Vinnie Vincent WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU GLAM!

Vinnie Vincent WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU GLAM!

Anne M. Raso

Guitarist extraordinaire Vinnie Vincent is about to unleash yet another aural assault on the united headbangers of America. All Systems Go, is being awaited with baited breath and rouged lips by fans who have followed Vincent since he became Kiss’ mystery axeman on 1982’s Creatures Of The Night.

Vinnie and his Invaders were putting the finishing touches on the new LP at LA’s famed Cherokee Studios. His enthusiasm for the disc nearly set the tape on fire, but his soft-spoken manner was a real shocker—VV just doesn’t act as crazy as he looks. No way, Jose—Vinnie’s speaking voice is not unlike that of any other suburban schmoe. It’s not surprising that Vincent is from Stamford, CT, a town as mellow as they come. Hardly a breeding ground for glam rockers.

“m^oure gonna be sharing rooms and just about everything else. How can you stand that unless you love that person?”

“I think the new LP’s really something special,” Vinnie gushes. “This album is the stuff that the great Led Zeppelin and Van Halen albums are made of...it’s fun and energetic and has heavy guitar riffs. I believe we’ve kind of hit our stride with this record. Man, I didn’t expect it to happen this early on, but the first album we did was more or less a showcase for me, Vinnie Vincent, as a guitarist and songwriter. That album was pretty much a preview of what the band was gonna be like, but we weren’t quite a band a year-and-a-half ago when we did that record. We were very new— we didn’t know each other that well. The chemistry was there and the vibe was right, but we really didn't know each other that well musically.”

Now that the boys know each other, not only musically, but on a more intimate level as well—they’ve shared bottles of Shpritz Forte No. 4 (ExtraHold), tubes of Maybelline Dial-ALash and Max Factor Erase. And let’s not forget the young female fans that regularly appear backstage and at instore record signings. Comments Mr. Vincent, “We just like to talk to them—honest!” Vinnie, also insists that Hostess pink Sno-Balls are nature’s most perfect food!

Vinnie immodestly says the new album is destined to be a classic, but he doesn’t sound cocky because of his humble, sweet voice. This guy could probably talk Marie Osmond into leaving the Mormon church and starting a massage parlor. “You really, really know when a record is magical,” he effuses. “You just feel it. I think that when fans hear this record, they’re going to say, ‘They hit it! It’s their f/'me!’

“Here’s what I compare it to: when I was growing up, and heavily into bands like Led Zeppelin and Van Halen, a first album always gave a hint of what a band was like and you always knew by the second album that a band was great. For example, when I first joined Kiss—it was on the Crea tures Of The Night LP, which was great album—it wasn’t until Lick i Up, which is the second album that did with them, that the band reall came into their stride. That’s whe the magic was all there—it was realh really powerful, the direction was ver focused and the energy was concer trated. Even with Led Zeppelin II, was so much more focused than Le I Zeppelin I. That’s what made it such knockout, so much fun to listen to.’

He continues on an even more opl ■ mistic note, I think that’s where m/ feelings on the new album are at—it a very, very fun album. It’s very men orable and it’s very, very heavy. Kid came up to me on the road and sait, ‘Do you think you can top the first album?’ And we didn’t know the answer to that question until we bega 1 the second album.

“When we got off tour, I had an incredible amount of positive enerc stored up inside me. It all flowed oi into this heavy, positive creativ streak that led me to write the mat* rial for this record. There also we; some very, very heavy musicianship involved in recording.

“So now I know the answer to the question about the new record is ‘Yes! We’ve topped the first album!’ Every song is a very serious heavy rocker—there are a lot of solos, and they’re all strategically placed. I think the fans will see an incredible amount of personality coming through from the band on this record.”

Vincent is the first to admit that his glamorous rock star aura overpowered the images of the other Invaders in the past. “There are four separate personas coming across this time, which I’m really excited about. I don’t like being in the hot seat; if I’ve got a band that’s this good, I don’t really like being the center of attention. I want the kids to say ‘All the guys are stars.’

“Before, I was the only one in the group that people paid attention to. I’m hoping that the guys will get their chance to be voted best vocalist, best sex object, best drummer, best bass player, etc. I’m especially thrilled for Bobby [Rock, drummer] right now because he’s been asked to do instructional video tapes on his drumminq style.”

It’s a surprise that the rest of the band didn’t come into their own sooner. We won’t deny that the Invasion boys haven’t gotten some attention. It’s just hard for a guy in any band to contend with a megapowerful frontman like Vincent. With the second album, it’s time for each memberto shine, and why not? Dana Strum is a well-known LA bassist who helped Ozzy Osbourne recruit guitarists Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee into his band. Bobby Rock was one of New York’s primo session drummers. Mark Slaughter, the most inexperienced member of the Invasion, got into the group via a tape his girlfriend passed on to Vincent. Slaughter’s experience was mainly in local bands, but he impressed his more seasoned cronies.

Now keep in mind that Vinnie is one of rock’s most famous perfectionists (“I’m a perfectionist to the point it gets in the way!,” he claims)—picked these guys after auditioning hundreds of musicians. Plenty of guys got trial runs including Cinderella’s current drummer Fred Coury, who was told that he should be ready to move to LA from his native upstate New York at the drop of a hat. After several false alarms over a threemonth period, and selling all his worldly possessions except for his drums, Coury headed out to LA only to be fired and hired three times in three weeks!

The flamboyant axeman says in self-defense, “I thought Fred was a great guy and a great player. But, hey, when you’re finding a guy for a band, it’s like a marriage. Ya gotta be perfect for each other, and there’s got to be chemistry between you and the other person right from the start.Really, it’s just like a boy and a girl falling in love.

“You’re gonna be travelling with a guy for eight months or more, sharing rooms and just about everything else. How can you stand that all the time unless you love that person? I was really interested in Fred, but in the end, I decided he wasn’t the right kind of guy for this band. But I’m happy to see how well he’s done—he deserves every ounce of his success.”

Greg Bissonette of David Lee Roth’s band was another also-ran. It was Vincent who recommended him to Steve Vai for the group. Vai returned the favor by issuing Vincent a platinum disc for Eat ’Em And Smile

One of the criteria for hiring musicians was a certain image—besides being a master of their instrument, each prospective Invasion member had to be a graduate of the Robert Fiance Beauty School and have an endorsement with Vidal Sesoon or the equivalent. Vincent is aware of the mega-glamour image that his band been has projecting and admittedly, they’re now using their Dial-ALash on a lower setting.

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Vincent comments, “We’ve evolved quite a bit since we got together two years ago, so the glamour image has been toned down. For lack of a better way of putting this, we’ve gone from a glam thing to a rock thing. We have a lot more natural image now. I don’t believe that things stay the same forever—your image has to grow along with you. We haven’t abandoned it completely, it’s just not as outrageous. My outrageousness has been subdued—it’s now closer to who I really am instead of being a cartoon character.”

And who’s the real Vinnie Vincent, and will be please stand up? Could it be that his personality is split three ways? "I’ve got a musical side, a persona side and a private side,” he reveals. “I have a really good balance between all three. Music is my passion, and when I’ve got time off and I’m away from it, I find that I really can’t get away from it. It’s what gets me up in the morning.

“I get up early and go into the studio at 10 AM and work until 4:30 AM. I’ve got a studio at home. I live in a residential neighborhood and I have Marshalls set up in my house. Believe me, the cops have been over my house many times. They know my name now—they want to come over and hear my own songs. So it’s not as bad as when they first came over. My neighbors were beginning to wonder, ‘Who’s this maniac?’”

The same maniac who auditioned bimbettes for his road crew last year, that’s who! Vinnie has a message for all you luscious Lolitas out there; keep the cards, letters and garter belts coming in! “We auditioned a whole year for female roadies and we did find two of them. We didn’t want them just because they were female—we wanted them to be experienced in terms of equipment... musical equipment that is! It’s just hard to find great-looking girls who knew this kind of stuff.

“We did have a lot of auditions and we did get a lot of mail—there was lingerie, nude shots, and the cards and letters are still coming in. We’ll be taking the girls on the tour we’re about to start. That should make the crew happy. They’d rather look at some girls instead of having to look at us all the time.”

Also travelling with the band will be a loyal legion of fans who will take time off from their school and/or jobs to travel follow the band around the country. “I want to say that we love them and we can’t wait to see them again on tour!” says Vincent. “These fans follow us for four or five cities in a row—or more. I can’t believe how loyal my fans have been. Some of them have been there from the first time I went onstage with Kiss. They’d say, ‘Vinnie, we love you. We love you as much as we love everyone else’— which meant an awful lot to me. Now, Ace had been in the band for 10 years, and he was someone the fans loved and admired—so for them to take to me like that, it’s something I’ll never forget.”

Yes, VV is the kind of guitar hero that warrants massive amounts of adulation. How could you not love a guy who looks like Bobby Gentry after she became “Billy Joe” at a Copenhagen sex-change clinic? Yes, all systems are go for Vinnie and the boys as they head out on the road. As soon as they pack their make-up cases—and that shouldn’t take more than a week— the Invasion will be rippin’ up the road. And, if for some odd reason, things don’t work out as well as planned, you can bet that ol’ Vinnie can succeed at opening his own beauty school. Robert Fiance, eat your heart out! □