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 All news should be considered an unconfirmed report unless verified, and all information published at KISS Asylum is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves. All information is confirmed where possible, and all publication is governed by common sense.
ERIC SINGER AND FRIENDSFrom: Sydney Morning Herald Where Annandale Hotel, cnr Parramatta Road and Nelson Street, Annandale When Tomorrow, 8pm How much $28 Bookings 9550 1078 The odd experimental conga solo aside, it's not often drummers are given the chance to shine. Or speak. Some might say there's a reason for that, but when ERIC SINGER, the drummer from KISS, opens his mouth, it's as if he's speaking for every drummer that ever lived. The words race from his mouth. The man comes across less like a booze-addled glam rocker than a mobile-phone salesman in a hurry to meet his monthly sales target. Which, in a way, he is. Singer is in Sydney to keep time for Alice Cooper. He will also be getting together with a few close friends such as Damon Johnson, who has rocked with Sammy Hagar, and Ryan Roxie of Slash's Snakepit fame. They'll play covers from the acts that made the 1970s such a glorious decade to be in the make-up industry: David Bowie, the Sweet, T-Rex, Cheap Trick and, of course, KISS, for whom Singer has drummed since 1991. Surprisingly, he seems intent on dispelling the rumours that accompany a list of names like that. The craziness, the debauchery, the excess. "You know, I get asked about that all the time," Singer says. "But by this stage most of these artists have been professionals for a long time. They've done the drugs, they've done the drink, but now they bring a workmanlike, professional attitude to their work." Singer has named his group ERIC SINGER and Friends, but with all his talk of professionalism and workmanlike attitudes it sounds more like the musical equivalent of tennis player Wayne Arthurs: an efficient, unglamorous outfit that is a living tribute to "getting the job done". Perhaps a more appropriate name might be "The Journeymen". "The reason people last this long in this industry is because they look after themselves," Singer says. "Sure, I've had my moments - I'm not going to pretend I've been a saint or anything - but now I take care of myself. I eat healthy. It might sound boring, but it's what you need to succeed." Singer is understandably reluctant to dish the dirt on Cooper, his pay master. He says only that he is excited about the tour, for which he'll be on the road for up to six months. "We're going to Australia," he says. "We're also going to Tasmania." ERIC SINGER 1, geography 0. He says his band will eschew the traditional trappings of glam for their show in Sydney - the catsuits, the mascara, the tongues so long you could use them as pole vaults. Instead, the atmosphere will be "loose". "This is more a T-shirt and jeans, grab-a-beer kind of show. The idea is to flex our legs, stretch our muscles and have some fun," he says, his words sounding less like a plug for a rock show than a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of deep-vein thrombosis. He claims the value of his show goes beyond nostalgia: "The bottom line is that a good song's a good song, whether it was written five years ago or 50 years ago. A lot of the music produced today is very disposable. There's this cookie-cutter mentality that's taken over the industry." At the same time, he recognises that someone like GENE SIMMONS, the iconic lead singer of KISS, has stayed afloat in the industry for so long because he has succeeded in creating "not just a band but a brand". That brand has been built on the very myth Singer seems so intent on diluting: the drugs, the boozing, the floozing. So - that old story about GENE SIMMONS having slept with more than 5000 women: true or false? "Well, Gene likes a lot of attention," Singer says. "He is very silver-tongued with the ladies, no pun intended. "He's well spoken, intelligent and charming, and he can turn it on. I'm not being chauvinistic but a lot of women fall for that hook, line and sinker. So, yeah, there is a lot of myth surrounding GENE SIMMONS, but a lot of truth, too. Believe me, I've seen him. "You'd think the guy just discovered his penis for the first time - every day of his life. "They broke the mould with GENE SIMMONS." |
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