ANNIHILATOR Mainman Jeff Waters Interviews

ANNIHILATOR Mainman Jeff Waters Interviews KISS Guitarist Tommy Thayer



ANNIHILATOR mainman Jeff Waters has interviewed KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer for the German edition of Guitar Magazine. A few excerpts follow:

Jeff: "Your touring role in KISS obviously demands that you play and be the Ace character, as best you can. In your mind, what aspects of your playing, performance or sound does Tommy Thayer bring to the KISS show? Or are you only striving to be the Ace character as perfectly as you can and that is your only goal? You obviously nail (play perfectly) Ace's solos and do them very consistently each night."

Tommy: "We (KISS) talked about this too, that the whole idea for me isn't to just go up and try to mimic Ace completely; that would come across as being real tribute looking. It's a fine line between being faithful to what Ace has done with is playing and looks, and then injecting some Tommy Thayer into it. I don't go out trying to play and sound like Ace. The reason I sound like Ace is because I grew up learning how to play like one of my favourite guitar players since I was 14 years old. So when I play a KISS song, with my style, the way I play, it really sounds a lot like KISS! It just comes out that way because of the influence he and KISS had on my playing. I think that what I bring to the table in the KISS show is a more consistent and solid style of guitar playing. I am not trying to take anything at all away from Ace; Ace is the reason that I am in this band and here at all. To me, Ace was really in his prime back in the '70's and I think that I bring a new version of what he was doing back then, but in a more solid way. Consistent, ballsy and tight is the best way to describe my contribution to the music and show; night after night."

Jeff: Did your writing relationship come before you were asked to be involved in the business end of KISS?
Tommy: "Absolutely. First, it was Gene working with BLACK AND BLUE and then it was writing with Gene for what ended up being KISS songs. At the same time, they were working on, developing songs for their next album and Gene would have me come in to help out. Then I was playing guitar in the studio with him on all of his demos; he liked the way I played guitar. It just kind of evolved from there and pretty soon, by the early 90's, when Black and Blue ran its course, Paul and Gene asked me to come and work for them part-time. I needed a job and thought 'Wow, working for the band KISS?! That's not even a job!!'"

Jeff: "It is pretty amazing for me to talk to someone who was in the rare group of 80's 'metal' musicians who made it out alive, stayed in the music business and was able to transition from the demise of Black and Blue, to being a Kiss co-writer, then to becoming an important part of KISS' business operations for so long and then to, incredibly, being the lead guitarist in KISS."

Tommy: "On the one hand I was just in the right place at the right time, but on the other hand, just to give myself a little bit of credit, I'm a very hard-working guy and have a good concept of what people want when they hire someone. I think in anything that you do, and in me getting involved with the guys in Kiss, if people know you will always be on time, be reliable and work hard, then they will give you the respect back. Then they will respect your opinion, and in my case, Paul and Gene both knew that I was knowledgeable about the rock and roll world and had those qualities. But at the same time you're humble and you're not getting too cocky about things. I'm a pretty low-key guy so I usually say less than more in certain situations. They just kind of started to like my vibe and what I did for them and how I did it. So, anyway, Paul (Stanley) called and said they were going to be doing this book called KISStory, a coffee-table book and that they were going to put it together and publish it themselves. They had these archives of tons of old photos from the beginning of their career and Paul wanted me to go through them and pick out the best photos to use for the book. From there, it just evolved from part-time work, doing this and that, then evolved to doing whatever needed to be done. By 1995, the KISS Convention idea was new and they hired me to be the key guy, spearheading and literally running the organization; putting together the KISS Museum and even booking hotels. Almost like a tour/road manager. I do have a good business background and my Dad has been a very successful business man for a long time so I am kind of from that environment. This was actually where I was headed in the early to mid '90's; getting involved mostly in the business side of music, producing and management. That's where I was going. I'd even cut my hair short."

The entire interview can be found here.