KISS - The Vintage DVD
From: Music Video Distributors Inc.
This 41 minute DVD features a close-up look at one of the most influential and amazing rock bands ever to grace the stage. Go behind the scenes with Kiss and discover their reason for the make up, the visions they had, and the message they wanted to convey to their fans as they went into the studios to record. Discover the true history of the band and discover the real reasons Peter Criss left the band and their unpleasant task of finding a replacement drummer. Then, witness the rejoining forces in 2000 with all the original members of the band as they storm America during their Farewell Tour in a final tribute to the fans! As a special bonus, there are two silent film segments from live performances during the height of the band's popularity from 1974-1977 that say more to fans than any words could ever convey. The first is a Super 8mm segment shot by a fan in Colorado during their Love Gun Tour. The second, a 16 minute piece, contains rare and never-before-seen footage tracked down through an Ebay auction. This live footage has been ressurected from a 27 year-old vault and is presented in live raw footage. Music Video Distributors Inc., PO Box 280 Oaks, PA 19456, 800-888-0486, Fax: 610-650-9102 musicvideodistributors.com. KISS - The Vintage; Selection # 5992DVD 5992VHS; UPC: 022891599227 022891599234; Street Date: 4/10/01; Retail: $19.95 [Click Here To Order]



Interview with Jack Sawyers

KA: CAN YOU CATCH US UP ON THE ERIC CARR "INSIDE the TALE of the FOX" DVD AND VHS?

It's doing pretty well. It is now being distributed all across Europe and we are hopeful that it will be worldwide soon. MVD has done an excellent job of getting that video out to other distributors and making it available almost everywhere for Eric Carr fans. We are realistic about it's potential and we don't expect it to do a huge number of sales compared to an official KISS video like the Second Coming or Exposed. We just want it out there to help keep Eric Carr's memory alive and it is doing well enough that this year we will be making a contribution to Eric's Charity. It's just a shame the first distribution company (ThoughtScape Sounds) went out of business, keeping up the momentum of the video would have been nice. BUT MVD picked up the video after we re-edited it and Bruce, Loretta and myself are very happy with them.

KA: WE UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS ANOTHER "UNOFFICIAL KISS VIDEO COMING OUT"?

YES, "THE VINTAGE." I was looking through EBAY one night and discovered a filmstrip up for grabs. I contacted the seller and asked him if it was an original reel or just a print. I was happily surprised to learn that it was the actual super8 reversal stock which means, that is the original roll of film that was in the camera. It was shot in 1974. The guy that was selling it has had it for about 20 years and bought it from the guy who shot it. Once I saw the content I thought what a cool piece to put out in a video Fanzine. It turned out that the guy was a KISS fan as well and had a few more filmstrips that he had shot so we licensed one more of his from 1977. We show about 17 minutes of the film clip from '74, the actual reel is about 27 minutes long so there is a little more that we didn't show. I sat down with Bill Aucoin just about a month ago and showed him the film and he narrowed it down to the second half of the first tour. Bill said he was surprised to see any film from that era, he thought that the Hotter than Hell commercial footage was the only stuff in existence from that time. There is a cool audio interview that was done with Gene Simmons back in 1980 with Mitch Lafon we licensed that from him and it is in there as a voice over throughout the video. There are other rare interviews that we licensed from news agencies and collectors from around the world. Since I am a KISS fan it is a blast to put these videos together. It will make a great addition to any rock video collection.

KA: WE HEAR THAT THERE IS ANOTHER KISS ORIENTED VIDEO COMING OUT THAT YOU WERE INVOLVED IN?

Yes. There was a series of video Fanzine's that came out in 1990 and 1991 called "TURN UP THE VOLUME" put out by BRENTWOOD COMMUNICATIONS and two of those editions featured KISS and some other popular bands of the time. I tried for about a year to license the footage from BRENTWOOD, the interviews with KISS were very interesting. I watched the series of videos and thought to my self they must have great outtakes and more interview stuff that the fans would want to see. But they were not interested at the time in selling the rights or footage, so sometime later they contacted me and asked me if I wanted to put together a video for their company called "ROCK AND ROLL LEGENDS." What they were doing was individualizing each interview and releasing a separate retrospect video Fanzine for each band that they had for the series. Of course I said YES, that sounds like a cool project but I had only one request and that was that we do the KISS edition first! They agreed and we did it. The interesting thing about Rock and Roll Legends is that it is an actual interview with PAUL and GENE shot specifically for the series and they are very playful. They had just come off stage during the "HOT IN THE SHADE" tour and gave a 40 minute interview. They talk about everything from which KISS record is their favorite to why certain members aren't in the band anymore. They talked about reunion tours and original member tours and how that would be done, if at all. It was the most honest and relaxed interview I have seen from them in a while. There is excellent footage of them on stage from that era and great backstage footage of Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick. There is also footage and interviews from the Revenge era. While on the set for the video shoot for "I JUST WANNA" the series caught up with them again and this time Nina Blackwood (Original, MTV Vee-Jay) is interviewing them and again it is a very real interview. Paul Stanley talks about the death of Eric Carr and Gene Simmons expresses what he wants to be doing at the stroke of midnight on New Years 2000 which is still eight years away at that point. Bruce Kulick also gives a cool interview. It is a very cool video for the time period. I loved working on it and I think it will be out on April 24th.

KA: CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT BEHIND THE UNOFFICAL/UNAUTHORIZED VIDEOS AND HOW THEY ARE LEAGAL TO PRODUCE?

Well I am not an attorney but way back before we decided to release any videos we did hire two different lawyers to educate us on the world of public figures, public record and public domain issues. I guess the videos are no different than a magazine that features Rock stars or Movie stars you just have to figure out who owns what and deal with that person directly. Most of the Photographs that are out there are owned by the photographer who shot them. So you deal with the photographer to get shots either for a magazine or video or for a Television program like behind the music. The video footage that we use is mostly of NEWS interviews or of PUBLIC events, Press conferences and stuff like that. The only think that you need to stay clear of is direct and intentional use of an artist music. That is governed by strict copyright and publishing laws and must be licensed and cleared before usage. Most of the time a Record company and NOT the band own the recorded music anyway. But to license music for a Fanzine video would be too costly for the project. It's not BIG profits on these types of videos they don't sell the number that the band's OFFICIAL videos sell these Unofficial videos are what they are, they are made for fan consumption and for the effect of the "DIEHARD" fan's enthusiasm. Even Movies of the week, TV shows and films do Re-records of popular music to use in their productions because it is cheaper to do that than license the original song. But even that would be too much for a budget of a Fanzine video. Unauthorized, videos are mostly done by people who love a particular Band or Artist. I would never see myself doing one of these videos on an artist I wasn't a fan of. A lot of editing and audio sweetening goes into making any kind of video and it is truly a labor of love. Also I just got sick of being ripped off every time I bought an unofficial video on any number of bands. Most of the one's that are out there are ten generations down and you couldn't make out the picture. I didn't do any of these videos to piss anybody off! I have only done a fewŠ I just share a common bond with every fan of Rock and Roll, that if something is going to be out there anyway, it should be the best that it can be, and I feel I have a pretty good handle on the quality that should go into these types of projects.

KA: ANY PLANS TO DO MORE UNOFFICIAL KISS VIDEOS?

David Snowden Promotions and Creative Worx are putting together the final "KISS Unauthorized" video. I have no Idea when it will be finished but we have a few more pieces of footage and possibly the rest of the reel from the 1974 footage with some other old film stuff that is being negotiated right now. We will make this one more DVD oriented with links and special features I doubt there will be a VHS version of it since you can't do cool things with VHS - You just put it in and hit play. The DVD will be a virtual, catalog of sorts that will have menu pages and chapter pages so that you can access any given scene you want to see. There will be fan links and memorabilia links as well. I don't see any reason to do anymore videos on KISS, we have pulled together some really good footage and it served it's purpose. We wanted to have quality unofficial videos out there and now there are. UNLESS someone unearths footage of KISS playing in nightclubs back in 1973 or something like that!!! Snowden and I are also putting together a few rock and roll photography Books and there will be more news about that in the coming months but what we can tell you now is that we made a deal with Al Munson's family to release Al's photography. Al has shot photographs of rock and roll bands since the late 1970's and he has thousands of shots that we are going through now and I have to tell you some of his KISS stuff is very cool. Unfortunately, Al has been sick with a crippling disease for the past several years and can't do the things he loves to do anymore. So we are putting out a few books of Al's photography as a tribute to the true fan of music that Al is. There will be more news about these projects soon and there are many KISS twists in the Al Munson story. It will be a very interesting project to work on.

KA: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE PETER CRISS ERIC SINGER THING?

I think that Eric Singer is an awesome drummer! I think that it is unfortunate that Peter Criss isn't there but since he is not what better choice then Eric Singer!

KA: AS A KISS FAN HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FACT THAT ERIC SINGER IS WEARING PETER'S CAT MAKEUP?

I know I have seen a lot of stuff on the web about the fact that Eric Singer is this or Eric is that but everyone need's to realize that it was probably not Eric's decision to wear Peter's makeup or not. I am sure it was part of the job description when he took the gig. I have seen the Poster that someone made and read some the stuff that is being said and people should just be honest with themselves to the fact that there isn't a KISS fan out there that wouldn't have taken the gig if it was offered to them! Peter Criss makeup or not. I am a fan of every era of the band and I feel bad for Peter but at the same time I can't wait to see Eric Singer in concert! I hope they continue.