the project. The basic sound of that record was like [Jimmy] Page and [Robert] Plant — it was Rob and me. That first record was pretty red-hot. It was my vision; Rob singing; everything was just right. Second version of it should have been aborted, should have never happened. I had the power; I should have taken it. I should have called the shots, which should have been, ‘Stop this. Revamp it. Go back, let me get the people I need.’ The people that were involved with it at that time should have not been involved with it, but it was such a publicity machinery piece of… it was like a product. It was all publicity and hype. The songs, I felt were really good, but I didn’t feel the music came out to be… the records weren’t what I would have done. I would have never settled on records like that. When I say records, the first one, yes; the second one, no; and that singer [Mark Slaughter] was unbearable as far as I’m concerned.”
With respect to his life today, Vincent stated: “I play about seven hours a day. I take care of my dogs. I write; I record; I do everything I’ve always done. I’m just not out in the public doing it.”
In terms of reconnecting with KISS bassist Gene Simmons, Vincent stated:
“Strange of all things, Probably the nicest thing that’s happened is I heard from one of my old friends, Gene [Simmons]. I love Gene. In the early days, he treated me so supportive. Remember, where KISS was at in the days was, ‘Here comes this kid.’ I wanted to rule the world, and they have already ruled the world. I came and wanted to be as much help to this band as I could and bring whatever I could to them. I’m here to be whatever I can for this band. And I did feel with all my heart that this was everything I’ve ever wanted. There was nothing I wanted more than that in my life — nothing. They had a choice. There was people all over the world that would have done anything, and so I would have too. Something happened when we began to write songs together, and for whatever unhappiness there was, I think it was meant to be. I think everything that happened was very special, and I think the fans know it. I think it was a great chapter in the band’s career.”
“I have an e-mail address that I hadn’t checked in about five years. It was an e-mail I only used for certain things that were going on business-wise, and once that business was done, I never checked it anymore. I don’t know what caused me to do this — forces sometimes, they compel you to do something, you don’t know why — Christmas night, I said, ‘I better check this e-mail, just to see if it’s still there.’ I see three e-mails from Gene. I say, ‘Isn’t that great? How nice. I wonder what I did wrong now. [Laughs] I wonder what he’s yelling me at for now.’ I’m looking at the dates of these e-mails, and they’re from June and July. This is Christmas night. I opened it up and it had to do with [Simmons‘s recently released box set] ‘The Vault‘. We had written a lot of songs during the ‘Revenge‘ era, and I think there’s one on there — one of my favorite songs, my own personal favorite songs, ‘I Wanna Live’. This was June; he sent me another one two weeks later and gets no answer from me. Then he sends me another one in July, and there’s no answer from Vinnie, basically about the same thing. I said, I bet that’s why he’s mad at me. I read all three e-mails, and I said [imitates typing], ‘I love you; I miss you; come on home,’ you know? Then we started emailing again. He said, ‘I’d like to have ‘I Wanna Live’ on ‘The Vault‘, and invited me to Nashville and receive it on stage and to meet each other again. I said to him, ‘Listen, you said some stuff about me — come on, we’re past this.’ I said, ‘I just want you to know, I still love you. I always will. We had a lot of good things. Let’s move on.’ The e-mail vibe was great.”
You can read other excerpts from the interview with Vinnie Vincent at Blabbermouth.
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Vinnie Vincent in person for the first time 22 years