Eric Carr (Kiss drummer) about auditioning guitarists to replace Ace Frehley

[Blazer]

And he mentions a lot of soon-to-be famous players who auditioned to fill Ace's platform boots...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEXNOYyFS1k

[daisp]

Cool...RIP Eric

[Tim_B]

very cool
RIP Eric indeed

[RacerX]

Cool to hear Eric, he sounds very lively & excited. The interviewer's speech impediment, however is a bit annoying.

[AlexL]

Cool to hear Eric, he sounds very lively & excited. The interviewer's speech impediment, however is a bit annoying.

He's just as God made him...


- E.

[jk2171]

Surprised to hear Robbin Crosby's name in that interview! RIP Eric Carr.

[jrnic]

Eric was a really nice guy. Very down to earth. I had the pleasure many, many years ago to meet and hang out with him one night.

A funny story: Back when KISS had just gone "unmasked" on MTV and their new album "Lick it Up" had just come out, I was hanging out with a friend of mine at a little local rock club in Elmont, NY (Long Island) to see a local band called Blacklace (who's female singer was very HOT.) I was standing in the club watching the band when I saw a guy standing in the corner by himself. I said to myself that I had seen him somewhere before. After a few minutes I realized that it might be Eric Carr, having just seen him on MTV a week before. I told my friend, who stated "what would he be doing in a dump like this!"

After the show ended, I looked and he was gone. Oh well, maybe it was him, maybe not. We go to the bar and get some beers and I turn around, and who do you think is sitting at the bar next to me. It's him, (I think!) He's trying to get the bartender's attention with no success. He asks me what does he have to do to get a drink there. I told him he has to wave his cash at the bartender to get his attention. It works. So he orders a drink and buys my friend and I drinks too. I look at him, thank him for the drinks and tell him "that he looks just like the drummer from KISS." He smiles and says "Maybe that's because I am!" Wow.... I knew it!

We wind up talking in great length about the rehearsals they were doing for the "Lick it Up" tour. I knew basically everything that was going to happen during that tour. Very cool. I jokingly asked if he could get us in to see the rehearsals. He politely stated he couldn't, that Gene wouldn't be too happy about that. So, anyway, he signed autographs for us and then bid us goodnight and left. All while NO ONE ELSE knew who he was the whole time. My friend and I were the only ones who knew! I wound up going to their concert at Radio City Music Hall (with Accept as the opening band) and everything he said that was going to happen, right down to the stage setup were right on the mark with what he said. Eric was a very cool guy.

Sad footnote: When he passed away in the hospital, I unfortuneately knew about it before it hit the news, being that my wife's cousin was one of his nurses there, right at the end.

Very sad........RIP Eric

Sorry for the long winded story, but it's a very cool memory I have of him.

[Blazer]

Don't worry about it, as a member of the Kiss army I was touched with your story.

Another cool thing about Eric Carr is that he actually got in contact with Peter Criss in order to get the feel of the drums of the songs right. As a result Criss and Carr got to be very close friends. Carr was a far more technical drummer than Peter Criss and his playing pushed Kiss into becoming a heavier band. (As evident on "Creatures of the night" which still is one of my personal favorite Kiss albums) But he lacked in that Jazzy kind of drumming that Peter Criss used to do and so he got in touch with the man himself to get that aspect right, how's that for fair play?

What I like about current Kiss drummer Eric Singer is that he succesfully blends Peter Criss and Eric Carr's styles, I saw Kiss on the "Revenge" tour and Singer was the MAN.

[///MK]

Small club in Elmont LI. Are you talking about Feburary's?
My band was a regular there. The Kiss guys used to go across the street to get Bruce's guitars set up there. Good times back in those days
VR,
///MK