Part I

KISS HELL: What have you been up to lately-since leaving the Ace band?

RICHIE SCARLET: I've been busy producing, I just finished producing a band from Staten Island called NYB, the CD just came out a couple weeks ago. As well as working out in Las Vegas with a chick named Tygerr & produced her stuff & it's a band called Tygerrs Lair that I'm involved with and I also wrapped up my CD WISE GUY FROM NEW YORK.

KH: Can you tell us a little about the WISE GUY album?

RS: It's a very rude, obnoxious rock&roll record. It kind of showcases a lot of different styles I have as a guitar player. Everything from the blues to straight ahead hard rock to a couple of punk inspired numbers cause I was a fan of bands like the Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols. So there's different spots and different influences throughout the CD of where I've been at musically on and off for the last 10 years.

KH: How did you get Sebastian Bach to sing on it?

RS: I just fuckin' punched him in the fuckin' head and told him you better sing on it or I'm gonna kick your ass (laughs). No-Sebastian and I go way back and he's sang on a few other things with Ace and myself and basically I just asked him and he was more than happy to do it.

KH: Do you sing the rest of the songs on there?

RS: Yeah, there's 11 tracks on the CD. One is an instrumental entitled "El Figero" that I wrote for Anton Fig. Anton plays drums on that track it's one of my favorite cuts, that cut also features Kenny Aaronson on bass. Kenny was always one of my favorite bass players out of New York, he played with numerous bands and I always wanted to record with him so I was quite thrilled to get him and Anton on some of the tracks. John Regan plays bass on the only ballad on the record it's a song called "Wounded Heart." Steve Werner from Ace's band plays on more than half the record on drums, along with a guy named Larry Fisher out of Philadelphia-a great bass player that I've worked with throughout the years. The album also features background vocals from a guy named Doug Palmer-a great singer & I also have a 16 year old kid on guitar on 2 songs playing lead with me named Justin Vandora who has popped up on a couple of bootleg Ace videos cause he's come up and jammed with us on occasion.

KH: How did he get to end up playing with you guys?

RS: He's been a student of mine since he was like 11 and now the kid has all my chops down. I don't know what to teach him anymore he's fantastic. So that was a lot of fun to have him on it. So that's the line-up and I do all the lead guitar, all the guitars actually except for the 2 solos that Justin Vandora does.

Part II

KH: Did you start this album while you were still playing with Ace?

RS: No, last summer is when I actually started. There was a couple tracks I was gona re-do which I had recorded with Ace for his next solo record but I left em alone so they're on the shelf, who knows if they'll ever come out but these are songs that I wrote, some I had written over the summer and some were left over from a few years back.

KH: What about "Too Far Gone"? (Ace demo '95-sung by Richie)

RS: That's one that I was gonna put on this record but I left it for the Ace record.

KH: How long did it take in the studio to finish the album?

RS: It took quite a while, we started it in June and it was finished around November sometime. I put a lot of time into it cause I basically had all the rhythm tracks, bass, drums with Steve, Larry & Anton & John and those guys and then I had cut about 15 songs for this record but I only picked 11. I was left with 15 songs for me to do all my guitar parts on and vocals so it was a lot of work but it was a labor of love.

KH: Is there any chance of touring for this album?

RS: As of right now there's no plans immediately to do that but I hope by the spring something will come about that.

KH: On the CD what kinds of things have you been writing about?

RS: The album starts off with a tribute I wrote about James Dean so the first tune's called "Rebel Boy" and that's basically about the life of James Dean. Then there's a song called "Too Much Heroin" which I wrote about all the rock stars that OD'ed on heroin. Everybody from Sid Vicious to the cat from Mother Love Bone and all these different bands and I just put em alll together in a song, and then I have a blues tune I wrote for Robin Trower that he didn't use so I recorded it, it's called "Eastbound Train" and basiically that's about getting your sanity back together after being in another place. So there's nothing mushy or nothing like that, the balled "Wounded Heart" might be the only love song on the record and the rest are pretty rude.

KH: Did Sebastian (Bach) write any lyrics on the CD?

RS: No, but he kicked some ass . He sang a song called "Sly Little Bitch" and I haven't heard him sing like this in years. He did back up vocals on 4 or 5 other tunes. We always have a blast when we get together.

KH: Wasn't this album originally titled THE EMPEROR?

RS: Yeah it was. The Emperor is a tag I have from KISS fans but I kinda wanted to go beyond that & I'm just a Wise Guy From New York that's what I am really and that came about just because it's something I tell people if they come up and give me all these praises and tell me how great I am I just tell em I'm just a Wise Guy From New York that's all I am.

Part III

KISS HELL: How did you get named the "Emperor of Rock & Roll"?

RICHIE SCARLET: Well it was a joke, Elvis Presley obviously was the king and then once he died some people in New York started calling me that just as a goof and then Ace started calling me that and the next thing you know I'm the Emperor of rock & roll!

KH: Are there any possible singles or videos from the Wise Guy CD?

RS: The song "Eastbound Train" and "Wounded Heart" may be the single but we haven't decided yet. Actually that's up to the label and it's on Axis Records, it's a good independent record label. The people that work for that label are musicians themselves so they're really bustin' their ass to try to get this thing off the ground.

KH: Going back to around 1984, how did you originally start playing with Ace?

RS: Around '83 is when I first hooked up with him. I was doing my first record at the time called "Hit For Hit" and the engineer was KISS' old sound man Eddie Soen, so he's the one that really brought us together. I actually needed a certain kind of guitar, a 12 string and he told me that Ace would let me take it so we went up to his mansion and we hit it off and that was it.

KH: How did Frehley's Comet end up doing "Back On The Streets" on the early demos? Which was actually a Vinnie Vincent song.

RS: I don't know. I think at the time Ace's manager had something to do with Vinnie Vincent and he brought in the song. I'm not really sure how it ended up with us doing it but we did do it.

KH: Would you ever ressurect any of those songs from the Comet demos like "Give It To Me Anyway" or "My Girl"?

RS: "My Girl" was something I had recorded on my own and it ended up on Ace's demos. "Give It To Me Anyway" was a song that was supposed to be on Trouble Walkin', I was very dissapointed that it didn't come out at the last minute cause I worked really hard on that song with Eddie Kramer.

KH: Was it recorded?

RS: Yeah, we took the original drum track that Anton had done on the demo and stripped everything else away and re-did it and to this day I never got a copy of it. I guess Megaforce owns it but I'd like to bring that song back some time, Ace & I even talked about doing it on a future record of his so you never know.

KH: Why did you end up leaving the original Frehleys Comet?

RS: Well there was a lot of time where we were just sitting around for like a year and I was just getting very antsy to get out and play and I had just released a record so I just went in my own direction there for a while.

Part IV

RICHIE SCARLET (cont.) Chesterfield Kings was one of em & basically I just rocked with my own show & I taught some guitar. During that whole time I was still in contact with Ace and we remained freinds. I just don't know how well that line up he had at that time-compared to the original band seems quite different.

KH: I don't think it had as much balls.

RS: Yeah I'd have to agree.

KH: Was it just one solo album you did?

RS: Yeah & I did a second record but it never got released.

KH: At what age did you start playing guitar?

RS: I started kinda late, I was a drummer all through junior high school. Probably about 14.

KH: Do you remember what your first guitar was?

RS: Yeah, it was a Japanese guitar with a built in speaker and the strings about a foot off the neck.

KH: You also played drums & piano right?

RS: Yeah, I went back and forth on a lot of instruments. I still do. I still play a lot of different instruments.

KH: Do you play any piano on your new album?

RS: No, I have a tendency when I write stuff on piano it's usually like Elton John-ish kinda ballads so I wanted to keep this album raw. I definitely didn't hold anything back on the guitar playing that's for sure. I'm happy with it. I got some great guitar tones and I used all kinds of guitars-Les Pauls and Strats and vintage guitars and I tried different amps and a guy named John Valenti co-produced the record with me, he did a great job and he helped capture a lotta great sounds.

KH: Did you use different guitars for different applications?

RS: Yeah. When I'm doing bluesy stuff I tend to use stratocasters and when I'm playing more like heavy rock I always have the Les Paul.

KH: Was there any event in your life that made you wanna play rock & roll?

RS: I think it was just in the cards for me. As a little kid I used to hear the Yardbirds and bands like that not knowing that it was Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page and all these guys that were playing guitar for that band at the time and it was just something that I always had a feel for and I was just fortunate that I was able to make a living doing what I love to do.

KH: What other bands did you dig when you were growing up?

RS: I was into a lot of the heavy English bands. Early Black Sabbath and Zeppelin but Jimi Hendrix is my favorite.

KH: I think your playing shows a real Hendrix influence.

RS: On the record you'll find there's one tune called "Angry Young Man" that's very Hendrix-y. A lot of these cuts I'd cut as a power trio, a kind of Hendrix Experience kind of thing. Yeah that's definitely a big influence.

Part V

KISS HELL: What were the most influential albums for you as a musician?

RS: I think "Truth" by Jeff Beck would be one. "Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie was a favorite of mine. Any Hendrix albums. I love Ace's first solo album with "Rip It Out" and all that stuff. I have all kinds of influences, I try to explore different kinds of music and not put myself in one bag as they say.

KH: What kinds of CD's have you been listening to lately? Anything new?

RS: I haven't really heard much new stuff lately. I tend to find myself listening to older stuff. I love early Who records and early British Invasion stuff and then I'll throw some punk stuff on, so nothing really new.

KH: How did you get into the bluesy style of guitar playing? Like the stuff you played on your video.

RS: Well on that video-I didn't even know those guys (laughing) except for the bass player-Larry Fisher. the other guys were jazz players that I didn't really know but I think we had one half ass rehearsal and we did that show and they did a great job and helped me out. I think the blues goes back to people like Johnny Winter and John Mayalls Blues Breakers then I started dipping further back into people like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and all those kind of people. It's always been a part of my playing but with Ace I couldn't really show that side. Ace plays great blues guitar, people don't even realise it but we've had some great blues jams. We used to take a slow blues and he would just play shit that most people never heard him play.

KH: Any plans to play any more solo shows with your own band?

RS: Yeah, absolutely. I'll also be on tour with Tygerrs Lair, that tour starts in March so I'm gonna do that first and then hopefully get a tour out under my own name. (NOTE: As of June '97 Richie has left Tygerrs Lair)

KH: How did you end up joining Tygerrs Lair?

RS: Well basically she's a Penthouse Pet, a very wild looking chick with a really good voice and she hired me to produce her so I went out to Vegas in November of 96 and I ended up co-writing 3 songs with her and it just clicked, it worked really well.. I mean she just called me and that was it.

Part VI

KISS HELL: what's the line-up for Tygerrs Lair? Is there 2 guitarists?

RICHIE SCARLET: Yeah there's a rhythm guitarist and at this point Larry Fisher and Steve Werner will be on the tour also. If that works out that would be great cause they'e a great rhythm section.

KH: Is it weird to play with a female in the band?

RS: Well I have been in a few other bands with chicks and it's kind of weird but not with her because she's more like one of the guys. She doesn't come off like a bitch or anything, she's very cool so that makes it easy to deal with.

KH: Are there any other female singers that you like or listen to?

RS: Yeah there was quite a few through the years. I think this band No Doubt, that chick's pretty hot but basically off my head I just think of the classics-Janis Joplin and Grace Slick and some of the old blues singers from the 40's & 50's & people like Aretha Franklin. Even Whitney Houston, it's not my kind of music but there's no doubt that chick has got a talent from god. I don't find myself listening to it but I appreciate it.

KH: You mentiond touring with Tygerrs Lair, where will this tour start?

RS: I believe it will start in Texas, don't hold me to it, it changes all the time. Something's always changing with that but it looks like something's definitely happening cause her record will be out and she has a lot of people that wanna have her as an opening act so we'll see what happens with that. Basically right now I just hope that some people like my CD.

KH: What kind of music is Tygerrs Lair? Is this metal?

RS: It's really hard rock I'd have to say. Some of the stuff I wrote with her is kinda gothic, spooky almost kind of stuff but I don't think she has an exact certain kind of music that she could be stamped with. It goes from really hard rock & we even cut a cover of "Ziggy Stardust" so there's a little glam thrown in there too.

KH: How did you end up working with Leslie West and playing on his live album?

RS: Leslie was also an influence on me as a guitarist. He has one of the best vibratos. I used to just run into him in New York once in a while and he called me one night from Texas and said he fired his bass player and asked me to play bass so that's how that came about. It was just a 3 piece-bass, guitar and a guy named Paul Baretta a great drummer. We toured Japan and Germany and Austria and Holland, all over Europe together and I did the live album with him and did a Dennis Miller show also, it was a lotta fun.

KH: Didn't you play guitar on the live album?

RS: No.

KH: But you did sing right?

RS: I sang "Goin Down" and "Voodoo Chile." I didn't actually get credit on the record for singing but that's me singing.

Part VII

KISS HELL: do you think you'll be working with Leslie West again in the future?

RICHIE SCARLET: Yeah. actually I just did a show with him. A couple months back I played in Tennessee with him. Occasionally his bass player can't make it so he'll call me and I'll go out and do some shows with him. It's always a lot of fun cause if I'm gonna play bass with somebody it's gotta be someone as great as him and also the repetiore is all like Mountain, Cream and Jimi Hendrix stuff so it's three piece power trio stuff. For me it's a lotta fun just to every once in a while get out and play bass with him. and he was an influence on me when I used to see Mountain years ago so it was a lot of fun to end up working with him.

KH: Is there any other people that you'd like to jam with or meet?

RS: Sure there's a lot of people and occasionally I end up doing that or I get to jam with people. This weekend I'm gonna be jamming with Noel Redding from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, I'm looking forward to that and that's gonna be at a place in Staten Island.

KH: What are you guys gonna play?

RS: Whatever he wants to do. He's doing his own show there with Earl Slick on guitar from Bowie's old band and a guy named Frankie Larock on drums and they invited me to come down and jam, so I'm looking forward to that. I've been hanging out with the original songwriter from Alice Cooper, the orginal guitarist Michael Bruce, he wrote "Schools Out" and all the classic Alice Cooper songs. He was like a songwriting hero of mine and we've been hanging out and it's always a lot of fun when you get to hang out with somebody that you used to listen to and they turn out to be very cool. If they turn out to be real asholes it takes a lot of the wind out of the sail, but most of the people I meet are very together.

KH: You've worked with Michael Bruce in the past haven't you?

RS: I never actually recorded anything with him but I have been working with him on and off for a couple years. I was supposed to be producing him now but everything keeps getting pushed back on that but one of these days we're gonna do something together with the the other original guys in the band-Neil Smith and Dennis Dunaway-the Alice Cooper boys, so that's something to look for in the future.

KH: Any chance of you doing a guitar instructional video?

RS: I've been approached to do that a number of times but right now I'm just gonna pass on that. There's so many of them out there and I'm not a technical player so I don't know exactly what I'd tell em to do.

KH: But haven't you taught guitar for a while now?

RS: Yeah but when I teach I just tell the person I dont know any theory or any of that shit, I'll just teach ya how to rock. I never took lessons or anything, I just play. I tell people that the speed of playing doesn't mean anything, you gotta play from your heart and then you'll be alright.

[More of this interview to come!]