Vinnie Vincent: Heavy Metal Hermit Reappears

Throughout the course of rock music history, there have been few “disappearing acts” as impressive as the one committed by former Kiss guitarist, Vinnie Vincent. After being almost completely out of the public eye for the past 20 years, Vincent appeared this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (January 19-21) at the Atlanta Kiss Expo 2018, where he was interviewed by Eddie Trunk for his show on Sirius Radio (on the 19th), as well as answering questions and meeting fans (on the 19th, 20th, and 21st).

As the initial replacement for original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, Vincent (real name – Vinnie Cusano) is often credited with helping get the band back on track (right after an era which saw the band’s popularity in the US dwindle considerably), on the strength of two classic releases, 1982’s Creatures of the Night and 1983’s Lick It Up. In addition to playing guitar on both albums, he co-wrote songs that have gone on to become classics, tops being “I Love it Loud” and the title track from Lick It Up.

After exiting Kiss in 1984, Vincent eventually launched the Vinnie Vincent Invasion in 1986 – a band that arguably embraced the hair metal/glam metal look and sound more extensively than any band at the time (check out this music video for the visual/sonic proof), while Vincent’s solos were the ultimate example of “shred.” After the VVI imploded (and two of the chaps went on to form pop metallists Slaughter), Vincent reconnected with his former Kiss mates and co-wrote additional songs for their 1992 album, Revenge (including the singles/videos “Unholy” and “I Just Wanna”).


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