Hey there, and a very Happy KISSmas in July! Just in case you’ve wandered in here by mistake, KISS is a huge band, commanding a huge and devoted following. Most fans have favourite eras and line-ups and enjoy them regardless, but for some arguing about who & what is best seems to take up most of their time. Personally, I just like the music, and the performance, in and of itself, no matter what era or line-up.
It’s all Rawk N Roll to me.
So, channelling the great Matt Porter from The Kiss Room, I’m keeping it positive and showing my unashamed appreciation of the members who made KISS what it was, and is, and will always be.
Eric Singer is currently wearing the Catman makeup and enjoying his third stint as KISS’ drummer. Aside from having played drums with various heavyweights including Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and The Cult he’s played on four KISS albums covering transition periods for the band, which gave Singer the enviable opportunity of playing on widely disparate KISS projects. His playing style can be seen as an amalgamation of both Peter Criss & Eric Carr, providing Criss’ jazz subtleties and nuance alongside Carr’s full-frontal rock onslaught, and to hear him cut loose on some of the Revenge club dates beggars belief.
My favourite Eric Singer moment is from a polarising KISS album – Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions. The release is often dismissed as “The Grunge Album” or “Unfinished” and while I can understand that kind of thinking coming from maybe a hyper-produced-80’s-era KISS fan, it is still a KISS album with some great moments, and for me Eric Singer’s drumming on “In The Mirror” is one of them. The crisp production by Toby Wright gives the drums a whip and crack to them and places Singer front and centre. His attack matches and drives the monstrous dropped-D riff forward at every turn, through time-changes and left-turns, culminating in some brutal double bass drum/tom fills leading into an equally brutal Bruce Kulick solo.
Man, this rocks!
Enjoy!
