Kiss News

DEAN SNOWDEN�S BEEN WORKING WITH KISS SINCE A LONG TIME AGO. HE HAS MANY DUTIES WITH THE BAND BUT HE LIKES TO CALL HIMSELF �THE KISS AMBASSADOR�. READ THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND YOU�LL FIND OUT WHY...

KISS Army Argentina: Hello, Dean, thank you for your time for this interview. It is an honor for us.

Dean Snowden: First off thanks for having me in a KISS Army interview.

KISS Army Argentina: KISS has had a very busy year, and as usual, your work has been essential. You do lots of things and your duties are extremely important when it comes to spreading what the band does. Having said this, how would you describe a typical day with KISS on tour?

Dean Snowden: My duties with KISS are important, but we all know that anyone can be replaced so everyday we stride to give the fans what they have come to expect from the Hottest Band in the World.This includes Band and Crew. A typical day for me is to wake up on the bus and go right to work usually about 17 hours, this is probably after we have loaded out in last nights city, slept while traveling to the next city, and prepare to entertain the KISS Army again.
DEAN SNOWDEN�S BEEN WORKING WITH KISS SINCE A LONG TIME AGO. HE HAS MANY DUTIES WITH THE BAND BUT HE LIKES TO CALL HIMSELF �THE KISS AMBASSADOR�. READ THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND YOU�LL FIND OUT WHY...

KISS Army Argentina: Hello, Dean, thank you for your time for this interview. It is an honor for us.

Dean Snowden: First off thanks for having me in a KISS Army interview.

KISS Army Argentina: KISS has had a very busy year, and as usual, your work has been essential. You do lots of things and your duties are extremely important when it comes to spreading what the band does. Having said this, how would you describe a typical day with KISS on tour?

Dean Snowden: My duties with KISS are important, but we all know that anyone can be replaced so everyday we stride to give the fans what they have come to expect from the Hottest Band in the World.This includes Band and Crew. A typical day for me is to wake up on the bus and go right to work usually about 17 hours, this is probably after we have loaded out in last nights city, slept while traveling to the next city, and prepare to entertain the KISS Army again.

KISS Army Argentina: You have a kind of �double task�: being an �ambassador� for KISS organizing the Meet & Greets, and being the photographer of the band as well, capturing every important moment of the band for KISS On Line. How do you survive all that?

Dean Snowden: This is a great question, my duties with the band have evolved over the years and I am very proud of the work I do for them. Currently I am the KISS Ambassador, my team works to set up and provide a great experience for the fans who have paid to meet KISS. We are great at this and provide undoubtedly the best meet n greet experience in the world. I think any of the fans who have done the meet n greet would agree, especially with KISS� intimate acoustic show being included on this last tour. With doing photos, video, gathering all the fans, and staying true to the bands expectations, my day is non stop and there are times it seems like 3 days can go by in a blink of an eye.

KISS Army Argentina: How much time do your duties take in a typical day of work for KISS on tour? Do you have free time?

Dean Snowden: There is not much free time for me or most any crew member, this job is not for the faint of heart, most show days are 16-20 hours. Remember KISS puts on a huge show and it takes a lot to put it up and tear it down every day.

KISS Army Argentina: You have also worked with other big artists, such as Pat Benatar, M�tley Crüe and Rage Against the Machine, among others. Which are the differences of working with them and working with KISS?

Dean Snowden: As the KISS Ambassador I must say I enjoy working for Paul and Gene a lot. These guys are very professional and really do care about the fans. Also the diversity of a brand like KISS offers many challenges, as well as great opportunities. This year�s tour allowed me to meet a couple of people whose work I admire, Randy Johnson a great pitcher, and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. Both rock stars in their own way, talented individuals, and KISS fans.

KISS Army Argentina: How and when did you start working with KISS?
Dean Snowden: I started working with KISS in 1998, the first door that ever opened for me was at a studio called Green Jelly; that is where I met Tommy Thayer who was producing The Second Coming, later KISS came to do the Psycho Circus photo shoot with Barry Levine. Then I had a part in helping with KISStory II.

KISS Army Argentina: It has been a long road, and you have surely lived great moments with the band; which one of those moments would you describe as your favorite, as a truly unforgettable event?

Dean Snowden: I am sure if you ask Paul or Gene they would never be able to have just one moment that exceeds all others, for me the same is true, because of KISS I have been around the world 3 times and seen most of it, a few that were favorites of mine were, VH1 Rock Honors, that was an amazing night with so much talent present and performing. American Idol finale was really cool, and this year being allowed to accompany the guys at 34 Montagu sq in London which is where the Beatles, Hendrix and so many created music was incredibly special.

KISS Army Argentina: As we were commenting before, your duties regarding the Meet & Greets are surely exhausting, as you have to pay attention to every single detail. How do you make it in longer tours, such as The Tour together with M�tley Crüe? Because during approximately three months you live with the band and you are away from home and family� There comes a time, we guess, in which you are longing for the tour to be over, so you can go back home�

Dean Snowden: I have been around for 13 or 14 years and don�t see anything that will stop KISS or the KISS Army.

KISS Army Argentina: As official photographer for KISS, you must have surely lived great moments working in the front row of the shows taking pictures of the band, with other great photographers, such as Ross Halfin. Please tell us about your experience in this context.

Dean Snowden: The other two Photographers I have shot next to the most are Ross Halfin and Neil Zlozower they are amazing and always get great shots. They are always professional and really deliver what the band is looking for. Remember just being on the team is great but not everyone can be Diego Maradona.

KISS Army Argentina: What equipment do you currently use with KISS?
Dean Snowden: My camera, video camera and most of what I use is Canon. Great stuff. The camera I use for the Meet N Greets is a Canon 7D.
KISS Army Argentina: When we met you in Buenos Aires, during the most recent visit of the band(November 2012), we had the chance to witness firsthand how complicated your job is, and how efficient you are in doing it. Everything is like a giant jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces come together while the anxiety and expectation increase. How do you combine all that with the craziness of the fans and the needs of the band?

Dean Snowden: A great question, Patience is important. The two goals are make the band happy and provide the fans with the best possible experience. Now that we do our meet n greet in two parts my day is even longer and the responsibility doubled. I like your reference to jigsaw puzzles, I think of it as Tetris, but very similar, everything comes together and builds through the day. After the acoustic set, signing all the personal items for everyone then I focus on the pictures which happens just before the Band hits the stage, every night we send them to the stage with an infusion of energy from their most die hard fans who have just gotten their photo with their Idols.

KISS Army Argentina: What is the best of working with KISS?

Dean Snowden: Just being in the presence of Paul and Gene every night is the best ever. Getting the paycheck is good too.

KISS Army Argentina: How are you as a KISS fan? Which are your favorite things about them?

Dean Snowden: My experience with KISS is more of a professional one rather than as a fan. I love what I do, the fans are great and every night is amazing with fans doing their first or sometimes 10th meet n greets, there is always lots of excitement surrounding my gig.

KISS Army Argentina: How is your relationship with them beyond your job?

Dean Snowden: My relationship with the guys beyond work is good. But this is a job and most of my dealings with them revolve around work, which is ok because they are always working.

KISS Army Argentina: What other activities do you have apart from being the official photographer for KISS and the organizer of their Meet & Greets?

Dean Snowden: As a tour group including the Band Manager, Tour Manager, Production Manager, it takes quite a bit to organize the guys schedules, build the show, entertain the fans and do it all again the next day, I suspect none of us would have it any other way.

KISS Army Argentina: Dean, once again, thanks a lot for your time; it has been a pleasure!

Dean Snowden: Thank you to KISS Army Argentina, its nice to talk with you guys. See you in 2013!

Interview: MARCELO GARCIA and DIEGO FERREYRA (Kiss Army Argentina)
Translation: Mariana �MIA� Abello (Kiss Army Argentina) January 2013

http://www.kissarmyargentina.com/.

Interview: KISS Guitarist Tommy Thayer Discusses His Signature Epiphone "Spaceman" Les Paul

by John Katic

It's hard to imagine that 10 years have gone by since Tommy Thayer officially took over as the �Spaceman� in Kiss.

It seemed only fitting that the Spaceman should don the Les Paul. However, as fate would have it, Thayer has been a longtime Les Paul player, even back in his days in Black and Blue.

Thayer's 10th year in Kiss � and the band's 40th year in business � is commemorated by Epiphone's release of its Tommy Thayer Signature Edition "Spaceman" Les Paul. Featuring an eye-catching silver-sparkle top and top-of-the-line components, and made as a limited edition of 1,000 guitars, this model is sure to become a must-have for Kiss fans around the globe.

We recently caught up with Thayer to discuss the new model in detail.



Interview: Kiss Guitarist Tommy Thayer Discusses His Signature Epiphone "Spaceman" Les Paul

by John Katic

It's hard to imagine that 10 years have gone by since Tommy Thayer officially took over as the �Spaceman� in Kiss.

It seemed only fitting that the Spaceman should don the Les Paul. However, as fate would have it, Thayer has been a longtime Les Paul player, even back in his days in Black and Blue.

Thayer's 10th year in Kiss � and the band's 40th year in business � is commemorated by Epiphone's release of its Tommy Thayer Signature Edition "Spaceman" Les Paul. Featuring an eye-catching silver-sparkle top and top-of-the-line components, and made as a limited edition of 1,000 guitars, this model is sure to become a must-have for Kiss fans around the globe.

We recently caught up with Thayer to discuss the new model in detail.

GUITAR WORLD: You've announced there will be a limited-edition Tommy Thayer �Spaceman� Les Paul from Epiphone. Will it be present at the 2013 Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, later this month?

Yes, it'll be at the NAMM Show. And I believe it's already available through American Music Supply.

Can you talk about exactly what you did with the guitar and what makes it �Tommy Thayer� specific?

It's essentially an exact version of one of the Gibson Custom Shop Standards I've played on stage for several years. It is a silver-sparkle top, and the sides, back and neck are black. It has a cream binding. For an affordable guitar, it is a nice package. It�s using really good parts. We are using Gibson 498 pickups, which are the ones I use. The tuners are Grover Deluxe tuners. It's really well put together with good components and parts.

I've actually taken to playing the guitar on stage for the last bit of the South American tour for six or eight shows. I played it every night for part of the set. The guitar was great. I have one that I�m playing on stage, and you really can�t notice the difference between the Gibson and the Epiphone. The sound, the playability and the feel really pleased me. Comparing it to my Gibson Custom Shop guitar, it's right there. That made me really happy. The techs were saying they couldn�t tell the difference between the guitars. It's surprising in a good way.

The reason I decided to do the guitar this way was that the silver-sparkle top gave it a bit of a �Kiss� feel. But I didn�t want to introduce a guitar that was too stylized. I wanted a guitar that had some flash to it, but at the same time I wanted to offer a guitar that any pro musicians or guitar player that walks into the guitar shop will think looks cool. It�s not something that is so stylized that it will scare people away. I didn�t want it to have too much of a Kiss look to it.

Some guitarists� signature-edition guitars are so specifically tailored that, as a consumer, you might hesitate. You might get up on stage and have to worry that people think you're a clone of someone. That has to be a double-edged sword with Kiss fans because some fans might want to get the guitar just because of Kiss.

That's true too, and that's why on the back of the headstock there is the Tommy Thayer Spaceman logo. But it's discreet; it isn�t too over the top. It has a look that doesn�t automatically make it look like Tommy Thayer or Kiss. Then again, for collectors, it's great because it's the guitar I play, and people can take pride in that.

As far as the paint, is it fairly similar to the Gibson Explorer you've played for years now?

I have a couple of Explorers that have the silver sparkle on them as well. We decided, though, that the flake of the sparkle would be less than the flake on my Gibsons. I didn�t want to make the size of the flake too pronounced. I worked a lot with Jim Rosenberg (president of Epiphone) and we went back and forth to find that perfect medium-sized flake. I didn�t want it to be too heavy. That could be the difference between someone loving or hating it.

That�s mahogany underneath?

Yes, that's mahogany and a rosewood fretboard like a standard Les Paul. It has trapezoid inlays. We have a nice package that it comes with too. We have an all silver hard-shell case. You don�t� see that too often. That�s very Kiss! It comes with a studded guitar strap that is exactly like what I use on stage. It is a cool little memento. It also comes with a certificate-of-authenticity booklet with a signature and all that good stuff. It is a great value at the prize point.

Actually, I didn�t even talk to Gibson about doing a guitar and called Epiphone because I felt that doing a guitar like this that is high quality but still affordable was more appealing to me. Especially for people who don�t have $5,000 or $6,000 to buy a guitar. You get this great package, and it is really affordable and that was an important thing to me.

I think every guitar player remembers back to when they were young selling newspapers or whatever it was to get their first guitar.

My very first electric was a Fender Mustang and it was $135. My mom helped me buy it. This was back when I lived in Portland. We went across the river to Vancouver Music. For some reason, they had a great selection of guitars over there. This was back in 1973 or 1974. I was so overwhelmed. I couldn�t believe I actually had a professional guitar. Back in those days, it was either a Gibson or a Fender. I hadn�t established yet that I was more of Gibson player.

I think everyone remembers looking down at that headstock and seeing the brand of one of their guitar heroes.

Yeah, it was like a dream. It was a great blue Fender Mustang with the light blue racing stripes.

Epiphone's Limited Edition Tommy Thayer �Spaceman� Les Paul Standard Outfit is available for order now at tommythayerguitar.com with several autographed and stage-used options. The guitar also is available at American Music Supply for the $699 street price. The guitar includes the case, custom strap and certificate of authenticity.

For more about the guitar, head to epiphone.com.