2012 has certainly a great year to be a Kiss fan. We got to see them on THE TOUR this past summer, we got the new MONSTER album on October 13th and now we can add one more cool project to the mix. KISSIN’ TIME – Canada’s Tribute to KISS is a new tribute CD about to be released on October 31st, 2012. As the official website states, it’s 13 of Canada’s best indie acts, 13 classic KISS songs, 1 CD with all proceeds (minus expenses) going to the SICKKIDS Foundation (Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital). From the tracks I have heard this is going to be a really cool CD and with proceeds going to such a great cause I think it would make a great gift for the Kiss fan in your life.
I was able to speak with Jason Jansekovich (the Cd’s co-producer), Barry Martin (Guitar Player for West Memphis Suicide) and Chuck Dailey (Bass Player of the Salads) to talk about their involvement and to learn more about the project.
DBG: Please take a moment and introduce yourself to the Decibel Geek readers.
Jason: My name is Jason Jansekovich, I am co-producer of the Kissin Time Cd as well as owner of Keep It Live Records.
Jason: The Kissin’ Time idea came up about a year ago in a conversation I was having with Gord Prior on the phone one evening. It just came up that it would be a cool idea to put together a compilation of cover songs with a bunch of Canadian indie acts and donate the money to charity. After some thought on this I decided that a KISS Tribute cd would be even better. I grew up listening to KISS and they have influenced so many bands over the years it just seemed right. Having the KISS Army behind this cd doesn’t hurt either! lol
DBG: Now I see that Spiro Papadatos has covered “Rock and Roll All Nite”and was wondering who played with him on the track?
DBG: Who would you say is the biggest Kiss fan in the group?
DBG: How did you chose War Machine?
So to ANY KISS fans out there, please grab a copy of this disc. Proceeds are going to help the sick kids foundation and you just might find a new band that mainstream media isn’t shoving down yer throat!
Be sure to check out WEST MEMPHIS SUICIDE at https://ca.myspace.com/westmemphissuicide
DBG: How did the Salads come to be a part of the Kissin Time Project?
Chuck: The honest truth? I was procrastinating on Facebook one afternoon and noticed a photo of our good friend Siegfried Meier recording a drum session at his studio Beach Road Studios. (We recorded all of our drums for our latest album “Music Every Day” with Sieggy. Siegs band Curtis is on the album and he also mastered the recording). The caption beneath the photo said something about recording a KISS song for an upcoming compilation record. I commented on the photo “Why didn’t anybody ask The Salads to be on this compilation?”. I immediately had a message in my inbox from Gord Prior welcoming us on to the album. When he told me what the plan was for the album I passed it to the band and there was zero hesitation. Recording an awesome tune by some of our childhood rock heroes and the proceeds going to Sick Kids Hospital. It was no brainer! Sign us up. We got right to it because we only had 2 weeks to put it together at that point.
DBG: So who would you say is the biggest Kiss fan in the group?
Chuck: The biggest KISS fan in the group was our original drummer Grant Taylor. I met Grant in Grade 7 when we both started at Kettleby Public School in Kettleby Ontario. On our first day of school I got off the bus and saw this long haired kid sitting on the curb wearing a jean jacket covered in KISS patches. That was Grant. Freaked me out a bit because I came from Prep school and this was the first Kid I saw at my public school. Regardless, it was also kind of exciting because I was an Iron Maiden/Van Halen guy. When he took off the jacket he had a KISS cut-off shirt on as well. A few weeks into school he started bringing a ghetto blaster to school and blasting KISS albums at recess outside. Educating all of the school on all things K
ISS. There was no choice. Then when I went to his house for the first time to jam (his Dad had built him a drum room) his drum room in the basement was completely covered in KISS posters. He played Dave Z and myself KISS movies whenever we took pop and chip breaks. You get the idea. He was a KISS fanatic. So it was fun for Dave and myself to throw back to our roots like that. The Darren’s in our band today weren’t big KISS fans but as we went through tunes they started digging on it some more. Pfeiffer grew up in a punk hardcore scene and D grew up with a lot of hiphop and rock but didn’t have Grant around when he was little to influence him on all things KISS like we did. But in the end, we all love every form of Music and love doing our own whacked out versions of old rock songs.
The Salads circa 1989 |
DBG: How did you decide on Lick it Up as your chosen track?
Chuck: We talked about a lot of songs. As D got to know KISS songs he was sending us a lot of old groovy songs like Strutter and Love Gun etc. Gord suggested doing an Ace tune so we even discussed Rock Soldiers (Dave auditioned for the video when he was 12 but didn’t get the gig.. haha). I was rehearsing with I Mother Earth in Peterborough and had another email from the guys about what to do and had a funny thought and emailed it to the guys. “Why don’t we do LICK IT UP? We can change the lyrics to SKANK IT UP! SKANK IT UP! Woooahh oah!” And the replies were giggles about it. We ended up keeping the lyrics in tact and did much more than make it a ska song. It’s an everything song now… hahaha… Lick It Up was also one of my first introductions to KISS with Grant as a Kid. If you look at a picture of the drum room we rehearsed in you’ll see a ton of posters from the albums promo with Vinnie Vincent on guitar. It’s also one of the raddest rock riffs of all times. Just an A power chord on eighth notes. So basic, so perfect, so rock! It had to be done too as it was a huge moment for the band when we were kids and nobody had picked it. I remember watching the video on Toronto Rocks for the first time. Feet… feet… feet… wait for it… Oh my god! No makeup! Look at KISS!! It was a big rock moment when I was a wee lad.
DBG: Anything else you would like to add about the project, now is the time!
Chuck: It’s a really great album. Every song is killer. All the bands are awesome. We have a history of doing shows with almost every band on the album and the guys putting it together, Jason and Gord, are very solid dudes with the best intentions and love for music. It’s super cool to be part of this project and Sick Kids is the one of the big reasons I keep my family close to Toronto. It is an incredible hospital and has provided incredible care to our children and folks in all of our families. We are very lucky to be close to such an incredible place and are very proud to be part of a fundraising project for the hospital.