VIDEO: 'I Was In Hell For 20 Years' - Vinnie Vincent

Former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent took part in another question-and-answer session on Saturday (January 20) at the Atlanta Kiss Expo. You can now watch video footage of the discussion in two parts below (courtesy of Mike Brunn).

Asked what led to his departure from KISS after the "Lick It Up" touring cycle came to an end, Vincent said: "The problem was really simple. I was writing a lot of songs, and I felt us growing so much as a band, and I wanted them to want me. I know they wanted Eric [Carr, drums] — they loved Eric — but I didn't feel that they wanted me. Even after 'Lick It Up', the perception of it was that it was a big album, and I still felt, 'No matter what I do, they're just not gonna want me in this band.' And there was a contract they wanted me to sign. But I was bringing… My take-home pay was 550 dollars a week, so I never made any money being in the band. From the beginning to the end, it was 550 dollars a week; that's what they paid me. That was my take-home after taxes."

According to Vinnie, he was only asking for a bare minimum so that he could support himself and his family. "This was my dream to be in this band," he said. "I didn't want anything as much as I wanted this. Maybe just a little bit so I can buy a house or something. Maybe I could buy a nice car. But that wasn't gonna happen. And there was a contract that they wanted me to sign — it was an employment contract — and there was literally nothing in it for me. I had a family. I had twins that I didn't know I was gonna have, and there was no money to take care of them, and there was no money to buy a home. We were living with relatives, and I was on call 24 hours a day, which was okay — it was all okay. But I couldn't move on; there was no future. There was the future of being Vinnie Vincent of KISS and what that was, but, financially, there was no future in it for me. And I didn't want to be a royalty member, although that would have been nice. But that's not what I asked for. I just asked for something that could take me out of living in an apartment or with my relatives, and maybe a nice car instead of driving around in a car the size of a can of tuna. And while I'm on the road, I've got a family, I've got little children. I wanted to know that they were well taken care of and at least that some of my value, my worth to them would have been special to them and said, 'Look, we can afford to make this work for you,' and they just didn't."

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