Mark Slaughter Thinks Vinnie Vincent Should Still Be Making Music
Former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent should still be making music, said Mark Slaughter, the singer in Vincent's old band. Even though the two former bandmates fell out in 1988 and haven’t spoken since, Slaughter thinks Vincent still has something to offer fans.
Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum were members of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion when the leader, who’d formed the group in 1984 after being fired by Kiss, issued an ultimatum. “He had a manager called Nigel. Vinnie, Nigel and myself sat down and Vinnie said, ‘I’m going to fire Dana Strum,’" Slaughter recalled in a new interview with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM
"He looked at me and said, ‘Where does your loyalty lie? Are you going to stay with me or stay with Dana?’ I looked at Vinnie and said, ‘I’d rather be in the gutter with Dana and fight my way through it than continue here. But I’ll see the shows out, I’m a professional, and I wish you luck.’ That was the last time we really spoke spoke.”
You can hear the interview above.
Asked about the when he’d last heard from Vincent, the singer said it was "when I got his bankruptcy papers, right after the band broke up. He just said, ‘I’m done.’ That was the last time I heard anything from Vinnie.”
Slaughter and Strum cut a deal with Vincent’s record label to take over his contract, and went on to form Slaughter. Vincent struggled on, and even briefly mended his relationship with Kiss before breaking it again. His last release was the Euphoria EP in 1996. He auctioned much of his musical property in 2014, three years after being arrested on domestic violence charges.
“Vinnie is a great talent," Slaughter said. "We had more success with Slaughter, but it doesn’t make us feel less about where we came from. I would never take away from his talent. I have great memories of what we did at the time. The music was great and the memories associated with that music are good. I wish he was still making music. There’s no reason for him not to. But I guess some people just go to other parts of their life.”
Slaughter's new album, Halfway There, will be released on May 26. You can listen to “Hey You” from the LP below.
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