DRUMMER CARMINE APPICE ON VINNIE VINCENT’S SCRAPPED PERFORMANCES, “IF [THE SHOWS] GET CANCELED AGAIN, NOBODY’S GONNA CARE ANYMORE”
Drummer Carmine Appice recently spoke with WSOU. The drummer explained why guitarist Vinnie Vincent canceled the shows he planned to play in Nashville, TN.
Appice said [via blabbermouth.net], “Something happened between Vinnie and the promoter. I know there was something going on. I talked to Vinnie a few times, and him and the promoter were not seeing eye to eye on a lot of stuff. But I always thought that if Vinnie messed this up, or whoever messed it up, I don’t know if there’ll be another chance. ‘Cause this is his comeback. He already canceled it once [before]. And if gets canceled again, nobody’s gonna care anymore. [They’ll say] ‘I’m not gonna go even buy a ticket. He’s not gonna show up. Or something’s gonna happen.’ But I was looking forward to it, because me and Tony Franklin — I love playing with Tony, and we were gonna play the Vinnie KISS songs, which would have been fun.”
According to the drummer, he was a bit concerned about Vincent’s ability to put on a good show after watching a video of the guitarist playing three KISS songs with Four By Fate last October at the pre-Kiss Kruise party in Miami, Florida.
“Vinnie played with me in a band before he was in KISS called Carmine And The Rockers, and I know he’s a great player and a great writer and a good singer and he’s a good stage performer,” Appice said. “But after I saw that [footage]… Vinnie’s always been like a showoff kind of guy, and he just stood there. He looked like he was scared to me. I asked him, ‘Can you still play? You’ve been out 30 years.’ He goes, ‘Yeah. I’ve been playing in my house. Yeah, of course, I can still play.’ I said, ‘Okay. I believe you.’ But I don’t know what happened. All this other crazy stuff was going on with singers and this and that, and the promoter. It’s too bad, ’cause it would have been fun.”
Robert Fleischman, a former member of Journey and Vincent’s post-KISS band, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, was supposed to sing for Vincent but abruptly pulled out of the project in November, saying that he was unhappy about elements of the production.
Derek Christopher, the promoter of the guitarist’s comeback concerts, said that he was “shocked” by Vincent’s decision to scrap the shows two weeks before they were scheduled to take place.
From the sound of Appice’s comments, it doesn’t seem like the band ever even got together to rehearse! It sounds like Vinnie wants to make a comeback, needs the money….but can no longer play.