FORMER MEMBERS OF EXODUS, OVERKILL AND HADES RECORD NEW MATERIAL, INCLUDING A COVER OF KISS’ “GOD OF THUNDER”
Former Exodus singer Rob Dukes has teamed up with former Hades members Dan Lorenzo and Jimmy Schulman and former Overkill drummer Ron Lipnicki in a project that has yet to be named.
Lorenzo stated, “Ron’s first recording was Hades DamNation CD in 2001. About a year after that Hades stopped recording when Ron got cancer. When Ron was undergoing chemo he told me he wanted to record some old KISS songs just for fun. That became the impetus for me to actually record three solo CDs in 2003 and 2004. A few years later I introduced Ron to Overkill’s Bobby Blitz at my Super Bowl party. Blitz and I did The Cursed Room Full of Sinners together and Ron went on to tour and record with Overkill for a decade.”
Lipnicki followed, “I’ve loved KISS since I was a kid. They are the reason I cut my mom’s broomstick into drumsticks and started bashing garbage cans. When I was sick Dan, Jimmy and all the Hades guys would come over to my place and we would hang out and listen to KISS and Sabbath and Dan got me a ton of cool music from Metal Blade Records. We always talked about recording some of our favorite KISS tunes. It was very uplifting when going through something like that (cancer) and it does keep you young.” Regarding his recent departure from Overkill, Lipnicki went on to say, “I left Overkill due to work. It was tough to juggle a day job and travel all the time. I had some great times and made some great music with the guys. They taught me so much. I’m forever grateful. I have enough stories to last a lifetime.”
Dukes fronted Bay Area thrash legends Exodus for nine years until they reunited with Steve Souza in 2014. “Dan Lorenzo and me became friends about 10 years ago. I always knew who he was from his playing in Hades. We got together with Mark Strigl and John Ostronomy and Ron from Overkill and played a cover of Snowblind by Sabbath for Talking Metal (see below). It was fun. So we reconnected and talked about doing some more songs. We both love doing cover songs. So we decided to do a few more and then work on some original stuff which we started and as we go along we track songs we like. Dan’s a huge KISS fan so that was what he picked to play, and I picked another Sabbath tune and we are having fun. The original stuff is really cool. I’ve been working on new Generation Kill music and it’s nice to take a break from that and play a few covers. I got together with the Exodus guys awhile back and played a show in San Francisco and it was cool to sit and talk. We buried some bad feelings and moved on, it was a love fest. And the show was awesome.”
Lorenzo continued, “After Blitz and I did The Cursed release I really didn’t play much music for the next ten years until I stumbled upon the song The Opposition by the band Ancient VVisdom. Long story short, I started writing with Ancient VVisdom vocalist Nathan Opposition who lives in Cleveland. We had two short rehearsals in Nathan’s basement and ended up getting signed by the Italian doom metal label Argonauta Records for our band called Vessel Of Light. Vessel Of Light just finished recording our 2nd album for Argonauta and I really fell in love with recording music again. After Nathan and I finished our new Woodshed album I asked Ron and Jimmy if they wanted to jam some Vessel Of Light songs in NYC. Whenever Ron, Jimmy and I jam we always end up playing old Kiss songs. So we recently booked some recording time at JROD Productions in New York. We recorded KISS’ God of Thunder and Calling Dr. Love. I sang Calling Dr. Love and I asked Rob Dukes if he wanted to sing God of Thunder and maybe try to write some original music together. As of now we are writing originals as well as recording some old Black Sabbath and KISS songs just for fun.”
God of Thunder with Dukes, Lorenzo, Lipnicki and Schulman can be
When I think of all the stick I used to take for being a Kiss fan as a kid, and all of the energy I spent defending Kiss as musicians, only to find out that they didn’t even play on some of the best examples that I used to point out….I can’t say what I really want to say on here.
Shannon, you don’t have to say what you want on here, it’s already been said ten fold about KISS over the years. And KISS isn’t alone in using studio musicians to play on songs. It is a music industry, made up mostly of smoke and mirrors. Fortunately, the age of technology has brought all these issues to light. Much respect has been lost in the industry for “musicians” as online social media has exposed most of them.
Thanks JJ, I needed someone to acknowledge my existential crisis here with Kiss. 🙂
Shannon, I feel your pain, bro, I really do. We all feel “Betrayed” by KISS. I guess the reason I haven’t responded is because I’ve been trying to ignore more KISS drama. Believe me, I was just as upset as you are when I found out Ace didn’t play on Sweet Pain, OR Flaming Youth, and he even co-wrote the damn song!! Peter only played on 1 song on Dynasty, none on Unmasked, Ace didn’t play at all on COTN, even though his face and name are on the album, Gene didn’t play on a lot of songs from the 80’s, I think Peter only played on 1 song from Psycho Circus, and on & on. And of course, there’s the “live” albums, don’t even get me started! But I try to look at it this way, I loved those songs and albums before I found out who (and who didn’t) play on them, and I still do, and always will. With all the bullsh-t, shadow musicians, mudslinging, my feelings for KISS have changed over the years, but not the music, I still love it, and will always listen to it. If we knew then, what we know now, would it matter or make a difference? Honestly, I don’t know, all I know is those songs are the soundtrack to my life, and even with everything we know now about the players, that won’t change.
Doug R., thank you for letting me know I’m not alone in this; the thing is, it would’ve made a huge difference if I’d known at 10 or 11. I loved this record so much as a 5th grader that I borrowed a cassette from a classmate who recorded it off the record, and this is before dual decks, so I had to position two tape players facing each other just to make my own copy on this orange cassette that was some instructional tape that I put scotch or masking tape over the holes on the bottom. Only a very few people I knew even took Kiss seriously, I didn’t at first because I thought they were just copying Alice Cooper, even though I secretly loved hearing “Christine Sixteen” on the AM radio that I would listen to when I went to sleep. But, Alive II changed everything; and its effect on me has not changed one bit after all this time. And here’s where it really gets real: I have only seen my dad four times in my whole life, he’s a theater arts major with a Masters degree but I only spent limited time with him when I was four, seven, 11, and then 25, and that was the last I heard or saw him. When I was 11 me and my brother spent two weeks with him, and I brought the Alive II record and he let me play it all the time. He understood music and when I played him that record he just nodded and knew they had real talent. That was huge for me as a kid, no adult I knew would even consider taking Kiss seriously. My dad had Led Zeppelin IV, Tommy, and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The memories I have of listening to that record at his house are one of the only good memories I have from that time. So, no, hearing Peter, Ace was bad enough, is not on parts of it completely ruins the whole thing.
I hear ya, bro, and I get the deep personal connection. Alive ll came out 1 week before my 11th birthday in ’77, and sure enough, my birthday wish came true! That was the first present I opened up, and I didn’t care what I got after that! Although the Star Wars toys were pretty cool, as was my new bike! Anyway, it was shortly after that me and my friends started putting on our own KISS shows! We’d take turns every month being the characters, I liked being all of them, but I think being Ace was my favorite. We used smoke bombs, firecrackers, sparklers, confetti, balloons, strobe lights, and some other sh-t I can’t even remember! We even used a can of Lysol and a cigarette lighter to make a flamethrower! LOL!!! We were crazy kids! But we had the best times of our lives being a KISS cover band, even though we were only 11-12 years old. I cherish those memories every single day! But it does, I don’t know, darken those memories a little bit after finding out over the years about how many other people played on those albums and those songs. It does take away some of that magic that was KISS in the 70’s. So like I said, I can relate to those feelings of being “Betrayed.” But most of the time when I put on a KISS record, I try my hardest not to think about anything else other than just enjoying the music, and when I’m able to do that, the magic is back!
Doug that is awesome! I love Lysol and the lighter! We did that too, at first I was Peter Criss, and he is the only reason I really got into Kiss in the first place, and then it was Paul Stanley, who got me to play guitar..Lol…I would’ve been over at your house, we did the whole Alive! record too.
Peter Criss is the reason I started playing drums, for about 5 years, but unfortunately I didn’t stick with it, one of my biggest regrets in life. He was my favorite drummer in the 70’s, along with Joey Kramer, and John Bonham. I didn’t even know until ’77 or ’78 that Peter was from my very own neighborhood in Brooklyn! It really is a small world after all! 😉 I loved my Huffy bike, rode the hell out of it, broke most of my Star Wars toys, accidentally and on purpose, 😉 and KISS Alive ll? I wore the hell out of it! Ahh, those were the days! We also went through about a gross of those little party poppers every show, and a lot of silly string! We made a mess, but had a blast! Those block parties in the 70’s were the best! The food, the music, the mayhem, 😉 LOL!!!
Shannon and Doug R., nice KI$$ stories of your youth. Thanks for sharing them. I love the passion you both had for the band back in the day! And it’s that passion that fuels the emotions you both feel today about being betrayed.
Again, thanks for sharing your stories.
Thanks, Rattle, I love reminiscing about the good old days! 🙂
We actually figured out how to make flashpots by taking an electrical cord and exposing the wires on one end and fastening that end into a small sort of bowl made out of wood. We would fill it with flash powder we got at the magic shop, lol…it was basically gun powder, I don’t think they sell that to kids anymore, or that it is even available, then we would plug the cord into the wall…lol…that thing worked great!! I had a 14 year old girlfriend when I was 11 too…lol… the first time I ever really kissed I was Paul Stanley. I love that Doug only cared about getting Kiss Alive II over his bike..lol..that is so awesome..lol…
Damn, bro, sounds like your house was rockin’, rollin’, and “Smokin'” more than mine was in the 70’s! My uncle had a arcade in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, so of course I got to play Evel Knievel and KISS pinball as much as I wanted to, for free! We had the KISS guitars and the makeup, sh-t, bro, I even had the KISS alarm clock!! Of course my favorite toy from the 70’s was the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle! Damn, I must’ve went through at least a dozen of those f–kers! LOL!!! Oh man, I miss those days, take me back! Ace, where’s that time machine? I’m ready to travel back in time!! The music, movies, TV shows, games, carnival rides, let’s go!! Sh-t, I gotta go, bro, I’m in a bowling tournament tonight. I — wanna rock n’ bowl all nite — and party everyday!!! 😉 TTYS, bro, cheers! 🙂