Vinnie Vincent Discussion – Ep296

Chris & Aaron return this week for a Vinnie Vincent Discussion. With the internet ablaze in excitement for the upcoming Atlanta KISS Expo that will feature the ankh warrior as special guest, the guys thought it would be fun to discuss Vinnie’s history. In this long-form discussion your hosts talk about Vinnie’s early years. Born into a musical family in Bridgeport, CT; Vincent John Cusano took to the guitar at a very early age. In this Vinnie Vincent Discussion, Chris and Aaron talk about Vinnie’s early musical connections including work with Dan Hartman, The Edgar Winter Group, and Treasure.

Vinnie’s pre-KISS career is an interesting subject. After working with Treasure, Vinnie headed to Los Angeles, where he became a staff songwriter for the hit tv show ‘Happy Days.’ In this Vinnie Vincent Discussion, Chris and Aaron discuss his time working on the show as well as his work on the spinoff ‘Joanie Loves Chachi.’

Vinnie Vincent Discussion

An interesting pre-KISS project took place next with Vinnie joining forces with ex-New England members Hirsh Gardner, Jimmy Waldo, and Gary Shea. The project was called Warrior and had Vinnie not only playing guitar but singing lead vocals. The guys discuss this short-lived, but awesome, project. You can get these tracks in CD form from Cherry Red Records HERE.

The guys also discuss Vinnie’s time in KISS, adding guitar work and songwriting to 1982’s ‘Creatures of the Night‘ as well as 1983’s ‘Lick it Up.’ A lot has been written and speculated about this era of the band. Accounts vary depending on who you ask. In this episode, the guys discuss both sides of the issues.

Upon Vinnie’s exit from KISS, he got to work building the Vinnie Vincent Invasion. As per usual, this was also a sticky process with numerous differing accounts from members and former members. While the first album was amazing, it was fraught with drama before it was even released. Chris and Aaron discuss the first album, the lead singer situation, and the tracks.

The sophomore album from the Invasion, All Systems Go, would be Mark Slaughter‘s first and the band’s last. With a more commercial sound and a toned down look, it appeared the band was poised for breakthrough success. Unfortunately, the band was falling apart by the time the album was released. The guys discuss the greatness of this second album, the drama behind some of it, and give their take on why this band should have been much bigger.

The ensuing years after the Invasion split were difficult for Vinnie Vincent. Through different struggles, some good did come from this period; highlighted by his brief songwriting reunion with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley for ‘Revenge‘. These collaborations yielded some great results such as I Just Wanna, Heart of Chrome, and the amazing Unholy. The guys discuss this period of Vinnie’s life and career and also touch on the Guitarmageddon/Guitars from Hell sessions that are still unreleased to this day.

In the past couple months, a flury of Vinnie Vincent news has gotten fans incredibly excited. The announcement of his appearance at the upcoming Atlanta KISS Expo in January of 2018, has fans from across the globe very excited. Chris and Aaron share in this excitement and discuss what they think is going to happen at the expo as well as theories about what Vinnie may be up to going forward. There have also been a number of Vinnie fans that are Decibel Geek listeners that have asked if Chris and Aaron will be attending the expo. The guys will address that status as well as communications between Chris and the promoter in this episode.

It’s an exciting time to be a Vinnie Vincent fan. We hope you enjoy Vinnie Vincent Discussion and SHARE with a friend.