Re: Tommy Thayer talks about working with Ace. Good story.
- From: "FVH" <fvhisback@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 22 Jun 2006 17:45:36 -0700
That is a good story. You've finally brought something to the table,
slaphead!
FVH
AJ wrote:
From http://www.kissonline.com/news/index.php?mode=fullstory&id=3713
JH: Your playing is great and what a lot of our younger readers may not
know is that you are the one who actually taught Ace his parts again
when the reunion happened back in '95, '96.
TT: Over the years with his solo bands, he seemed to have slowly got
off the path of the original classic signature KISS parts, which is
fine, but when it came time to do the Reunion tour Paul and Gene wanted
the band to sound and be faithful to the original parts that were
recorded and played originally, because that's what everybody knows
and loves. So they asked me to come in and help Ace and Peter on
separate occasions with some of the things that they were doing and
help them get back on track with those signature parts.
JH: Wasn't Ace late a couple of times to shows and you------
TT: On the Farewell Tour in 2000, we had just had a week off and the
first show back was at Irvine Meadows here in Southern Cal. Ace was
back in New York at home and he was supposed to come out the day before
because we had a rule that nobody should be flying across the country
the day of a show; it's just too risky, tickets are sold and so on.
At that time I was road managing, so of course the day before, I get
Ace a car and I had to monitor these things; it was like constantly
every half hour monitoring progress or no progress. So I'd be calling
the car company and they'd tell me, we're here at the residence in
front, we're waiting and he's supposed to be coming out any time
now. Then I'd call back and they'd tell me, we haven't seen him,
he hasn't come out. I was calling him and leaving him messages - your
car is out there and you have to get in it now because you're going
to miss the flight! So anyway he never made it out, I don't know why
but he just never made it out of the house into the car. So we were
kind of screwed and then I finally got him on the phone, "Ace, you've
got to promise me that you're going to get on this flight in the
morning." He was like okay, okay, I promise and then the same thing
happened again! Is he coming out of the house yet? No, on and on and so
he missed that morning flight too. The noon flight, same thing, I
didn't know what was going on but he just was not responding. So now
I started to get really nervous because there was only one more flight
that afternoon that would get Ace into LA in just enough time to get in
a car, if everything went like clockwork, that would get him down to
Irvine and to the show. So I said, "Ace, this is do or die on this one,
it's got to happen." So I called the car company and they say, uh, he
hasn't come out yet and Ace, I tell him on the phone, you've got to
get in the car and so FINALLY, he came out of his house and got in the
car and was on his way to the airport, so I felt a little relief. I'm
the one who is responsible, because if he screws it all up I'm the
road manager and everybody is going to be looking at me like, what the
hell? Like, how come you couldn't make this happen even though they
kind of understood (laughs) who we're dealing with here. So okay
finally he's on his way to the airport and this is good but that was
the most crucial thing, just getting him out of the house and into the
car; that was the biggest struggle. So I'm resting a little easy and
I'm getting into my car to drive down to Irvine because now it's
that afternoon. So I'm driving along and my phone rings and it's
our travel agent. She says, "Well Tommy, I just want to call you and
give you an update: I've got some good news and some bad news and she
asked me, what do you want to hear first?"
JH: (laughing hysterically)
TT: And I said let's hear the good news first. So she said well the
good news is that Ace made it to the airport and he's on his plane
and I was like, well that's good! Then she says, but the bad news is
the plane has a mechanical and they're just sitting there and they
don't know how long it will be before the plane can take off. It
might be an hour or two before they can even leave and I was thinking,
this is not good because we were just shaving by, by the skin of our
teeth to begin with and now the plane is still sitting in New York! By
now it's 3 in the afternoon, so I called Doc and told him the deal, I
explained the whole situation that Ace was still in New York and Doc
goes, well Tommy, get down there, get suited up, you're going on
tonight. I was like oh man, I haven't really rehearsed and I
haven't done this in awhile but I thought that I could possibly pull
it off.
JH: (laughing) At Irvine Meadows?
TT: Yes, at Irvine Meadows.
JH: (laughing more)
TT: I'm driving to Irvine and I'm thinking, oh my God! I called
Paul and Gene and explained the situation and they were immediately
like, no, you're playing tonight, that's it; we're not going to
cancel the show! So I get down there and the wardrobe girls are right
on me fitting, taking one of his outfits and kind of getting it all
fitted up for me, we're working on the makeup and all this stuff and
then I was all ready to go. In the meantime, Ace's flight finally got
going and when he arrived at LAX, we had arranged a helicopter for Ace
from LAX down to Irvine Meadows' parking lot. So he shows up about 15
minutes before the band is supposed to be going on because the opening
act had already played and Doc said, "Ace, you've got 20 minutes to
put your makeup and costume on!" It was weird when Ace walked into the
dressing room I was sitting there all made up all ready to go and he
just looked at me and said very casually, "Hey Tommy!" and didn't
even blink an eye, just typical Ace. To make a long story short, Doc
postponed the show and the band finally went on about 40 minutes late
or something and it was a close call. In early 2002, KISS was going to
play at the Salt Lake City closing ceremonies for the winter Olympics.
They weren't going to really play, just lip-sych, but nonetheless it
was a huge deal because you literally had billions of people watching
this thing and it was important. (laughs) So it just so happens
(laughs) that the week before that I had been given a long-awaited
vacation to go to Hawaii. So I was there in Hawaii with my family and
I'm sitting in Maui relaxing and Doc calls me and says, "Hey Tommy, I
hate to tell you this, but you're going to have to fly directly to
Salt Lake City right now because Ace might be a no-show at the Olympics
thing and we can't cancel this, it's too important, it's too big
of a deal." So I took a red-eye to Salt Lake after being in Hawaii only
three days. So I get there the day before for the rehearsals, so I do
that and sure enough the next morning here comes Ace walking in again
at the very last minute. He did the show and everything, but I was kind
of pissed off because it had just ruined my whole vacation. Actually
Ace pulled me aside and he said, "Hey, I just wanted to apologize," he
said that he was sorry and that he didn't mean to screw up my whole
vacation. He was nice about it, but then two weeks later the Jamaica
thing was happening, a big private show down there, a big deal, and Doc
calls me and says, "Ace isn't doing the show, so you're just going to
have to go do it. Gene, Paul and I all talked and they were saying,
you're doing it, Ace is not going to be there and we're not going
to cancel. So that was the beginning for me and it just got to the
point with Ace, you never knew what was going to happen.
JH: Have you spoken with Ace since you took his place in KISS?
TT: No, I haven't. I've actually exchanged some messages though.
For instance I was talking to Ed Trunk (host of TV's Metal Mania and
also a rock deejay in New York) one day about a year and a half ago and
he said that he was going to see Ace, and I told him to tell Ace that I
said hey. Then when Ace was on Ed's show at Christmas time he said
that if anybody was replacing him then Tommy was the right guy. So he
kind of has been approving; in a certain sense. And to be honest with
you, Ace is a funny guy and I always enjoyed being around him
particularly back when we were doing the tours because I was with him
everyday for about six years. I like him, he's very personable, just
a cool guy to hang out with.
To read this and more of the interview go
here:http://www.kissonline.com/news/index.php?mode=fullstory&id=3713
.
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