Bobby Rock posted this today on social media. Cool stuff:
40 years ago today, on October 1, 1985, I auditioned for ex-Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent’s new band. The moment had been many weeks in the making—with bassist Dana Strum being my sole contact for the proceedings—and it involved me driving my beat-up Ford Econoline van from Houston to Hollywood, with full drum kit in tow. This photo was taken not long after the audition, and it’s one of the few I have of the ol’ brown van (there to my left)... in the actual parking lot of the audition site at SIR Santa Monica Blvd.
This audition experience remains one of the more magical and memorable events of my career, with so many mental snapshots from the trip still burned into my mind. Much hoopla and hyberbole has surrounded this audition through the years, with the early press reports going something like, “Bobby Rock drove 24 straight hours to LA, then turned his 10-minute screening audition into a 90-minute chops-fest, drum clinic, solo extravaganza, which earned him the gig on the spot after the band gave him a standing ovation!” Actually, that was all largely true, with only the numbers being a bit exaggerated.
At any rate, the Vinnie Vincent Invasion would release our debut record some eleven months later, and the three-year run we endured would produce priceless adventures and escapades, many of which I detail in my memoir, “The Boy Is Gonna Rock.” (Scope it on Amazon or at Bobby Rock dot com.)
In fact, 10 years ago this week I wrote in great detail about this audition on my blog in a piece entitled, “Go West, Young Man!” Reflections on the Vinnie Vincent Invasion audition, 30 Years Later. This blog would eventually appear in my memoir almost verbatim to how I originally wrote it. If interested, Google the blog title
Haha! My son isn’t really into Kiss.
I found my old iPod the other day and plugged it in my car. I had a listen to Asylum that I recorded from my LP, with all the scratches I made while using a cheap turntable…
You can’t get the same feeling with Spotify. I love my old Lps
My son's playlist is all KISS these days, though he listens to other stuff too, lots of old songs you'd be surprised about, his teachers certainly are.
It is fun to play the old vinyl from back in the day.
