December 22 : Former FREHLEY'S COMET members
rejoin forces In RETURN OF THE COMET From
:
Blabbermouth /
returnofthecometband.com
Former FREHLEY'S COMET members John Regan (bass), Tod Howarth
(guitar/lead vocals) and Richie Scarlet (guitar/lead vocals) have
joined forces with former ACE FREHLEY drummer Steve Werner in RETURN
OF THE COMET.
Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, Regan and world-renowned
drummer Anton Fig formed FREHLEY'S COMET in 1984. The band went on
to sell well over 1.5 million albums and had multiple MTV music
videos in heavy rotation from 1987 to 1990.
Now for the first time ever, FREHLEY'S COMET alumni Regan, Howarth
and Scarlet, along with Werner, will celebrate their writing,
recording, touring and co-production contributions to the FREHLEY'S
COMET legacy by performing the hits and classics from the FREHLEY'S
COMET catalog and more under the name RETURN OF THE COMET.
RETURN OF THE COMET is:
* John Regan (FREHLEY'S COMET, ACE FREHLEY, PETER FRAMPTON) - bass
* Tod Howarth (FREHLEY'S COMET, CHEAP TRICK, TED NUGENT) -
guitar/lead vocals
* Richie Scarlet (FREHLEY'S COMET, ACE FREHLEY, MOUNTAIN) -
guitar/lead vocals
* Steve "Budgie" Werner (ACE FREHLEY, LESLIE WEST, HINDENBERG) -
drums
Scarlet was in FREHLEY'S COMET from 1984 to
1985 and played in three of the band's seven different lineups.
Howarth was in FREHLEY'S COMET from 1986 to 1988 and was in the
group's last three lineups.
Both Frehley and Regan were members of FREHLEY'S COMET for the
duration of the band's four-year existence.
Frehley told Ultimate Classic Rock that the keyboards on FREHLEY'S
COMET's debut album were a result of "Howarth's influence." He
explained: "I tried to keep the keyboards to a minimum, because I'm
really not a keyboard guy. KISS never really used them, except on a
couple of songs. I always wanted to follow the same direction with
my career as I had with KISS musically. It was almost like I had to
fight to keep more keyboards off the record, because I was there
with three other band members and my producer."
From
:
KISS Related Recordings
In November 1997 USA label Shock Records released
"Return
Of The Comet - A Tribute To Ace Frehley",
which album contains (at the time) two previously unreleased
Frehley's Comet tracks, "Back On the Streets" and "Animal", both
re-recorded by the Comet Band.
The Comet Band (1997) was, Richie Scarlett (lead voacals, guitars),
John Regan (bass), Steve Werner (drums) and
Arthur Stead (keyboards).
Frehley reunited with Regan and Howarth to perform the songs "Rock
Soldiers" and "Cold Gin" during his September 2017
concert in Poughkeepsie, New York.
December 21 :
DOUGLAS BLAIR digital
single feat. Bruce Kulick From
:
Bruce Kulick (twitter) /
Douglas Blair (facebook)
Bruce Kulick recently did a session with
W.A.S.P.guitarist Doug Blair, adding acoustic
guitar to his 1988 version of “The First Noel”.
In
1988 Blair, then the lead guitarist for East Coast rock trio RUN 21,
recorded and mixed “The First Noel” at Courtlen Studios in Hanson,
MA. The recording utilized cassette, 2” and 1/4” analog tape, along
with early computer-automated mixing, yet was never officially
released.
Thirty years later, Blair, teams up with Kulick, arguably KISS’s
consummate former lead guitarist, who in 2018 recorded an
“unplugged-style” magical counter-melody to Blair’s long-lost analog
masterpiece.
Bruce Kulick, Mike Dalager and Douglas Blair worked together on the
HP Lovecraft Rock Opera project "Dreams
in the Witch House"(from
this same LA session new tracks were cut!!).
You can download the song at
cdbaby
for FREE for a while...
December 20 :
Paul Stanley in the studio with SOUL STATION From
:
Paul Stanley (twitter)
KISS frontman Paul Stanley has entered the studio with his R&B band
SOUL STATION to record a full-length album.
December 16 : Two
Vinnie Vincent songs by VIRTUAL INVASION From
:
KISS Related Recordings
On December 25 2018 the band VIRTUAL INVASION will release two newly
recorded digital singles, "Forbidden"
and "Young
Blood, Young Fire".
Both songs are written (and originally recorded) by Vinnie Vincent
and Jeff Scott Soto for Vinnie Vincent's "1987
- 1988 Publishing Tape", but never released.
Virtual Invasion is a musical collaboration of musicians from
various parts of the world paying homage to guitar virtuoso Vinnie
Vincent. The band line up consists of vocalist Rick Rici from
Brazil, guitarist Yukihiro Omura from Japan and bass guitarist
Damian Bonadono from the United States. The idea for Virtual
Invasion was first conceived in 2014 when the members decided to
record a new version of the Warrior/Vinnie Vincent Invasion song
titled "Back on the Streets".
December 8 :
MARCEESE covers "Hotter
Than Hell" album From
:
KISS Related Recordings
German folk artist MARCEESE fifth KISS-tribute album "Hotter
Than Hell" will be released December 21 at Timezone Records.
Here's a small album review by KRR (Jelle Jansen) :
After "Baby
Driver" (2013), "Have
Love, Will Travel" (2015), "Black
Diamond" (2016) and and 2017's "Torpedo
Girl", this the 5th KISS Tribute by Berlin folk artist
Marceese.
While his previous tribute albums are compilations of various
cover versions from KISS 1974 up to 1980 "Unmasked" album,
including the solo albums, this time Marceese decided to
re-record the full "Hotter Than Hell" album with new
arrangements.
Like I wrote before, I don’t have any musical ability with folk
music, but compared to Marceese' first two albums (with the
Southern whiskey summer night campfire feeling), it seems this
2018 recording has a darker vibe. Still most of the songs are
folk, but this time, the album sounds more 60's - early 70's
folk with distorted guitars.
Sure, Marceese's folk can be heard in the new arrangements of
"Got To Choose", "Hotter Than Hell" (with a cool instrumental
part from halfway the song), "Strange Ways" and the Jazzy "All
The Way".
"Parasite" 's new arrangement features a drum machine, together
with the rhythm guitar makes it sounds funky, while "Goin'
Blind" is turned into a dramatic ballad.
The 10 minute long vocal / distorted guitar version of
"Mainline" reminds me to the early days of Pink Floyd. "Comin'
Home" is turned into acoustic sort Stray Cats Rock 'n Roll song,
but really misses Brian Setzer's voice ...
The album's highlights are the dark mid-tempo country version of
"Watchin' You", together with the White Stripes (without drums
!) sounding "Let me Go Rock 'n' Roll".
