News Archive July 2010

Creature In Crime
From: KISSfaq.com
by Tim McPhate
Posted: July 18, 2010

For Adam Mitchell, the music business essentially boils down to one thing, and one thing only. "Everything is about the song," he stresses. "Everything is a multiplication of the power of the song."

A BMI award-winning songwriter, Mitchell has worked with an array of artists over his long-standing career including Art Garfunkel, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Nicolette Larson, and Linda Ronstadt, among others, and his compositions have been recorded more than 150 times across various genres of music. Of course, to KISS fans he is known for being a co-writer on songs that appear on albums such as "Killers," "Creatures Of The Night," "Crazy Nights," and "Hot In The Shade." As fate would have it, he is also essentially responsible for bringing Vinnie Vincent into the KISS camp. "I introduced him to Gene when KISS was looking for a new guitar player," says Mitchell.

Mitchell came onboard during a critical juncture in the band's history. In 1982 KISS was essentially on life support after the dismal commercial reception of "(Music From) The Elder." In an attempt to resuscitate their career, they answered with "Creatures Of The Night," an album which Mitchell co-wrote three songs on, including the stomping title track. While "Creatures" was not a platinum-selling commercial smash, it has become a fan-favorite over the years and was an important stepping stone for the second chapter in the band's career.

Mitchell would go on to cultivate friendships with the various KISS members and a songwriting partnership that at times extended into outside projects with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and even Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick. His work has drawn high praise from his KISS collaborators. "Adam Mitchell's ability to write in a diversity of styles is only possible because of his solid grasp of the fundamentals of great songwriting," said Paul Stanley. "Adam Mitchell is a total professional. Some of my favorite KISS songs were co-written by Adam, and his contributions to many artists of fame are first class," said Bruce Kulick.

KISSFAQ caught up with Mitchell in an attempt to gain insight into this interesting period in KISStory. Along the way, he shared impressions about the songs and albums in which he participated in, stories about various band members, and engaged in discussions on general KISS topics, his own career and current projects, and the subject he is most passionate about: songwriting.

KISSFAQ: Adam, thanks so much for taking time out to talk to us today.

Adam Mitchell: You're welcome, Tim.

KF: Why don't we get started with your musical background. Was there a moment you realized that you wanted to have a career in music?

AM: Well, actually there was no moment. I was a French major in college and to be honest, although I played in bands and was playing around Toronto as a singer/songwriter, there wasn't any moment when I said, "Well, I want to have a [music] career," because it just didn't seem feasible. I had been playing in a club in the Village in Toronto as a solo singer/songwriter and the guy who was actually the dishwasher in this club called The Mars Hole had become the manager for a group named the Paupers, who were playing at another club down the street. And when they replaced their lead singer, he had heard me play every night at this club where he was the dishwasher, and he said, "You have to get Adam Mitchell to be your new lead singer because he writes." Because they were basically doing covers at the time. I was writing original stuff and so they got me in the band, and we had the right chemistry. It was a great band. We ended up very quickly becoming the best band in Toronto and we went to New York and we opened up for Jefferson Airplane. We did fantastically well. Albert Grossman -- who at the time was managing Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary and other big acts -- wanted to be our manager. One thing led to another and suddenly I had a career in the music business. And it's been that way ever since.

KF: What was the makeup of the Paupers?

AM: It was a four-piece band. Two guitars, bass and a drums. We had a fantastic bass player, Danny Gerrard, who won the Playboy Jazz poll. He wasn't even a jazzer but he was just the best bass player in the world at age 19. Denny was kind of the Jimi Hendrix of the bass. He was just unbelievable. And we had a sensational drummer [Skip Prokop] and we had good songs. The chemistry was right, and we were a great live act. I had played in drum corps in high school so I could play drums, so we would do these three-part drum things where I would play two high toms on a stand and Skip would play drums and Denny would play two low toms on a stand. It was absolutely fantastic. Pete Townshend said, "You guys are one of the best bands in the world."

KF: That's pretty high praise.

AM: Gene and Paul were both fans of ours too.

KF: Who are some of your favorite artists and influences?

AM: Well, it depends on what stage of my life I was in. Of course, the Beatles influenced everyone and changed the world. But the real person that changed the world and really changed my life and writing, and changed everyone -- even bands today who probably never heard him -- was Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan changed absolutely everything, because not only was he writing with just him and one guitar, he was writing fantastic songs that changed the world like "Blowin' In The Wind," "Times They Are A-Changin'" and "With God On Our Side" -- just stunning pieces of work.

He told the Beatles when he met them in 1965 at the Plaza Hotel in New York -- the Beatles were huge by this time -- he said, "You know, you guys are a good band but you aren't saying anything." And because Dylan was saying something, the Beatles then started trying to say something and that led them into a whole other period of creativity, which influenced all of us. It influenced the Rolling Stones, it influenced every band out there, and it certainly changed my world. It made us all lyric-conscious; it made us all really want to say something.

Even if you look at bands like Led Zeppelin, who were a huge influence on KISS -- I know personally how much Gene and Paul love Zeppelin. But Robert Plant was a folkie. John Paul Jones is a jazzer. John Bonham, well he was from some other planet obviously. (laughs) And if you look at the guitar tones and where Jimmy Page came from -- they had what the Beatles had, which was remarkable chemistry. It's just not possible, if you think about it, to have the four Beatles in the same band or to have the four guys in Led Zeppelin. But it happened!

So my influences back then in the 1960s were Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, who is also an astonishing talent. In the 1970s, Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder made brilliant, brilliant records. And Steely Dan...my own stuff that I do as a solo artist and as a writer is probably more influenced by Steely Dan in many respects than anyone else. Their lyric sense is so impeccable, the music is so interesting and the playing is just world-class.

So those are my big influences. I also love Randy Newman. The Police are terrific; Sting is an absolute genius. Elvis Costello made great records. I love Talking Heads, the Clash...

KF: You have some diverse tastes. As a songwriter, is it important to keep an open ear and listen to newer artists and different genres?

AM: Oh yeah, there are lots of great new artists. I think Jack Johnson is terrific. He does relatively lightweight stuff but I think he's terrific. I get his records.

Merle Haggard was a huge influence on me for country. Huge. He did one of my songs, ["Out Among The Stars"] and I couldn't believe it because he barely did outside songs. As a singer and a performer, Merle Haggard in a way -- he and Hank Williams -- changed country music profoundly. Willie Nelson I love. I like Dave Matthews. I love all kinds of music.

KF: You mentioned drums, what other instruments can you play?

AM: I actually started off as a harmonica player, that was my first instrument. I took to that very quickly. Up through the '70s, I played on a lot of records. I played on Linda Ronstadt records and a whole bunch of other records, but I kind of stopped that for awhile. I started playing [harmonica] recently again live, so that was my first instrument.

Then I played drums when I was in drum corps. My uncle had been a drummer and when I was 16 or 17 I played drums in a couple of high school rock bands. But when the folk thing came along I wanted to play guitar and my friend Ian, who is still my best friend and lives in Canada, played lead guitar in rock bands. We wanted to play folk music because you could write your own songs. So I wanted to buy a guitar but I couldn't afford to have the drums and the guitar, so I had to sell the drums to get a guitar (laughs), which was a very good thing because I wasn't a particularly good drummer. Having a guitar led me to write my own songs.

I play keyboards a little bit, but I am not really a piano player. I also play mandolin. But basically I'm a guitar player.

KF: Moving forward into some KISS-related questions, can you describe the events that led to you meeting Vinnie Vincent, who was then Vinnie Cusano? And did meeting Vinnie pre-date your interaction with KISS?

AM: No, it was after. In fact, I was the one who introduced Vinnie to KISS.

KF: You introduced Vinnie to Gene, correct?

AM: Yes. I met Vinnie...I can't remember exactly how that came about. But there was an '80s band in Los Angeles, right around 1982-1983, it was a new wave band. By the way, I always thought new wave sucked.

KF: We'll quote you on that. (laughs)

AM: And it did, that's why it never lasted. I know this is an aside, but if you look at all the great music in the '80s, it really was made mostly by pre-video bands like the Police and KISS...Prince, and Talking Heads, and so forth.

But there was this '80s band in L.A. called Sue Saad And The Next, and somehow -- I can't remember how I hooked up with them. My friend Greg Penny, who produced k.d. lang and Elton John, might have introduced me. For some reason, I knew Sue Saad And The Next and through them -- and I don't remember the circumstances -- I met Vinnie. He may have been playing with them briefly, and he and I got together and we only wrote two songs.

One of them was a song called "Tears."

KF: I love that song.

AM: John Waite later cut it. And then we wrote another song that didn't get cut. My only involvement with Vinnie really was right around that time, and then I introduced him to Gene when KISS was looking for a new guitar player.

KF: What do you remember about the writing process for "Tears"?

AM: I came up with the entire lyric. We did the demo at my house, and there's a guitar riff I also came up with [sings guitar riff]. I came up with that, and I can't remember honestly how much of the chord structure I came up with. Vinnie had some little musical ideas that he came up with. We got together and put the song together. John Waite cut it. Patty Smyth and Scandal cut it, but John Waite got his version out first. I actually liked [Smyth's] version better, but they didn't release their version. And then a few other people cut it.

KF: It was also featured on Peter Criss' "Let Me Rock You" in 1982.

AM: That's right, that's right. I forgot about that.

The bass player in Cheap Trick [Tom Petersson] cut it. But John Waite had the big hit with it, but I must say his version was not my favorite.

KF: This being a KISS site, this will sound biased but I actually love Peter's version, which was produced by Vini Poncia. I love that arrangement, and I never really liked Waite's version.

AM: I tell you the problem with John Waite's version, and my friend Frank LaRocca was playing drums in John's band at the time, he really tried to rock it out too hard. And he really took the musicality out of the original piece, whereas everyone else who did it -- Peter included -- kept more of the musicality in it. And that's why I liked those versions better.

KF: I've heard the demo for "Tears" that you and Vinnie did, and I think it's great. The essence of the song is right there. Another song you wrote with Vinnie -- "My Love Goes With You" -- do you remember anything about that one?

AM: Yeah, but I didn't write that with Vinnie, did I? I'm pretty sure I wrote that myself. It's funny, I had forgotten all about that song. I also demoed it in the studio in that same house.

I was in a restaurant one night in Toronto and a friend of mine who sang in a Canadian opera company, she and I had been to see "Amadeus" when it just came out -- this is like 1985 or something. As we were talking and I am hearing this song on the Muzak, and it sounds really familiar. And I said to her, "You know, I think a friend of mine wrote this song." And then I listened to it a little bit more and I realized, "Wait a second, I wrote that song!" It was some Swedish band that cut it.

KF: What were your initial impressions of Vinnie as a songwriter and musician?

AM: As a songwriter, Vinnie came up with good riffs. I mean "Lick It Up" is great. But Vinnie is a player, I mean was, I haven't heard him play in years. But Vinnie was one of the most musical players I've ever heard.

KF: That's an interesting statement.

AM: You wouldn't know it from listening to the Vinnie Vincent Invasion records because for reasons known only to himself he got into all of that [mimics fast guitar playing]. You know, "Look how fast I can play!" I've heard Vinnie play versions of "White Christmas" on guitar that were absolutely unbelievable.

KF: That brings me to a question I wanted to ask. As you intimated, Vinnie later became known for an eccentric lead guitar style, but back then do you recall him playing like that, or was his style more tempered?

AM: I am sure he could have played like that, but I never heard it. By the way Mark Slaughter is a very good friend of mine. Mark Slaughter is a fantastic guy, very, very talented.

But what Vinnie did on that Invasion record, when I heard it I went, "What?!" It was absolutely nothing like the playing that I heard Vinnie do, and you know I sat around and played with him a lot. He was really a great musical talent, and why he got into that I have no idea.

KF: Obviously, the shred guitar style came into vogue in the mid-'80s, and Vinnie had plenty of chops. But you listen to some of his demo recordings and earlier work and his playing is more restrained, while his style on the Invasion material was over the top and in your face...

AM: It just wasn't that it was in your face. To me, there was a certain insecurity about it. He was trying too hard to show that he could do that because a lot of guys shredded and I think it's great. I mean, believe me Bruce Kulick can shred. Bruce's new record "BK3" is phenomenal, it's unbelievable. Bruce can shred but he can also play with a fabulous musicality. And Vinnie also had that real musical ability and a great melodic sense, but none of that was appearing on that [first] Invasion record.

KF: Producer Michael James Jackson introduced you to the KISS fold during the "Killers" sessions. Can you tell us about how this came about?

AM: It was through Michael. Michael and I had met back in the late '60s, maybe early '70s, in Toronto. I was producing a band called Fludd, and we had a couple of hits, and they were on A&M [Records]. And Michael, who was working at A&M in L.A., came up to Toronto for some reason and I happened to meet him in Fludd's manager's office, and he and I became friends. We're still very close friends to this day.

When I moved to California, I got a deal as a solo artist on Warner Bros., which was quite a big deal at the time in the '70s because they were such a great label. [Ed: Adam Mitchell released a solo album on Warner Bros. in 1979, "Redhead In Trouble."] And when I was in the studio at Sunset Sound doing my record, Michael was in the next-door studio producing a band called Pablo Cruise, who were big in the '70s. And he came in and we reconnected and he heard my songs, and he really liked them.

So fast-forward a couple of years to 1980, 1981 or thereabouts, and he was now producing KISS and they were looking for people to write with and he suggested me. Paul Stanley came over to my house and he and I wrote a couple of songs, I guess we probably wrote more than a couple, but I don't remember. Two of them were "Partners In Crime" and...

KF: "I'm A Legend Tonight"?

AM: Yes, "I'm A Legend Tonight." Both of which ended up on "Killers." And then Gene asked Paul what it was like writing with me, and Paul said he enjoyed it. And Gene came over to the house and we started writing also.

KF: What do you recall about that initial session with Paul?

AM: You know, if you're going to sit down and write down with Paul Stanley of KISS, and he doesn't know you...I don't know if Michael had played him some of my other songs or not, he may have. But Paul wanted to see, "Is this guy worth writing with?" As he should have, because they had a reputation to protect and they were a great band. I remember he was a little circumspect at first, but we got on well and we wrote well together.

I mean, all the songs that I have on KISS records, they are all songs I wrote with Paul. Most of the stuff that Gene and I wrote was for other bands he was doing like Black 'N Blue or that great Japanese band, EZO, or Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics. So Gene and I would write a lot, but it was usually for other bands. But Paul and I wrote primarily for KISS.

KF: Speaking of songs with Gene, what do you recall about "Chrome Goes Into Motion"?

AM: That was the first song Gene and I wrote! How did you know about that?! Is there a tape of that? You know, Gene keeps everything...

KF: I haven't heard it personally, but at our site we keep a record of this type of information.

AM: I can't even remember...I think the title was Gene's idea. And honestly I don't remember much about the song, except it had a lot more to do with Steely Dan than it had to do with KISS. (laughs)

And we wrote another one that was weird too, I can't remember what it was. They're fun to write with. Both Gene and Paul were fun to write with. They're just fun to hang out with.

KF: At the time you got together with Gene and Paul, KISS was coming off the commercial disappointment of "(Music From) The Elder" and their popularity in the States had abated. What do you recall about Paul and Gene's spirits at the time?

AM: Well, they were upbeat, but I don't think it's any secret they were seriously worried about their career because "The Elder" was a bit of a disaster. Well, it was a disaster, compared to where they had been. It was a mistake, and I am sure they would be the first to tell you, to try and do a concept album. KISS is not about doing concept albums, and it really is in many respects thanks to "The Elder" that I ended up writing with them, because they realized after that that they really needed to get back on the rails. And like everything else in this business, no matter who the artist is, it all starts with the song. And everything else -- you do need great singing, great playing, great production -- everything is a multiplication of the power of the song.

Any band in the world practically could have done "Detroit Rock City" or "Rock And Roll All Night" and it would still be great because they are great songs. But the fact that KISS did it, it was perfect for them, and they were a huge band, so it was so much the better. But great songs are the core of everything in this business. Everything. And they realized that.

"Killers" was released first as an overseas album and the first real KISS album we did was "Creatures Of The Night," which has a lot of great songs.

KF: Before we get to "Creatures," can you talk about how you introduced Vinnie to Gene?

AM: Well, I don't know if I talked to Vinnie about it. Vinnie and I were still in contact. I lived up in the Hollywood hills and Gene was coming over to my house to write. I guess I mentioned this to Vinnie and he basically just showed up at the door and said, "Oh, I was in the neighborhood." Well, if you knew my neighborhood at the time it's not a neighborhood you just happened to be in. It was way up in the hills and I had a real long driveway and so on.

Gene was in the kitchen making some granola, I think, and Vinnie knocked on the door and I went to the door and he came in and I introduced him to Gene. I honestly can't remember if I had mentioned him to Gene or not before, because the one thing I knew for sure, and this may have been after I introduced them and Gene asked me about him, but the one thing I knew for sure was that Vinnie could play like Ace, except way better.

I mean Vinnie was a much better guitar player than Ace. But he had that same type of Ace feel, which Mark St. John did not have, for example. Vinnie was a New York guy and for whatever reason he had that feel. When Bruce joined the band, Bruce brought a whole other set of abilities to them, but Bruce doesn't play like Ace. He plays like Bruce and he's phenomenal. But Vinnie was more like an Ace player, and of course this was before Bruce was even in the picture. So I knew Vinnie could play like that, and as I say I can't remember if I mentioned it to Gene before he met Vinnie or afterward, but that's how they met.

KF: You ended up collaborating with Paul Stanley on three songs on "Creatures": the title track, "Keep Me Comin'" and "Danger." Paul has been adamant that the title track was an attempt at "reclaiming a focus" -- do you recall a discussion with Paul regarding a specific direction for the album?

AM: I don't remember literally word-for-word anything he said. I do remember distinctly talking with Paul and him making it perfectly clear that they wanted to make a KISS record, which they did not feel "The Elder" was. That's why I say that "Creatures" -- more than "Killers" -- was the next real KISS album. Paul wanted to get back to exactly what had made them successful and so big in the '70s, and of course he would because that's what they did best. This was a rock and roll band, this was not a concept album band.

I am pretty sure out of those three songs "Creatures" was the first one we wrote. And we did the demos in my studio in my house and I had a blue Charvel [guitar] that I just bought and I came up with that lick that they play between the verse and that ends the song. [sings the lick] I played that on the demo and we just put the demo together with my LinnDrum machine that I had just gotten. Roger Linn by they way -- who invented the LinnDrum machine and changed the world -- Roger used to be the guitar player in my band when I had my deal on Warner Bros. Roger is a sensational guitar player.

So anyway, we did the demo at my house. The way we'd usually work, Paul would have an idea like "Creatures Of The Night." He had the title, he had the idea. And I am sure "Danger" and I think every song that I wrote with Paul, pretty much he would have an idea or a title or some feeling he'd like to explore, and we'd sit down and thrash it up.

KF: A lot of fans consider that album to be a classic.

AM: Yes. I tell you some of the other things I remember about "Creatures." Eric Carr of course was in the band by that time. Eric and I were very, very good friends, and he died on my birthday, in fact, in 1991. We recorded most of "Creatures" in L.A., but some of the tracks we recorded in New York. I think three or four of the tracks we recorded in New York. And one of them was "Keep Me Comin'." In fact, Paul and I didn't write that one at my house, we wrote that one at his place in New York. Anyway, the thing I really remember about that track was the drum sound was phenomenal. And the studio that we were recording in had a back room -- it was like a storage room, a big concrete room. And someone got the idea, probably Michael James Jackson, to put the drums back in there and see what they sound like. And we put the drums back in this concrete room and miced them up and it sounded unbelievable. It was fantastic. That's why if you listen to that track, the drum sound is just huge.

KF: The drum sound on the entire album is big.

AM: To be my honest, my favorite part of the show -- and I've seen many KISS concerts as you can imagine -- was Eric's drum solo. Because he not only had his regular toms, he had those synth drums....I loved it. Eric was a great showman, he was a great drummer and his drum solo was really one of the highlights of a KISS concert back in the '80s. No question about it.

KF: My first concert was the Hot In The Shade tour, and Eric's drum solo was definitely a highlight.

AM: He was great.

KF: Though he appeared on the album cover, Ace Frehley was for all intents and purposes out of the band during "Creatures." What do you remember, if anything, about Ace during this period and the lead guitarist carousel on the album?

AM: I never met Ace. He came over to Gene's house one time when I was writing with Gene but I never met him. His face appeared on the first "Creatures" cover, the original cover. Ace had nothing whatsoever to do with that record. Nothing. All lead guitars on that record were played by Paul, and I may miss a couple here. I played on "Creatures." The guy from Mr. Mister played that solo.

KF: Steve Farris.

AM: Yeah. And Bob Kulick played on some. And I am trying to remember if Vinnie by that point had played on something or not. I can't remember.

KF: I believe he plays on "Saint And Sinner"...

AM: Yeah. I have no memory of him being there and I was in the studio for almost all of the tracks. But as far as I know, Ace was never in the studio. I never saw him in the studio.

KF: I have to ask this. There's this strange story in Gene's autobiography around the time of "Creatures".... Do you remember anything about Eddie Van Halen considering joining KISS during this time?

AM: Nope. If that was indeed the case, it's news to me.

KF: The story goes that Gene had lunch with Eddie circa 1982 and for a second there Eddie was considering leaving Van Halen to join KISS.

AM: That maybe the case, but let me put it this way, I seriously doubt it. No matter what Gene said in his book, I can't see Eddie Van Halen leaving Van Halen even though they were having trouble at that time.

Paul and I went to a Van Halen rehearsal one time, and I'll tell you a story I do remember. We were standing there talking to David Lee Roth, we were probably 50 feet away from the stage, and Eddie was up onstage just goofing around. And honestly, it sounded like two guitars. It was unbelievable.

KF: Van Halen is one of my favorite bands, and Eddie is one of my favorite guitarists.

AM: I'll tell you another story. I was living out in Malibu -- Linda Ronstadt and I lived at the beach -- and [producer] Ted Templeman came out to the house one day and said, "I want to play you this band that I just did four tracks on." And he played me Van Halen. I mean, I had never heard of them. They didn't even have a deal at that point, he hadn't recorded the [debut] record. He played me "D.O.A." and three other tracks. I remember vividly the first time I heard Eddie Van Halen, I couldn't believe it. He changed everything.

KF: I've heard similar stories with people hearing that first Van Halen album in 1978 and their jaws dropping.

AM: The whole band was great.

KF: You said you were around most of the sessions for "Creatures." Being in the studio, could you sense that the band felt they were on to something really good?

AM: Well, I knew it was really good. But I think in general, Gene and Paul were so concentrated on making sure that this was a KISS record that I think to some degree there was a certain amount of holding your breath, and I won't say hoping this works, but because they had gotten such a scare with "The Elder" they really wanted this to work so badly, which is one of the reasons it turned out so great.

But at the same time they just wanted to get this done and they wanted to get it done right and they wanted to make sure everything about it was exactly the way they wanted. There was no question there was a strong motivation to make sure this a KISS record. I remember many discussions, in fact, about "Is this heavy enough?" Gene was the heavy police, as you might expect from the "God Of Thunder." (laughs)

There's no question about it, they wanted to make sure this was a KISS record.

KF: KISS followed "Creatures" with "Lick It Up," which Michael James Jackson also produced. The band wrote this album entirely in house. Do you remember being asked at any point to contribute any ideas and were you around for those sessions at all?

AM: No, I really had nothing to do with "Lick It Up." I had gotten into other things at that point, and was doing a lot of screenwriting and different things like that. No, I really didn't have anything to do with "Lick It Up." I think there is some terrific stuff on that album. I remember they shot the video at a warehouse in downtown L.A., I remember going to the video shoot for "Lick It Up." I remember doing that, but the record itself I really had nothing to do with it.

KF: After "Creatures," you had a bit of a KISS hiatus up until "Crazy Nights." But before we move on, one other question on Vinnie. It's been well documented that various circumstances led Vinnie Vincent and KISS to part ways by 1984. In hindsight, Paul and Gene have said Vinnie was brought in by default and that he never really fit the band. What's your take?

Don't miss Adam's take on Vinnie in part 2 coming later this week!