The interview lasted over an hour, and Michelle and Bruce covered just about everything you could possibly want to know including: "Carnival of Souls," the latest goings on of Eric Singer, great details about UNION's new album, and Bruce & John's plans for promotional radio appearances and, later, a tour to support the impending February 24, 1998 UNION release!!

Michell Gibson (MG) I want to thank you so much on behalf of the 495 website and, of course, all the online people for taking the time to give us this interview. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about KISS. I just want to focus on UNION, but I would love to have your comment on the release of "Carnival of Souls" and how well you think it is being received.

Bruce -- Well, obviously I'm thrilled that it's been released, that the record company finally came to terms with getting it out there. I'm a little disappointed obviously that there wasn't a bigger package but I do understand. It was what the band looked like at the time, the cover and the photo that was included, and obviously it was hard for them to do a lot more when it's from another era of the band and it's the last chapter. So they wanted to be sure to make that point, hence "The Final Sessions" and in some of the imports it gets very specific about the years of this particular band, which all makes sense caues I think they're trying to make sure the fans don't confuse it with any of the make-up band. Although I think the fans...I think they're smarter than that, but either way at least they're putting like a kind of ....ending the chapter of the previous band. So I think all that's cool.

I'm very happy with the way the radio has supported "Jungle". And I know a lot of it has to do with fans calling in and requesting because they DO listen to the fans. That's been great. And "Jungle"...I know it's turned some heads with people, like those "borderline" KISS fans...they know about KISS but maybe they haven't bought a record in 10 years, you know, and they think "Jungle" is a great track. So I'm very flattered with that. In fact, I think it will be played through the holidays and into the new year. It will still be in pretty strong rotation, which is really, really priceless for KISS from any era cause KISS has never really been embraced much by radio through the years, its been more concerts and would generate sales from its strong following. So, to be on the radio with a record it's not the version of the band, I mean not the version of the band that exists now, and there's no tour to support it, and there's no real media events to hype it, is wonderful. So I'm thrilled. I regret, of course, that they couldn't do more even, but I don't wanna complain about it when I never thought it was even coming out. So I'm pleased about all of it.

MG: I understand. Of course, "I Walk Alone" is AWESOME! I think all your fans just LOVE it.

Well thanks! I know that that one, especially because it didn't make it on a lot of the bootlegs, and the fact that it's between the lyrics being so prophetic for me and just the whole style of it being a little more on the upbeat side, considering most of the record's kinda dark. It kinda stands out and that's pretty cool. I think it's great and it's a fitting end. The "Outro" is not on the CD, which is weird. It's on the advance cassette that people got, cause I got one of those, and I think that was probably just an oversight from the people at the plant that were transfering what they call the part, and didn't realize that 30 seconds later there was gonna be an un-indexed song "teaser", you know, just 30 seconds of a tag, which originally belonged to "Childhood's End" So who knows? Maybe it will show up on a box set (laughs). Even though it's really not an important thing, but it's kind of a fun piece, it's just Eric going crazy on the drums and a lot of feedback guitars.

MG: Do you know why "I Walk Alone" was left off the bootlegs?

No.

MG: I've always wondered why it was left off.

I don't know. But then again, not every bootleg even had 11 songs. So I don't think there's any specific theory. If we could ask someone who was making one, and had whatever source he had, then he could give us an educated answer. Maybe he never got it from the original source. I don't really understand that although, obviously at some point, everyone had everything, even the "outromental". So it doesn't make a lot of sense, but, whatever... I mean, for me, it was just another part of the saga with KISS...my career with KISS (laughs).

MG: I'm glad it finally came out and I know they're playing it on the radio here.

"I Walk Alone??"

MG: No, no. They're playing "Jungle", but (at least) they're playing something from it and I've heard that they might start "Master and Slave"? Is that the next one?

I mean, if there's a second single, instead of "Hate", as originally talked about...one thing I think Mercury did that was very smart, was actually poll some of the KISS fans through the Internet, which shows that is IS becoming an important force for the labels and bands, which I've always felt it can be. And through that kind of direct response of the fans on the Internet, "Master and Slave" seemed to be a bigger favorite.

I mean, even from the first times of me playing my tape for friends and fans I know that they always responded immediately big time to that song. So I'm not surprised those kinds of polls and became that it obvioulsy would be a wiser choice if Mercury's hoping for the same phone-in requests they'd get with "M & S". I think it would sound AWESOME on the radio. The place in Philly actually has been on it already--the radio station that John and I visited. So there's something there, you know.

MG: Well that's great!

And hopefully that will give a little more attention for the record for a bit longer, cause that's the idea about releasing more singles.

MG: OK. Well I know that you have answered this question so many times, and most people have heard or read about it, but just talk a little bit about how you & John met and why you decided to form a band together. It was through Nikki Sixx right?

Right. Basically I knew John from walking into the Motley situation, which was of course, something very, very interesting for me, because me being someone walking into not being an original member and seeing what....how John....how did that feel, you know, and it's an awkward position and a challenge. Being friends with Nikki and knowing the Crue guys, but I really didn't know any of the other Crue guys as well as Nikki. Nikki was my friend and still IS my friend, and as the events of Motley, as everyone knows, turned to, "Ok, we're gonna settle things up with Vince and we're gonna put Vince back in the band". Obviously it just like, all of a sudden, the timing of that was so...so oddly in synch with me. And me knowing that I'm not in KISS anymore.

So it was like, kinda like...I know to say it in a crude way...on paper it looked good, "Oooh a guy from Motley, a guy from KISS". But the most important thing, cause you can't force things like that, it will ultimately show in the music and self-destruct anyway if you're just sticking people together for money...the idea was for us to hang with each other and we were both going through a lot of similar things, career and on a personal level that we really related to, even though John and I are very different people, like Gene and Paul are very different people, but work well together. So...musically that was like really a pleasure because he just was so into a lot of the stuff that I dug and we just kinda like hit it off right away. In fact, the first time we kinda sat down and said, "Can we write?" you know, we came up with an idea, at least, of a sone, and then it ultimately turned into the song "Around Again" that's on the record. So that says a lot! Sometimes it takes, you know, writing 10 things before you're in any kind of groove with another co-writer.

MG: Another thing I want to ask is like, did both of you share like equally in the writing? Did one write more lyrics and one write more music?

Well, the way the majority of the UNION record was written....the majority of it actually is 3 people, just about equally on certain songs. I might have written more of the music on some songs, John might have written a little more of the music, and the other member that was part of the writing team was Curt Coumo, who's name is on "Carnival of Souls". So, lyrically, I had a little less to do than musically, in general, although there isn't a lyric that went down that I didn't kinda like read over or make suggestions and, you know, talk about with the guys. That was something that we all looked at, but John and Curt had a very good handle on that.

You know, I've never really contributed a lot of of lyrics before but I can help out, which is valuable too, in just getting the direction, or coming up with a concept, or a couple of words. So we were basically, you know, splitting songs 3 ways--it's cleaner that way, you know? There's an acoustic ballad (Robin's Song) that John wrote by himself that's just his song, and then there's one other song that had a couple of outside writers, some very good friends of ours, on the song called "Empty Soul". And the record is really John, Curt, and myself.

MG: You and Curt co-produced the album, right?

We listed all 3 of us because we all were creative. Certainly John knows that he's not as much of an engineer producer in the classic sense of coordinating things, but John's vibe was very important, so the 3 of us are listed. And, you know, out of respect to Curt being the non-member, his name will come first.

MG: That's cool. So Brent and Jamie really didn't contribute any writing at all?

They were very helpful in opinions and some arrangements. I would think that by the next record they will be involved. Certainly John and I had more than enough material to look at, and what was cool was running things by particularly Brent, him being involved the longest out of the other two members, him going, "I dig that..that's cool!", you know what I mean? And us getting a vibe, ok, knowing "Alright we're gonna work on this one", you know. But they didn't actually contribute any writing.

MG: Where did you..like how did you choose the two of them and like, can you give a little background on both of them?

Well, Brent I met through Lenita Erickson, who is someone that I went to Eurpoe with and did some local things with. He played with her a long time ago up in Canada and Michigan, where she is from. Brent hails from Winnipeg actually and he came to LA really because he knew that his opportunities would be larger to be in a band that might mean something if he was down here in Los Angeles. And it's a big risk... a lot of people come here with a dream, and Brent...even if, I think no matter what our success is for UNION, I think he's ecstatic to be involved. And I originally didn't start UNION with John knowing that Brent would be the drummer. He was obviously in the back of my mind, and Eric Singer always being...wanting just to be able to do what he wanted to do and not commit to a "band thing", made me obvioulsy open to..."Well am I gonna just give auditions or should I at least check out the people I personally know first?"

And there was Brent. And since the studio where worked on the demo is actually owned by Curt, and for the first time he actually had a real pro drum kit set up, actually by Eric Singer, we needed someone to just...In a sense like almost had a "trick" audition with Brent. It was like, "Hey can you come out and just like bang on the drums and we can get a sound for them in the studio", you know, it was almost like that instead of saying, "Hey do you want to audition for the band?". And it was from him just like banging on the drums that made me think that "I think this guy really, really could fit into UNION". And then getting to know Brent more on a musical level, knowing how he sang, the fact that he plays piano really well, and he can play guitar, I think John and I recognized that as being very valuable overall. So, he's a really musical drummer, he's not your average..."he's just gonna slam drums and that's the only thing he can do", you know? He's very musical on the drums and like I said, he can sing and play other instruments. So right away, I mean, I thought the guy was a great, great person, and he's a HUGE KISS fan. The first concert he ever saw in Winnipeg, actually, was KISS...either "Crazy Nights" or "Asylum" or something like that! So that kinda made it full circle for him of course.

MG: Oh yeah! I didn't know that..

Yeah, yeah. And when he first came to LA and when I got introduced to him, I know he was just very, very thrilled to meet me and have the opportunity to work with me. But, you know, he's very talented and I think the fans are gonna dig him.

MG: Well he sounds great on "Liar", you know, I've heard that.

Yeah, yeah, I brought him in on "Liar" knowing that Eric had his own tracks, so we didn't need to share that track, and he did a good job on that. You know, the drums are really kinda featured on that track, too, which is cool, it's just an instrumental anyway.

MG: Oh yeah it's great...it sounds great!

Yeah, thanks! And James, or Jamie as he prefers, I guess...Brent and I actually went out to a function, a friend of mine in the business had a birthday party for herself at a pretty happening place that happens to be a huge club with many different rooms with different music in each room. There's hip-hop music, disco music, and there's a rock room. And obviously we were hovering more towards the rock room. There were babes everywhere, but the rock room for me was where I was checkin in, and there of course, was a live band. And it's this gig that Jamie does every Saturday night at this place, and they were good players, and they were doing, you know, Bad Company, Pink Floyd, and just like lots of different cool cover stuff, you know. And Brent and I were just like "Wow, check out this bass player, you know, he's great!" And Brent recognized him from another time where he saw him play with some of the guys from David Lee Roth's band and did some sort of "Beatle thing" or something at a NAMM show, you know the big music show that's always where all the merchants go to every year.

So I'm thinkin I'm gonna introduce myself to him and as it turned out I met Jamie a long time ago. I didn't know he was in a band that a good friend of mine was in also years and years ago called "Dear Mr. President". And I got his number and didn't meet any girls, but we met our future bass player, that's the way I look at that evening!

MG: Is he from LA, I mean originally?

Yeah he's Pasadena-born, like Van Halen, and like David Lee Roth, and he actually, for a while, was working with David Lee Roth. The most recent thing he did was this band called "The Outpatients", which was a very good band actually. The main songwriter involved was this guy West Arkeen, who wrote a lot of stuff with Axl Rose and appeared on all the Guns & Roses records. He was always kinda like the auxiliary co-writer of that band. And, unfortunately, you know, he had a drug problem that was there and gone and there was some bizarre...I don't know exactly the story, no one's really sure, but unfortunately he had an overdose and passed away, and that happened, you know, only really about a month before I net Jamie. So he was kinda like in that "transition/limbo" thing. He even shared a house at the time with West, so for him to suddenly, you know, jump into a new band,I think was something really healthy for him, of course. But he's gone through some difficult times too, so we all can relate to that.

MG: So timing was just right with everybody.

Yeah, exactly. And Jamie, again, besides being an amazing bass player, is super, super talented. He's also a very, very good guitarist and he's also a very good singer. He's doing a lot of backgrounds as well as Brent and myself on the record. So we didn't want to "settle". And I also know that "height-wise", he fit, John being a lot shorter than me, but Brent and Jamie being my height--6'2, 6'3, and John being, you know, the "Prince" height! (laughs)whatever that is...no he's not THAT short! We're definitely "Mutt and Jeff"!

MG: Well it's definitely gonna be a GREAT look!!

Good! I think so too. I don't know if the fans know, but John plays really, really good guitar,he's not like "Look at me, look at me" lead guitarist, but he's an excellent rhythm player and he plays...I gave him a lot of like different parts on the songs that he played on and...a really good rhythm player.

MG: Oh that's cool.

So there's always gonna be 2 guitars, and bass and drums, and there's times that if we need to walk over to a keyboard or another kind of instrument, everyone plays other instruments, so it's kinda cool.

MG: That's great...it's gonna be so cool!

Maybe we'll do one gig where everyone's on a different instrument!(laughs)

MG: And then switch! (laughs)

Yeah..switch around!

MG: The other thing I want to ask about is the name...I'm still not exactly sure...the name UNION, it did not come from the contest, right?

Well...not directly, although there was a person that came up with a name called "Unholy Union", and I will give that guy a signed photo, as we promised. I gotta ask my webmaster again for his address. I know he told me about it, I'm not sure if I printed it out...No, I mean, when we looked over the list, and looked over the list, we saw some ideas but nothing hit us and you know, we were kinda picky and I know I did put a little mark next to that but I didn't have the foresight to just like chop it in half and say, "Oh, there it is!" I think I kinda like..I knew I liked it, you know, part of it was KISS, the Unholy, and "Union", I understood what they meant. They meant like putting John and I together, but it also, you know, for me, "Unholy" Union kinda represented like a, kinda like some sort of evil dark version of us getting together.(laughs). So that's probably why I looked at it, but then I just....whatever. And we obviously were busy with so many things regarding the music that it's mind-boggling getting into finding a name.

But we got very, very serious one weekend, we thought we had the weekend off and I hate working on days off. But there's no rest when you're trying to do the best you can with something that's so important. So I forced John and the guys to come by and at least like just pass around some books, just look on the computer, or I put up one of those encyclopedia programs. I was like spitting out names and ideas, pictures, things from one of the encyclopedia discs that I have on my computer. And then I kinda got exhausted from that, I mean I barely got through to like the letter "C" and that took hours. John was actually looking at like spiritual books and these things called thesaurus, you know.**

**NOTE--I had a problem with my tape at this point in the interview, so the rest of this answer will have to be posted at a later time...sorry :(

MG: So the CD's gonna just be self-titled "UNION"?

At this point, I mean, we do get asked to give it a title, but I doubt if we will, at this point. I don't see any of the song titles being..you know, I don't wanna make or give one song more emphasis than another. And I think it's fine self-titled actually.

MG: I do too.

Well, thanks.

MG: I do too. I think that will be great.

Yeah, it's a strong enough name that we can do that. I think actually, what we're working on for the album design besides a lot of cool photos and lyrics, to be included, is like a symbol. We're looking for a symbol that represents UNION, a symbol of us coming together. We have something that's kinda like...that we're really digging, it might really just be the symbol on the cover with UNION on the binding, we're not sure yet, we'll see what it looks like. That's kind of the concept we're going with.

MG: So you're gonna have like a really cool little booklet with the CD? And you will have lyrics?

Yes.

MG: And the release date is still February 24th?

Yes.

MG: Is that gonna be here and in Europe and everywhere?

I believe so. I mean, we're not sure of the name of the label for Europe yet. I'm hoping by the end of 97 we'll have all that information. I'm sure early 98 we'll know what's happening overseas.

MG: I've heard about the song "For You" like a B-side, is it gonna be released here or is it just overseas?

OK. There's a couple of things that could happen, I'm not 100%. Obviously that will be the bonus track. Japanese labels always, they always need a separate song not on American release so they don't run out and buy the import. I'm sure it will be on a Japanese, but it could be a really good opportunity for American fans to buy it. What we might be doing, I'm not 100% sure, we may be doing a very cool thing.... talking about a picture disc...certainly "Old Man Wise" will be on it and we may also have another track on it.

MG: Oh I think that would be awesome!

That would be kinda cool and a nice way to get it out there, and on the other side will be the interview with Gerri Miller from Metal Edge, who really has done so much for the band. So that's kinda the plan. So it actually hasn't been mixed yet, we have to mix it. It's not "I Walk Alone", it's very agressive and a little different from the other material. It's not a song that John and I wrote.

MG: John told me a little something about it, it's totally different. He said it's very, very heavy!

Almost like a White Zombie...

MG: That's what he said! (laughs)

Although the riff is very...to me the riff is almost like a Motley Crue or KISS song, mean riff in it! And I remember at one point playing the riff a long time ago for Gene and thinking that it "sounds like Motley Crue riff!" And we didn't look at it again (laughs) I don't know why that was a bad thing? I thought it was a good thing, you know?

MG: Talkin about playing...do you still use ESP's all the time?

Absolutely!

MG: What about John? Does he play any particular...

John has been pretty fortunate in that in Motley, you know, he got hooked up with Gibson, he got hooked up with Fender...they seemed to have relationships with all the companies. I know that I don't necessarily need UNION to be a poster band for ESP. James already has like a really cool new bass model that they're promoting and James gets to play it a lot, so the new catalog will have a photo of James and myself.

MG: Oh how cool!

So I wanna thank them of course. For John, he's got a couple of really cool Les Pauls that he's very comfortable on, and if anything, I might hook him up with some of the people from Schecter, which is also like...they're not ESP but they're related to ESP, and they make some cool guitars. But I'm not sure what else he'll play , I know he's got a relationship with Fender, like I said,and Gibson and I've always had a good relationship with Gibson too. And in the studio and even live people have seen me with a Les Paul or one of the vintage kind of Jr. guitars. So...also on "Carnival of Souls" there's a picture of me holding..that's actually a BC Rich. That guitar and one of my SG's was kinda how I, you know, like kinda designed my signature model.

So I always, you know, tip my hat to BC Rich and, you know, I'm sure I'll probably have one of those on the road too. But I'm very proud of my signature model and it makes its...it actually made its debut on "Carnival of Souls"..the solos in "Childhood's End" on "Carnival of Souls", that's my signature model, it's the "neck-thru", and the "bolt-on" version, which is available also, which is a little cheaper which makes it a little easier for the people to buy. But I finally got my version just before we started the record, so that's on a couple of tracks too. So on "UNION", the solo on "Old Man Wise" is my signature model, the solos on "Love(I don't need it anymore)", also on "Pain Behind Your Eyes", which were some of the newer tracks recorded, I wound up using the signature model, which was kinda cool. I was really happy that it sounded great. And I have all these guitars to choose from and, you know, as soon as I plugged it in, the engineer was like "This works... let's go with that", you know. So that's really cool. It has a certain sound, I gotta admit it's somewhere between a Gibson SG and, you know, a BC Rich Eagle, and that's kinda like what I morphed together, you know.

MG: Well I noticed it had the look kinda like the SG...

Yeah, yeah the SG shape. The first guitar I owned, and I practically slept with it all the time, was a Gibson SG Special, ok...which was not even with humbuckers[pick-ups]. I just always loved these guitars. I still have one, in fact, I have an SG in cherry of each model...there's an SG Jr., an SG Special, a Standard and I have all 3 of these.

MG: So you collect like the vintage guitars?

Yeah, I have a ...not a big collection, but particularly some of the Gibson models I have quite a few. Because the Fenders are so expensive, although they're wonderful, but ESP makes great copies of the vintage Fenders.

MG: Right! the Strat...

Especially earlier on. ESP has their own shapes now and they've evolved into their own unique models, but in the beginning, they were mostly copying a lot of the Fender designs, which I'm kinda proud I gave them something that's a little more "Gibson-ish". So it's kinda something a little different and I'm sure that there are some people that are hip to the SG's and they dig it, but it's definitely a little more powerful than your average SG, my model for sure.

MG: They're building a HUGE Gibson plant here in Memphis..

Oh really?

MG: It's gonna be like 2 or 3 city blocks and they have all kinds of plans for it.

I know I have to say I stand by the ESP's...they're made really, really well..they're kinda like the "Lexus" of the guitar world is the way I look at them...but no doubt that both Gibson and Fender, especially in the past 5 or 6 years, have gotten much more in tune with what the consumers want, which is really quality guitars. And there was a period of time, and I know Gibson and Fender have to really admit to this, that they just weren't making quality new guitars. But, you know, the plant you're talking about is a direct result of that Gibson has been doing way, way better in the past, you know, half-dozen years or so, you know, and I have one of their Custom models, and Paul and I would visit the custom shops, and, you know, they've come a long way.

MG: I wanna ask you a little bit about the record label, about Mayhem. They are part a of Atlantic, is that true?

Yes.

MG: So, like, if "UNION" sells like a certain number of units or something, then does Atlantic step in, or how does that work?

Right, and in some way, I don't know exactly how it works. But Mayhem is its own independent label that mostly focuses on, from what I can tell, on rock, and they have their even harder rock version, Fierce it's called... Mayhem/Fierce. And when it looks like a band is making a lot of noise...any inde that sells a decent number is considered really respectable, which is why, you know, I'd rather be on a smaller label that's gonna give 100% than a big one that doesn't have the time for us. So if we do the kind of numbers that I feel we're capable of, Atlantic can look at that and say, "Hey, you know, we can really push this over the top". So what happens is Atlantic's promotional department gets involved...it still doesn't actually become necessarily an Atlantic record, but Atlantic's, you know, their machinery, their teamwork jumps in and works with Mayhem on pushing it over the top. Sometimes that means subsequent... you know, the Atlantic name could go on some of the later versions of the record but the product is not gonna change.

MG: So then there's just a lot of potential for different things happening.

Right, exactly. They do have good distribution, Mayhem itself is through ADA, which is a very big distributor and, you know...I understand how and what their relationship with Atlantic is, but if the KISS fans do what they talk about with supporting this record, we'll be in good shape.

MG: Well I think Mayhem is just great and Paula Hogan...she is just amazing!

She works very hard. I mean, in my times with KISS, I know there was a girl named Kim, who worked very hard during the "Revenge" era of the band. And there were other years I didn't see anybody kinda do what Paula or this girl Kim have done. And John and I are thrilled and the band knows that's extremely valuable. We really thank her. And I know it's gonna make a difference.

MG: She's got something she's been talking to me about ...there's like a promo tour that you might be doing, is it January or February?

Probably the third week of January, for a couple of weeks, it looks like John and I will hit the road and just hit radio stations and get a chance to bring our acoustic kind of guitars and play maybe a couple of songs live and perform. And then of course talk about our years with KISS and Motley and talk about the new record, and at that point it would be easy to play the single, which should be "Old Man Wise", and just hang around the studio and have a good time with these people who will probably be aware of us and into supporting and going on the record.

MG: Have any of the cities been picked yet?

She has some of these cities, but I don't wanna misinform you of that.

MG: She'll be listing that probably pretty soon?

Absolutely.

MG: I know there's a mailing list that she has, and is there any kind of fanclub already in the works?

Not a specific one, I mean, obviously I collected names through the KISS Expos. You know, things that I've done and all my fan mail gets put into a database so I can reach out to people who are interested in my career and that would, I hope, mean UNION's career. But there isn't like an official UNION fanclub at this point yet. Obviously, it's something that we are going to consider, it's just...it's been so much to work on getting the music done so we can have this February release.

MG: Right.

And the same thing with a website, there is no like "official" UNION website, but, you know, John and I are so flattered there's already a half-dozen just indepedent ones that popped up.

MG: Oh there's some great ones! 495 is really good and, you know, there's a couple of other ones..KISS Asylum has a really GREAT one. So you feel pretty good about using the Internet as, I guess you'd say a media source?

Oh absolutely. I mean, there's no reason why...I don't see any down side to having the instant kind of, you know, postings that you can get on the Internet, as opposed to when you do press, sometimes it takes 3 months til someone's reading what you talked about. The fact that I can directly communicate with fans and, granted I don't get into long paragraphs, but I can say a "Thanks", or correct a piece of information that they're curious about, and I think that's amazing. Because "snail mail", as we call it, is cumbersome and slow, compared to clicking on an icon and typing in a couple of sentences and sending it off to someone.

MG: That's right!

So, for me, I mean it's just, I think it's amazing. E-mail is so incredibly instant that it's just a joy to be working with, and I'm still just scratching the surface as to like, what I can do on my computer. But I really do think it's valuable. I know that Mayhem wants to stay on top of it and make sure that we're always having things that are available... that we can maybe even just do for prople who are on the net that can respond to a some sort of promotional event.

MG: You're just great about answering e-mail and being so "in touch" with the fans. Everybody really appreciates it.

Well thanks. I know there's times I'm way behind too and I can't help it of course.

MG: Well that's understandable. I think everybody understands what's been going on and what's the most important.

Right..no, no, I think so too. I mean occasionally, even with as diligent as I try to be, I get the little "You couldn't answer me?? What's your problem?? What are you, a stuck-up rock star??" (laughs) and I'm like "Oh boy!"

MG: I'm sure that's rare though.

Yeah,no,it is kinda rare, but there's always a couple of "loose cannons" out there! (laughs) And then there's sweet people like you...

MG: Oh well, thank you! I've just got a few more things I want to ask you, I know our time is about up.

No, we can go over a little bit, don't worry about it.

MG: OK You mentioned "Old Man Wise" is gonna be the first single

Yeah

MG: And you think they will start playing it maybe in the middle of January?

If that's when we do the tour, probably...no, you know, to be honest, it could be actually the first week in February. Usually a month before a release is when you can have your single getting airplay. So really...talking about the end of January, while John and I are out there.

MG: Are you gonna do any kind of like a club tour?

Tour wise that's great question. Here's our goal, to get out there and play. It could mean a regular club tour in cities that we know have strong bases and that people attend rock places, because there's some cities that still..... right now it's easier for the clubs to deal with just doing disco techno music. And then there's the opportunity to possibly go out on a big tour opening for somebody who has an arena tour that sees us as being a valuable opening act. We don't have the answer for that. We will tour, I don't think it could happen earlier than 3 weeks after the release, meaning the very end of March or April for sure. But there is a commitment for us to get out there and we WILL be out there.

MG: Do you plan like on doing Europe and Australia?

I'd like to say I know we're going to Europe and Australia...right now it's too soon. I wanna play everywhere and I know we can make a difference and we know it won't be like traveling like KISS does, but we wanna get out there, absolutely.

MG: Are you gonna do any KISS songs? Motley songs?

Yeah! I mean what's great about what John and I can do is a set list. First of all, I have a couple of my own things. I'd love to play "Liar" and give the vocals a break for a minute right?

MG: And what about 495??

Yeah, or even 495, which is a cool, up-tempo song that a lot of people really respond to. And John's got a couple of songs from the Scream, one in particular that got a lot of radio play that people know, I think it was called "Man in the Moon", or something. So...and then there's songs that Motley fans will never hear of course from John's record with those guys, which I think is a great album. And I know a couple of those riffs I'd really like to dig my teeth into and play! And then, of course, there's KISS era stuff from "Revenge" to obviously "Carnival of Souls", which will never be performed. So, on top of our UNION material, which is plenty, there's all those opportunities. So we could probably play for a couple of hours! (laughs)if we had the opportunity.

MG: Well I'm sure everybody would LOVE that!

Yeah, that's one good thing about the new band...you know, a lot of new bands, you're stuck with like a couple of songs from your new album, and then maybe a couple of covers or something, but here we're really gonna be able to dig into stuff.

MG: There's some great, great material! What about a video? Is there any kind of plan.

It's too soon to talk about a video only because it's very expensive and I'd rather have the money to tour with.

MG: But you would like to do one?

Oh, we'd love to do a video. I think the band's extremely photogenic...I know it is!

MG:YES!

So I'm sure it's gonna translate well on film.

MG: Oh yes!

Unfortunately there's not a lot of outlets that's in America for it. MTV does not support rock videos very well. Certainly in Canada and some of the foreign markets they do. But I have to say it's not high on the priority though I don't wanna say that we don't wanna do one, of course we do. But I know that it's so expensive to launch a new band, and essentially we're still just a new band. There will be priorities as to what and how maney is spent. And I'd rather be on the radio, technically, than have a video.

MG: Alright...I agree. I agree with that. The last thing I wanted to ask, since 495 was actually a Kulick/Singer site, do you have any updates on Eric's current activities or anything?

Well, Eric and I of course are still very close and he was on a pretty long tour with Gilby [Clarke] and in between that was doing some of his own clinics for Pearl, which is great. Pearl is very behind Eric. And then I know he even made a stop-off at one of the KISS Expos in Chicago. So I haven't seen him, he's been really busy. In fact, Brent sometimes takes care of his dogs and stuff, I guess the drummers can help each other out. And I know he's coming back like early next week so we're gonna catch up on everything, and I can play him the record. Beyond some of the sessions that he's done and those things, I'm not sure what's next for Eric, but Eric's really got a lot of opportunities in front of him and I'm gonna help him any way I can too, to realize some of the things that he's thinking about.

MG: So you see each other quite often?

Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

MG: Oh that's great. Is there anything else that you would like to add or say or anything that I forgot to ask?

Just I wanna thank everybody for taking interest of course, and know that there's a way to contact the Mayhem people if you wanna help, if there's anything you wanna do in your city, cause that's the other great thing about the Internet, of course, is people from....it just makes the world a lot smaller, even though we're such great distances away. And they can do something cause the record WILL come out, world-wide, and just if the music really turns you on, let us know and turn other people on to it, and the band is very appreciative of all this attention from the fans.

MG: I know Mayhem has like a toll-free number even, you can call.

In America right?

MG: Yes, 1-888-4-MAYHEM (the number 4) and they are so helpful, and so into the band, and Paula is just great!

Yeah I agree. We're very fortunate that we have the kind of team that every band should have to really get this...give the band a big springboard. After that, it's really up to the fans to really respond and enjoy the music and turn friends onto it.

MG: Well thanks for the great interview!

Hey, no problem!

MG: And we're really looking forward tothe release! We all wanna wish you the BEST of LUCK, and a very Happy Birthday next week!

Hey thanks! That's sweet of you!