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(Continued from page 1) the great major
label bogeyman. Massive sell-out?
"It's no different for us. We still go
into the same rehearsal space and
come up with the same depressing
songs. If anything, it pushes us more.
makes us work harder. In Europe we
found a lot of people were very anti-
major label, which in itself is buying
into some dumb romantic myth. It's
ironic that we encountered this atti-
tude so heavily in England and Ger
many. There are more people in
those countries with stock holdings in
American companies than there are
in America."
So, beg to differ? Against what?
Against whom?
"It's a waming against how nothing
is positive when it's forced upon you.
It could be a response to what's
going on in New York now with Dink
ins demanding that everyone come
together and that the black kids forget
all the injustices. the past two hun
dred years of getting fucked over.
How can they suddenly became sub-
missive? Why should they? The
answers aren't that easy."
ACE FREHLEY
(Contrued hom page 72) Fed up with the
domineering ways of Gene Simmons
night, wake up with a hangover and
go, 'Oh, I can't make it to this flight."
but that's not the case anymore.
Ace doesn't see any contradiction
between his new lifestyle and the off-
cial Atlantic Megaforce press, which
bils him as "Rock and Roll's Original
Trouble Maker" "I don't mind it at all
because it's all true. Throwing TV's
out the windows, that was common
place. Gluing furniture to the ceiling
with crazy glue, that was fun. I had
bodyguards who would hold it while
the glue dried.
"We weren't the greatest musi-
cians in the world, but it was the
music and the show combined. There
was nobody else out there doing
what we did," Ace says, trying to sum
up the Kiss phenomenon.
Though Kiss still exists as a group
and the most flamboyant thing about
Ace these days are his custom cow-
boy boots and huge tour bus, he ist
talking about the possibility of a Kes
reunion; make-up, costumes and
stage show included. "I would seri-
ously consider it. You know, go out for
two or three months, do twenty.
shows and make a couple milion. I
couldn't complain. (Now you know
how rock and roll really works in the
90's-Ed.)
and angered by the discovery that his THE ALMIGHTY
guitar solos had been altered in the
studio. Ace quit Kiss in 1981. Since
then he has toured as Frehley's
Comet, that is, until the release of his
new album, Trouble Walking, for
which he dropped Comet, added Ace
and created a new tour band.
His image may be different now.
but Frehley is not out to eradicate his
past. In fact, his former astral alter
ego was a fairly accurate reflection of
his true disposition. "I decided to
become Space Man because I was
interested in space travel, computers
...Zenith Data Systems is sponsor
ing my tour because I'm using their
new laptop line. I have a 163 1.Q. and
I'm a tech head!"
Ace points to the address book
covers and backstage passes cov-
ered with his skeletal computer art. 1
designed the Kiss logo and the
Frehley's Comet logo. I could have
been a graphic artist, but the bottom
line is I decided to play rock and roll
and I'm most happy doing that at this
point. Most people don't understand
me. They think I'm just some drunken
guitar player from the past who is still
trying to make it. The reality is I come
from a family of very talented musi
cians and I make more than all of
them put together."
Ace reports that touring has
become a lot easier. "I know how to
do it now, I used to get blasted every
(Cornued from page 72) "Don't even
think of comparing us to Zodiac,"
Ricky glares in an I-dare-you-to-tell-
me-im-wrong manner. "They were a
joke. We're not.
The whole thing came to him in a
dream three Christmases ago. 1
can't really recall much about the
dream," he mentions, but in it, I was
on tour with a band called the
Almighty Good name, I thought, so
I took it."
Ricky's dream came true. With
bassist Floyd London, drummer
Stump Monroe and a hot-headed gui-
tarist known as Tantrum, the Almighty
were forged a half-punk, half-metal.
grungy riff machine.
There's a lot of anger, a lot of atti-
tude in what we do." Ricky stresses.
"Maybe that has something to do with
growing up in Ireland, especially
Belfast with the civil war-I've got a
relative involved in it. It's a fact of life.
Basically, it started out with the IRA
the Irish Republican Army, wanting to
make Northern Ireland a separate
country. Truth is, most people want
nothing to do with it and the whole
war's become so corrupt that it's now
nothing more than a confused Matia
gang war. So many people don't
want it. It's sad. And there's bomb
scares all the time. They had to can-
cel a Strangler's gig a couple weeks
ago because of one."
Blood, Fire, and Love, the
Almighty's debut, brings their rage
across with immediacy and con
viction, maintaining an ear for stinging
pop-metal harmonies.
"We never set out to be anything
but the Almighty," Ricky announces.
"We just write what we feel. I've
started out trying to write love songs
and sometimes they end up the most
hateful, angry things you could ever
imagine! Punk, metal, straight ahead
rock n' roll, it's all the same thing to
me. the same common denominator
a lot of noise, maybe something to
yell about and a few beers."
Odd, considering Warwick's affinity
for three-cord politicizer's like SLF
and the Ruts.
"Yeah, sure I was influenced by all
those bands but all I really took away
from punk was the energy and the
attitude. Even with a more political
band like New Model Army. I stayed
away from the lyrics. I wasn't inter-
ested. So what's it all about to Flicky
and the Almighty sex? "Sure, some
times. It's love. Hate. Life in general.
"We aren't Motorhead. We aren't
Wolfsbane. They're great bands but
there's something about them, a
sense of humor, a strange quirkiness
that never seems to translate partic-
ularly well. We're the Almighty. I think
the name and the songs speak for
themselves."
THE VANDALS
(Continued from page 72)
Joe: I'm from downtown.
David: L.A.
Joe: I don't like porno movies at all.
I think it's wrong.
Warren: I think pornography is fantas
tic. It's not exploitation.
Joe: I think they have so much more
potential.
Do any of you skate?
David: We have a rollerskating club
at home.
Joe: My friend's dad owns Fountain
Valley Rollerskating Rink
Warren: That's the best place. I used
to go there in eighth grade and do the
hokey pokey.
Where do you think your music
comes from and where is it head-
Ing? Do you consider yourselves
part of the hardcore scene?
Warren: We're roots rock.
Joe: We can't help how punk our
music is. We wish different people
would like it, I call it rock and roll.
Warren: I like to call it rock and roll,
but really bad rock and roll.
Are you guys touring with any-
one? Do you want to?
Joe: I want to tour with New Kids on
the Block.
Warren: Tiffany's better. She's so
much more talented.
What do you think of Janet Jack-
son?
Joe: She's on our label.
Warren: She's Michael Jackson.
Janet Jackson was better when she
was on Good Times. She peaked on
Good Times. That was the peak of
her ife.
What about the new half hour
video that she just released?
Warren: I don't see why they insist on
Chris: Chris and Dave are from Long having all of those supernatural innu-
Beach.
Have you been recording?
endos
Are things going to change for the
Joe: Well, we take turns bringing the Vandals, or are you satisfied with
ghetto blaster.
the way things are going?
Warren: They're going to get worse.
Joe: We have a punk rock opera
Joe: Serious, we have a big, new.
fancy Vandals album coming out pro
duced by Rob Casale from Devo.
Why are you on Restless?
Joe: You can be on a label like A&M
and you walk in there and the secre-
taries wouldn't give you the time of
day, I go to Restless Records and
every secretary in there digs me so
much. They would do anything for
me. Any one of those girls in any of
those offices would do anything I
asked, any time of the day or night.
So, why would I want to change to a
different record label?
Who are your influences? Do you
have any? Was it Elvis?
David: He's a racist. He's a redneck
Joe: I don't feel that way at all. I think
that he's a victim of his environment.
We can't excuse him for being a
straight racist
David: Yellow, Taco, The Plastics and
Falco.
Warren: I like pomo. Porno movies
are all we care about.
coming out in July. It's actually done.
but we want to wait a month after our
record comes out
Warren: It's social and political. It's
actually very topical. I'll give you a
hint. It's called "Something Is Wrong.
with the Horsefood." It's about the
dead rat that contaminated a whole
bunch of hay in Orange County and
the workers decided to give it to the
horses. It's true.
Joe: No stone will be left unturned
with that topic.
What kind of cologne do you
wear?
Warren: Adidas. I wear Adidas.
Joe: It smells like dog shit. I wear
Fahrenheit by Christian Dior. It's the
latest rage. You can buy Adidas at
Thrifty
Warren: You can buy everything at
Thrifty. It's cheap, but classy
David: I just jerk off in my socks. That
seems to work well enough.
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