Chris Epting | Noisecreep

KISS lead guitarist Tommy Thayer was on hand at the 2013 NAMM show in Anaheim, Calif. over this past weekend to visit the Gibson guitar booth and give the capacity crowd an up close and personal look at his spectacular new signature Epiphone “Spaceman” Les Paul.

It’s a silver sparkle beauty that Thayer is clearly very proud of, as he should be. He’s now been in KISS for over a decade, and he’s slowly but surely carved out his own unique sound and approach, all the while being sensitive to the legacy of the “Spaceman” character originally created by original guitarist Ace Frehley.

As Tommy tells us, he didn’t want to rock the boat too early in the game, but with the last two KISS albums, Sonic Boom and Monster, he took the opportunity to begin putting his personal stamp on the sound of the “hottest band in the land.”

In just a few weeks, KISS are off to Australia to bring some thunder down under and then hopefully after they have their way with Europe, we’ll get some KISS here again in the U.S.

Aside from being a fantastic guitarist, Thayer (formerly of Black ‘N Blue) is also one of the most down-to-earth guys in the business and it’s always a pleasure when Noisecreep gets a chance speak to him.