The Vinnie Vincent Forum - Where Freedom Rocks!

Hey guys and Gals,
Here are two separate responses from a record company guru who has maintained a highly successful shred label for many years.
Yes, YOU know who it is.
YES, Vinnie knows who it is BUT we will leave his name out of this thread out of respect even though he did sign his name and he knows about our forum.

I have only included his responses and not my questions. A summary of what I did talk about was Vinnie's situation as of today, his ability to make multiple albums of different styles,etc...
Yes Vinnie, I know you didn't ask for my help but I tried anyway. It's all about the love.

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HI Vinnie is a talent ... we almost worked together in the 80s and had a lot of conversations. I was left feeling that we likely ultimately would not get along that well. I do think he is talented and appreciate your kind letter. All the best, ----
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HI- Thanks for getting back to me. I don't think Leopards change their spots as a rule. He is a great guitarist. As Vinnie Cusano he played things that really blew me away in the 70's. I tried to help him a lot but he was very arrogant and didn't have time for anyone who didn't want to stroke him. I did hook him up with Fred Coury pre Cinderella and Vinnie hired and fired him in one day. He was going to use Robert Fleishman as the original Invasion singer and he didn't like my opinion that he was the wrong guy so he told me to pack up his demo and send it back to him. Funny that he used Slaughter as I recommended him for Racer X before Jeff Martin. Jeff was a better fit but Mark is awesome. Once Vinnie was at a studio with a friend and a friend of mine told him that I was on the phone and wanted to say hello to him and he just walked away. Was his wife Anne Marie from the old days or a second marriage? Anyway, he is lucky to have you out there plugging for him. I believe he is very talented but at my age I am not dealing with anyone who is even slightly uncool. Thanks again for the email. I hope that Vinnie gets it together. All the best, ----

Further proof (not like we needed any) of the way Vinnie behaved in the 80's towards others in the industry he was trying to flourish in.

It blows my mind that someone could be like this. You would need an absolutely gigantic ego to to behave like this, with no regard to possible fallout down the line.

Sadly, it's a tale repeated all too often with those that worked, or tried to work, with Vinnie. Had this record producer actually signed a deal with Vinnie he may have felt the sting of contract renegotiation after the fact and it may have ended up a sunk deal, like others with guitar and record companies.

Clearly there are also stories of Vinnie being super nice, smiling, cheerful and happy. What is with the differences and what would spark either kind of treatment?

This is just one more anecdote in a trail of burnt bridges by Vinnie. You just can't go along your whole career and treat people like crap then expect things to turn in your favor. He's in his 60's still bitter paranoid and trust's no one. No one will give him any advance or studio time. He could record at home but I dont think he has the capability or know how to do so. His only real hope would be to go out and start playing live, but his ego would never allow him to be himself as himself. For someone that has gone through a life of highs lows fame and tragedy, he has never learned humility.

I think its incredibly kind that your did that for him Rick , but I think its a case of you wanting it more than he does. Hes the only one that can do anything about his career or situation.

1031 wrote: I think its incredibly kind that you did that for him Rick , but I think its a case of you wanting it more than he does. He's the only one that can do anything about his career or situation.

This - unfortunately

he was such an incredible guitarist that it might have gone to his head. i could imagine being in that situation, and thinking, 'i'm so phreaking great on guitar... and that's all i need'.

right or wrong, a guy needs more than that to stick around this industry.

again though.. vinnie's playing was so great that i could imagine being in that position myself, and having a tough time keeping my own ego in check.

a guy like randy rhoads was a great player too, but he seemed to have the advantage of an easy-going personality.

or george lynch, or warren de martini (although his situation may have been different if he was a trust fund baby)... there are so many guitar players who play great, but manage as well to get along with other people.

the world might have 100s or even 1000s of vinnie vincent-types... guys who could play, but never learned the 'social stuff'. perhaps vinnie happens to be the one who had a bit of success before imploding.

vinnie... what a great guitar player...

maybe that's all vinnie really needed or yet needs to do. schmoozing.

if the clock could be re-wound, or if vinnie took another shot at it, i would recommend dropping the 'vienna boys choir' type of singer, and vinnie doing the vocals in a 3-piece. one less band member to deal with, and vinnie can sing great. do a richie kotzen sort of thing... relatively 'easy' to rehearse and hit the road with that sort of approach.

either that or phreaking learn cubase and make an album in his living room. if vinnie were just to reach out, he could have dozens of drummers sending him tracks to build tunes around.

meh

whatever

Time to get out there amongst some other dudes and just have fun!
(...and if you do, for gawds sake upload it!)

58 yrs old and 57, close enough to VV vintage : (great name for a song by the way)
Tommy's cool with the whole world as far as i can tell, he'd play with ya !
[youtube][/youtube]

an instrumental album form VV in the 80s would have been the ultimate and would have made people who didn't know just how good he is. Why he passed on it is crazy. It has to be that he demanded a huge sum of cash.

I know a lot of 'guitar' industry people who heard VV when he was Vinnie Cusano and said he blew them away. unfortunatly we really have not heard what they heard but I suspect he was amazing back then. A lot of the industry guys think that Kiss and VVI kind of killed his playing. I don't think so but I do hear that a lot.

An instrunemtal album with all VV's influences would have be so good. I wish he could have gotten it together.

I should be his fucking manager. My multiple album idea would bring him the attention he deserves.

Rick is the best promoter out there. With rick as manager I could even get a record deal . Too bad v thinks he knows best which is why no music since 96 and only 2 solo albums in his career.

VV would have sounded great with "the guy who produced Racer X's first album" producing.

PelagicJoe wrote:VV would have sounded great with "the guy who produced Racer X's first album" producing.

That sounds like a good idea!
Hey maybe he could do the mixing of Guitars from Hell which would be really interesting.

Steve Fontano also producer Cacophony and I believe (but have not checked) Marty and Jason's solo albums as well as Apocrypha and I guess most Shrapnel albums. I think VV would be a better producer with a top engineer.

doublev2 wrote:Steve Fontano also producer Cacophony and I believe (but have not checked) Marty and Jason's solo albums as well as Apocrypha and I guess most Shrapnel albums. I think VV would be a better producer with a top engineer.

I still love Apocrypha.
It is one of my favorite albums in that niche from that era.
Too bad Tony Fredianelli became a run-of-the-mill rock musician without utilizing any of guitar skills.
IMHO, it is one of the worst cases of a good talent being wasted.

i liked Apocrypha too. Mark Slaughter was kind of their singer at one point, some Apocrypha band members were also in Mark's band.. this is how Shrapnel knew about him suggested him to Racer X. I am not sure if shrapnel suggested Mark to Vinnie. We may find out from Mark himself sooner or later.
Dave Mustaine actually said when Friedman joined Megadeth that the second Apocrypha record was the album he was listening to most around the time of the first Friedman Megadeth record (forgot name) was being recorded. I actually think Fredianelli would have been inline for Megadeth if Mustaine had known about him. That said Friedman produced those albums and I believe played a lot of guitar on them.

doublev2 wrote:i liked Apocrypha too. Mark Slaughter was kind of their singer at one point, some Apocrypha band members were also in Mark's band.. this is how Shrapnel knew about him suggested him to Racer X. I am not sure if shrapnel suggested Mark to Vinnie. We may find out from Mark himself sooner or later.
Dave Mustaine actually said when Friedman joined Megadeth that the second Apocrypha record was the album he was listening to most around the time of the first Friedman Megadeth record (forgot name) was being recorded. I actually think Fredianelli would have been inline for Megadeth if Mustaine had known about him. That said Friedman produced those albums and I believe played a lot of guitar on them.

Tony Fredianelli + Megadeth would have been a great band.
Current Megadeath is boring and it lost a lot of edge.
I know they are old but still, there are people like Lemmy of Motorhead or Robert Fripp of King Crimson fame who refuse to going through the motion even in their older age.

yes. I sat next to Robert Fripp on an airplane. he never travels first class. Lemmy I met a few times back stage at the Hosue of Blues, great guy.

doublev2 wrote:yes. I sat next to Robert Fripp on an airplane. he never travels first class. Lemmy I met a few times back stage at the Hosue of Blues, great guy.

Wow, that's cool.
From all the stories of encountering Lemmy I have heard over decades, almost all of them are positive.
No BS guy who doesn't play cheap games but just plays honest and genuine loud and hard rock and roll.
And IMHO, Robert Fripp is one of the few people who truly deserves the title of "artist" among the sea of mediocre rock musicians.
Although his early work is timeless, he still pushes himself beyond mere comfort zone.
The man is musicians' musician.
And I'm not surprised that he doesn't travel in first class.
The man is like, the antithesis of typical rock star/musician.
BTW, did you talk to Fripp?

Lemmy is ALWAYS at The Rainbow... I didn't want to bother him . He was sitting at the tabletop Ms. Pacman game and I sat close enough next to him to have a drink and watch his game. He knew all of the patterns to win . AMAZING.

rick did you live in Hollywood? I lived in Hollywood only for 9 months in 1995 I think. I used to go to the Rainbow all the time.

At that time I believe I was on vacation with a few buddies.