- May 27, 2008 -
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Memorial Weekend with friends and family. I have been busy as usual, so let me get you all up to speed with my recent adventures.
 A few weeks ago John Corabi (Motley Crue, Ratt, UNION, The Scream) and I were off to Mexico City for a big event that was a large music Expo, with vendors and sponsors and artists from around the world all getting together to share everything we all love about music. It was called Expo Rock and, although some of the bands were very varied, John and I represented for sure the rock side of the event... although we were asked to perform with our acoustic guitars!
 The band John and I formed 10 years ago called UNION never played in Mexico, although the KISS and Motley fans are quite familiar with our careers and, of course, we have had a few very successful concerts with our friend Eric Singer, the current KISS drummer. As the Eric Singer Project (ESP) we have been in Mexico twice in three years, and the fans loved those performances. Last time we were there was in December of 2007, so many of those who attended the Expo Rock got a chance to meet John and I at the special meet and greets organized at the event. We had two days to play and sign things for the fans, and the reaction we received made us feel very welcome. Mexico has some amazing fans and we loved taking photos and signing for them.
 On the Saturday Expo we performed on the main stage. We prepared a 40 minute set that included UNION tunes, some Beatles songs, and two new John Corabi originals that he has been recording. We also played "Against The Grain", the acoustic song from my CD Transformer, live for the first time ever! It was great performing with him again acoustically, as we used to do promotional performances quite often in the UNION days on just our acoustic guitars. Second day of the event the meet and greet once again was huge. We were asked to play our set this time on the smaller second stage, which actually was much more appropriate dynamically. Problem was, and it was a BIG problem, the band on the main stage about a half a football field away was so loud I couldn't even tune my guitar! So we went off the stage and waited for the band playing on the main stage to quiet down.
 Ten minutes later John and I did a strong 5 song set that really sounded great. We were going to do one more song, but by then the main stage started up. At least we got those 5 songs in, and we were quite proud of the reaction to our performance. I want to thank the fans for being patient, and lesson learned about playing acoustically on second stages at events! I want to thank Conrado, Juan, Santiago, and everyone at the Expo event that looked after John and I making sure we were comfortable for our stay in Mexico. Great to know we have such cool fans and friends south of the border.
KKB, the new CD of music from my youth that I have been selling on my site , is selling very fast. It is a limited run of less than 1000, so if you were thinking of ordering do it soon! The reaction has been very strong, and I am proud of the music and the packaging. The music is still relevant no matter how vintage it is. And now that SUMMER is officially started, I will say I have many dates with Grand Funk scheduled, so see if we are in your area so you can catch a show.
Recently I told you all about work with Amanda and Travis Marsh, the young talents that I told you all about in my last message. All their music is coming out great. Really excited for you all to hear the new songs soon. More news coming when I finish up some other exciting events I will tell you about in June... please check out the GFR schedule to see if you can catch a show. You won't be disappointed! Have a great summer and I look forward to sharing my gigging etc, with you all throughout the upcoming months.
PS - I get asked to do sessions all the time, but I don't necessarily always agree to do the work. It depends on the band and many other
factors. Producer/ songwriter Curt Cuomo, who helped produce and co-write the first UNION disc and co-wrote many of the KISS COS and Psycho Circus songs, has been producing a Russian band that it was easy for me to say "YES!" to. They're a great new artist from Russia called Sapgir.
The song he asked me to play on was very Beatles like and melodic, which I love. I brought my trusty old Les Paul and my Gibson ES 330 to capture the tones I was looking for. The song didn't take long for me to perform and it was great seeing Curt and working at his studio where I did my Transformer solo disc. So, thank you Curt and Christian (who represents the Russian artist here in the US), and I hope Sapgir can really explode world wide. More about the music when it is available.
- May 15, 2008 -
 Hello everyone! I am so excited to see the reaction to my KKB 1974 disc. It is new music from my past that I feel great sharing with everyone. The packaging for this music is even better than I hoped, and the limited edition signed and numbered will sell out fast. Read about it on my website. The story is very interesting to say the least. I am amazed at all the foreign sales, from Norway, Australia, and all over Europe who ordered from my website. This past weekend I was able to debut KKB at the big NY KISS expo. The turnout was great and I had a great time hanging with the fans and jamming later in the day with the band STARZ.
 Another highlight was a reunion of sorts with the guitar on the KKB disc from 1974. My main guitar was a 1965 Gibson SG that meant the world to me when I was a teenager. Of course now that I have so many, it seems strange that I was so attached to one, but when I held it and played it for a few minutes at my merchandise table, I was in a time machine! I remember that guitar so well... I even would sleep with it!
 So once again I have to thank everyone who came to the Expo, the hilarious Maul Stanley who interviewed me for the fans, and to everyone involved with making the expo a success. I was proud to debut my KKB disc in the NY area, as I grew up there and have so many memories with learning and making music when I was young. Of course my years with KISS also began in New York City. I had some time on Sunday to visit the Big Apple, although I love the BIG PRETZELS that I love so much from a street vendor near 34th St.
 So I may as well fill you all in to what is new for me besides the KKB disc. Things have been slow for my BK3 disc of new recording because I have been involved recording and producing some very talented young artists that I met late last year at the Las Vegas Rock n Roll Fantasy Camp. Amanda and Travis Marsh are extremely talented young new artists, and along with Jeremy Rubolino, my producer for my BK3 disc and the 15 year old guitarist YAYO I told you about a while back, have been working hard on new songs for both Amanda and Travis.
I feel their potential is huge, and Jeremy and I have had some amazing writing and recording experiences with both of them. In this business of music, nothing is better than creating some magic when the talent is flowing. Amanda sings in a voice that proves why she has SO many passionate fans on her myspace page. Her singing is hypnotic and will surprise many of you with her addictive tone and passion. This is her myspace address, www.myspace.com/amandamarshmusic, although our new songs are not yet posted. But check her out... she is terrific.
 Her brother Travis, is an extremely gifted guitarist and singer and songwriter who is getting some valuable tips from Jeremy and I. Everything from recording, to playing to creating his own unique sound with the talent he has. His creative voice, and strong songwriting and guitar playing will give him many fans no doubt. We talk guitars and gear all the time and I am always amazed at the music he loves to listen to. Some of the same bands that I grew up with are on his iTunes. He loved the KKB disc, and he totally got what that was about. Check out his myspace page.
Both of these young artists in my opinion have all the potential in the world, and Jeremy and I are very excited to be working with them both. I will keep you all posted when you can check out the new tunes from the Marsh siblings. A special thank you to Lea and Andy Marsh for all their kind hospitality while working with Amanda and Travis.
More shows for planned for Grand Funk of course, as summer approaches the dates are coming in strong. Look on my site to see if you can catch a show. I am going to be in Mexico soon for a Rock Expo with John Corabi. We will perform acoustically and you know that is something John and I have done many times when we used to promote UNION. We have many new ideas to perform for the fans, and I will get pix and news about that in a few weeks.
So thanks again about the KKB disc and if you are thinking of ordering and haven't yet, they are going fast.
- April 15, 2008 -
 I just came back from Kansas City for the first ever KISS Expo in that city. The fans were excited to share their love of KISS, and I have to admit it was a great day for me as well. I announced my forthcoming CD release, KKB 1974, and wanted to debut some tracks from this music from my past for the crowd but the CD player was not hooked up to the PA system properly.... file that under "WTF?!"
 Anyway, fans can now see all the CD artwork and hear some samples here on my website! I think you all will all be surprised and excited to hear the music I was playing and creating when I was only 19 years old, and to read about the band, how the recording came about, and how I rediscovered it after so many years. KKB 1974 will be for sale at the big NY Expo on May 3rd, and after that I will be taking orders on my website so be sure to stay tuned!
 Of course the Kansas City Expo had me doing a Q & A with the crowd and some great questions were asked - Why am I on the Creatures of the Night CD cover? - and I was signing and taking pix through most of the day. I really enjoyed the excitement from the crowd and reminded them of an upcoming show with Grand Funk in Kansas on June 7th. Quite a few people there actually attended some of the GFR shows in the past and I was pleased to hear that!
 At the end of the Expo, I jammed with the tribute band Dressed To Kill. They did a good job entertaining the crowd and they finished the set with me sitting in on "Lick It Up" and "Rock N' Roll All Nite". It was a great way to end the evening and I would like to say thanks everyone who worked hard to make the first KC Expo a success, especially all the fans! KISS fans are the best!
More news coming, especially after the NY KISS Expo.
- February 14, 2008 -
 Hello everyone! Just back from Japan with the Eric Singer Project (ESP) and what a great time we had playing and visiting Tokyo. I have always loved Japan as the people are so polite and hard working, and the food and service is impeccable. We arrived via NWA on Flight 1, (I thought that was cool) on Friday afternoon, and off to the city. The airport is almost 2 hours away, and our promoter friend Takashi and the band told crazy stories to kill the time. We checked into the hotel, and we were pleased with the size of the rooms which were large considering how small they can be in Japan. We then went off to dinner. We found a cool Chinese place ironically! But the food was tasty of course and we knew we would have sushi the next few days for sure.
 It was great to finally settle in and sleep, but I took a great pix from my hotel window. They love neon in the city, and blue is my fave. Next morning it was time to go sound check, and do the meet and greet and Kiss expo at the ESP school academy club that is in the facility there. It is a very modern beautiful building and there is a room where the KISS online people were using for merchandise sales that had an incredible guitar collection that the owner of the ESP schools has acquired over the years. I nearly fainted!
 Sound check was fun, and then lunch at an amazing sushi place where the food just comes around on a conveyor belt! We stuffed ourselves, and that was perfect Japanese food! After lunch it was time for the signing session for the fans, and like pervious times, they gave us all wonderful gifts. From sake to socks, to candy and hats and shoes and shirts, how cool was that!
 Eric and I did a Q and A for the fans, and then it was break time. We made plans for some shopping in Harajuku which the singer from No Doubt, Gwen Stefani made famous with her take on the Japanese dancers and her clothing line. There was a great jewelry place called Justin Davis that Eric knew made cool stuff. So we had fun picking out gifts. That area of Tokyo is very vibrant, and I really was happy I got to see it. I found great gifts and enjoyed the energy.
 Back to the venue for show number one. We really had a great long show planned and it was very exciting. The fans in Japan are so passionate about watching, although they are a bit more reserved than some other cultures you know they don't miss a note. We were excited to have given them a cool show, and time for some of the band to visit the Hard Rock, or just rest. I chose the quiet of my room!
 After a good night's rest, it was time for the same plans at the venue. Meet & greet, Q & A and then our show. I did spend some time with the crew that was helping us going over the guitars that ESP guitar company provided for me to play. Some of the guys went out again to Sushi, but I ate with the crew, as even the food bought at a 7-11 type place in Tokyo is VERY good cuisine!
 I was able to do some local shopping in the Takadanobaba area where the Academy is located. (Say that 10 times fast!) I am a big fan of Japanese products and there is a "100 Yen" shop, which is a take off of the Dollar shops we have here in the states. I found the usual cool items for my home that I love from Japan.
 Back to the venue after my shopping and walk, and the band discussed our set list which we shortened. It was Sunday and that worked better for the club. After the show which was I thought even better than the first night, we took photos with the crew, and we thanked all of the staff and gave them ESP DVD's (the live one from Australia) which they all were very happy about. We gave away the giant bottle of Sake from our friend Kuni, and gave away the Jack Daniel's too! Hope they had a good party with the alcohol!
 Back to the hotel, and I had a nice dinner with some friends from Japan, (thank you!) in a Denny's style place that is, well MUCH better than a Denny's! No matter where you go in Japan, the food is simply perfect. So I want to thank Takashi and his great staff for looking after us so well. Too many names to get into here, but they all did a great job for us. Our friend Hiro was great hanging with us all the time, and Kuni who we all have known for years was there and made things very rock n roll!
 Thanks to the ESP school crew, Kaz and his staff, and the people from the Shigemori Pedal company who gave us gifts as well made perfectly in Japan!
Special thanks to Keith Leroux and his friend Scott from the US for coming and making the two shows a success. Thank you Keith Tarrier for the cool live pix as well.
I look forward to coming back.
PS: Check out all the picts from Bruce's Japan trip in his Photo Album, which has all the above picts and more!
- January 23, 2008 -
 Hello everyone! Exhausted but I have so much to share with you all from the big NAMM show in Anaheim this past weekend. You all know my year started off right away working in the studio so, drooling over some new gear would not be a bad thing! I did have a tough schedule as usual, as
I had a Grand Funk show on Thursday in Morristown NJ, which was a great first gig of the year for us, and happily I got back to Los Angeles in time to see some of the booths at NAMM on Friday. (Thank you Continental Airlines)
 As usual it was so crowded from all the people in the industry, and the lucky ones that are just fans that managed to get in. It is non-stop craziness. Most important for me of course is thanking the people from ESP guitars, Marshall Amps, Gibson guitars, Paul Reed Smith, Orange Amps, Fender, BBE, Schecter guitars, SIT strings, Duncan Pickups, Digidesign for Protools, Danelectro guitars, LM products and Moody Straps, Creation Labs, Waves (a software company), Apple computers and Tech 21 for all their great products and support.
 One interesting company from Germany was introduced to me by my friend from Stockholm. Chris Laney, who is very talented and sang for me when I did a solo tour in Scandinavia, is working with a company called KULIK amps! Not related, but they had me check out an amazing boutique guitar amp and cabinet that I will have some fun with for sure when I get back to work on BK3 in February and March.
 Paul Stanley and his son Evan were in attendance at Washburn, and of course when we met I got some birthday cake as it was a day before Paul's big day. Tommy Thayer was there, as was Eric Singer, and my brother Bob who was able to get around on his crutches. Spoke with Nikki Sixx who was a bit shy cause of the crowd wanting him badly, but it was great to see him looking good and healthy. His book is doing great.
 Speaking of a guitarist with a hit book out, Slash had a huge line as well at Marshall, as Paul did at Washburn when he did his signing. I did my autograph session at Music Star, the company that puts out my KISS FOREVER DVD. Eric Singer, Eddie Ojeda, and Rudy Sarzo were there as well, and of course I kept running into so many other players, too many to mention so look at the pix. Lots of rock stars at this event for sure!
 David Fishof was there from the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, and we chatted about the big LA Camp coming up in February. Also ran into Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees who will be a counselor at that camp. (I love the MONKEES!) I watched Heart play at the HILTON lounge as they did a special party for Epiphone. WOW is all I can say. Great band and vocals. Saw Billy Gibbons from ZZ TOP at the Fender party on Friday night. He sounds amazing every time he plays.
 So again I want to thank all of the people I met and hung out with. Special thanks to Jim Dalrymple from MacWorld who interviewed me for an article on how much my Apple computer has become a part of my work and life. I'll let you know when that comes out of course. Thanks to Eric Oppenheimer from Fender for the party hookup, and to Hank Ettel from Gibson for the party invite for Heart.
 Check out the dates for Grand Funk, as dates are added every week. I am off to Japan with ESP (Eric Singer Project) in February, and will be at the Fantasy Camp in LA later that month as well. Reports will be coming. I haven¹t forgotten about my BK3 disc for all of you who are wondering, it is just a case of schedule with work. I assure you the next solo disc means a lot to me and will done this year, and will impress you all.
- January 14, 2008 -
 Hope you all had a great holiday season and are in full swing for 2008. I certainly am!! After enjoying my New Years Eve with friends in Memphis, (some great new ELVIS pix are in this message), I was scheduled the day after my return to start producing a talented young man I met at the UK Fantasy Camp. His name is Yayo and he is only 14, but quite a monster on the guitar. He has great song ideas, and exciting stage presence and is a great natural guitarist.
 He attended the UK Fantasy Camp, and as his counselor, I was very impressed. Everyone at the camp was impressed with him and saw how Yayo and I worked well together so I kept hearing over and over "work with him on his original music". Well I took that advice and along with my co-producer and song-writing partner Jeremy Rubolino (who has been slaving hard on my BK3 studio disc this past year) arranged for Yayo to come to LA to write songs, and then take him in the studio to record like the pros.
 I am very excited for him and what we have accomplished. More news on his music and his career when all the songs are mixed etc. I have some great pix from the 8 days of work we put in, and all my friends knew I was quite busy right at the top of the year. Brent Fitz from UNION played drums, and Yayo handled all the guitars and vocals, and Jeremy and I played bass on the tracks. Jeremy sang backgrounds and we all contributed with the lyrics for his music. We finished 4 songs in that time, and the hard work really will pay off for him.
 Yayo is from Austin Texas and plays quite often in a band called RUBBER MONSTER. They open for major rock acts visiting Austin, and I can't wait for him to do his new music live for his fans. Eric Singer even heard of him from his brother who has seen Yayo live in Texas! Small world. I want to thanks his parents Helen and Jerry. His Mom was with Yayo for the time in Los Angeles, and was always supportive and fun to have around.
 Everyone at Track Records (where KISS recorded Revenge and other discs), were great to us, including Josh our second engineer. A special shout out to Brian Virtue (Audioslave, Jane's Addiction) who engineered and inspired Yayo with great sounds all around. He took the songs to new heights.
This work is another reason why my BK3 disc is taking so long, but as long as I am making music, I am a happy camper!! More about Yayo soon.
Check out the Elvis pictures and me on Beale Street in Memphis!
PS- You can check out some of Yayo's music on his MySpace page!
PPS - You can check out a nice foreign press article about the September 2007 Fantasy Camp (with Bruce, Paul Stanley and Yayo) by clicking here.
- January 3, 2007 -
HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!
Well I hope you all had a great holiday season. December is always hectic for me, as I have my birthday on the 12th, and this year I had the pleasure to go to work in Peru and Chile, quite an exciting adventure for me. With arriving home on the 21st straight into the X-mas craziness, I had no time to relax but was pleased with all the gifts I found for my friends and family, and of course the gifts I received for my birthday and holiday.
So let me start with the amazing journey to South America. I was fortunate to take along my good friend and business associate Abba on my trip to Peru and Chile. We had different travel itineraries to Peru, and my trip started off with losing Abba in Houston due to connection problems so alone I arrived in Peru. I am the first member of the KISS family to go to Peru. The promoter Ruslan Silverman, and his lovely girl Ursula picked me up from a long day of travel. The airport is very modern in Lima, and that impressed me right away.
As we drove into the city I saw many casinos, American style food chains, and an interesting style in their buildings etc. After a good night's rest in the first class hotel, they told me Abba finally arrived that morning. He had no luggage and my CD's were in his baggage, but we finally got them the next day, just in time for the show. We had a day to set up the event, with press and rehearsal with the band that I would do 10 songs with. I asked them to learn some tunes from my two solo discs, and I was pleased with the hard work they did. After many great meals in the city of Lima, and seeing a kind of festive night life (they never stop the music and dancing it seems), I was excited that show day finally arrived.
The stage that had to be built for the club, was late in getting there, as the truck carrying it , broke down (things can get hairy in Peru). I arrived around 6 to do a meet and greet at the venue and was given some cool gifts, drawings and artwork from my fans. I had a great security guard named Gabriel who looked like Andre the Giant. After the signings we were off to have dinner and then the jamming would be begin. We went to a local Chinese place called Hong Fag! Nice place but really bizarre being in Peru eating Chinese food of course.
We arrived at the club and the place was packed with wild KISS fans. I hit the stage, and we tore into some KISS classics from ALIVE III. We sounded tight and I was really pleased with the reaction from the fans singing along etc. I did the songs from my solo discs, and then we had two more songs to finish the show. The singer all of sudden left the stage! He kind of said goodbye to me, and I didn't know what the hell was going on! Turned out he had another gig and didn't tell anyone he had to leave at a certain time. Well I covered first by teasing the crowd with some KISS riffs they all know, and once we realized he wasn't coming back, we had the opening acts singer jump in for "Tears Are Falling" and "Love Gun". Certainly I was shocked at what happened, but there I was in a packed place in Lima, Peru with my fans going crazy. What can I say... strange to me! I thanked the crowd and of course I was very excited to play for the fans that never saw anyone from KISS live in their country.
After being chased by the fans back to my hotel, it was off to pack and get ready for the trip to Santiago, Chile. We said our goodbyes but we knew we had a 12 hour layover in Lima on our way home to the US, so we were ready to see our friends again in a few days. We arrived in Chile a short 3 and half hours plane trip on LAN airlines. After a long line getting into the country we were picked up by Tony from Rock Axis, and off to dinner and the hotel. Santiago is very beautiful and we filled up on some supplies at a Simpsons themed grocery store! Simpsons rule even in South America.
We got some rest and the next day we were off to radio and press. We visited the music store called Audiomusica where I would be doing my meet and greet the day of show. I picked out an ESP guitar to jam with, and again had some great food, and all the fans that met me kept reminding me of the big Monsters of Rock show KISS did in '94 in Santiago. I will never forget that performance and I have a killer bootleg of the event. We really played great that night and what a crowd. Chile is crazy for KISS. Cote is the promoter and he kept telling Abba and I what a huge fan he was of KISS and how that concert meant so much to him!
Off to rehearsal with KISSERBLOOD and I have to say, Santiago is beautiful but the place these guys jam was like East LA! But they really were warm and welcoming to me, and the leader of the band Nacho who is a fine guitarist was very happy to have me play with the band. We went over originally 5 tunes, but I liked them enough to say, let do some more. So the set turned into 8 songs, ending with "God Gave Rock n Roll to You II". After rehearsal I was invited to a fan's house, and we had an amazing meal. Thank you Gustavo for your hospitality. His home and family and friends were great to Abba, Cote, Tony and me. Nice to have a home cooked meal.
The afternoon of the show day, we had our meet and greet which was fun to me and the fans. They all told me about the 94 concert! Some had pix of me at the hotel back then. Now it was time to get ready for the big show, and the band did had some surprises for me that night, as they wanted to play "Take It Off" and have two professional strippers come down and do their thing during the song. WOW is all I will say. This crowd was so wild and it was so hot in that club for many reasons. I was so excited with them singing the tunes, and screaming how they love me and KISS. Check out the YouTube link to see me and the band.
Next morning it was an early flight back to Lima, for our layover. Ruslan picked Abba and myself up and off to a great lunch. I was addicted to INCA KOLA, like a creme coke drink very popular in Peru. And we did some shopping at a huge mall, that was packed because of X-mas coming. We relaxed at the drummer Alphonso's home watching great Beatles bootlegs, with his lovely family and friends from the fan club KISS CARNIVAL, and then it was off in a taxi to the airport for the big trip home. (What a ride that was!)
So both events went over amazing and of course I want to thank everyone in Peru and Chile who looked after us. I really hope to return, as the reaction of the fans was quite fulfilling for me. My birthday dinner with some friends happened a few days before I left. I got some nice gifts, but what was on my mind of course was my big trip to South America which as you can tell was everything I hoped for.
I hope all your holidays went great, and now I am back into the New Year with recording more for BK 3 the new CD I have told you all about. The ESP DVD Live in Australia will be ready by the end of January... so sorry for the delays with this concert footage. You won't be disappointed. ESP will be going to Europe in March and the dates will be announced shortly. Looking forward to that trip!
Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR and visit me on My Space, and of course check out my Tour Dates page or the Grand Funk site to see our dates for 2007.
MESSAGE FROM BRUCE ARCHIVES
|
