For The Metal Voice in New York Kenny Kessel recently interviewed guitarist Richie Scarlet (Frehley’s Comet, Mountain).
His thoughts on the passing of Leslie West from Mountain, Tim Bogert in Vanilla Fudge and New York Dolls’ Sylvain Sylvain
“Leslie was one hell of a guitar player and certainly an influence on me as well as thousands of other guitarists. He had that gorgeous vibrato, just played with two fingers and made every note count and certainly a big loss. One of America’s great great guitar player. I was in Mountain for 8 years and I also played in his solo band with a lot of great memories there. Of course we lost Tim Bogert, I got to know Tim Bogert through the years cause Mountain and Vanilla Fudge would do a lot of shows together, he was one of the great legends of Rock and Roll. As well Syvlain Sylvain has passed, the New York Dolls was the coolest band that came out of New York city. Life goes by fast so enjoy it will it is here.”
When asked about he got Ex-Kiss Peter Criss to play on his new single, ‘The Catman and The Emperor’
“I have know Peter Criss for many years and I played on a record of his quite a few years ago. I played bass on it and it hasn’t been released but it is pending at some point. Long story short I was in Hollywood back in August 2019 and Peter wife Gigi who handles all his affairs invited me to go see him at the Kiss convention. We got to talking and he was telling me about how his record might end up seeing the light of day one of these days, the record I played on. So then I told him I was doing a record and I asked him if he would be interested in playing on a track and he said he would be honoured. I originally had another song for him to play on and time was going by and then finally one day I came into the museum here and picked up the guitar and this song came out of me, the words just came out. This thing just kind of came together and I made a demo of it, sent Peter the demo, then went down to his mansion and Peter and I recorded it together in a room. Then I had John Regan on bass and he locked right in with Peter’s drumming and the song is called ‘The Catman and The Emperor’ and it’s doing really well and I am happy with it. I don’t even know if he has played drums on someone else’s record before. I do know it has been quite a few years since he actually played on any record. I went to see his last show at the Cutting Room in New York city a few years back and he retired. Fortunately I was able to pull him out of retirement “The vinyl will come out sometime in February 2021 and the flip B side is called God, The Devil and Me.”
When asked about a Return of the Comet Live Album (Frehley’s Comet band without Ace)
“I don’t know much about it but I do know we recorded a live show in Sellersville Pennsylvania at the Sellersville Theater a year ago or so. I am a little bit in the dark about this but there is word that it is coming out. I actually haven’t heard it yet but if John Regan thinks it’s good enough to put out that’s good enough for me. We were kind of hitting our stride when this Covid thing happened. We had some cruises lined up, so hopefully I will know more about this record in the near future. “
When asked if there were any hard feelings with Ace and Frehley’s Comet band
“I have been through three lines of duty with Ace Frehley we just had a lot of great times.”
When asked about the live stream show coming up
” ‘The Bowery Electric Presents: Live Premiere Series’, it’s a live stream show January 30 2021 8pm EST , it will be with a New York city band called Ten Ton Mojo
More info + tickets HERE.
Scarlet was in FREHLEY’S COMET from 1984 to 1985 and played in three of the band’s seven different lineups
In 2018, Scarlet, Regan and former FREHLEY’S COMET guitarist/vocalist Tod Howarth joined forces with former ACE FREHLEY drummer Steve Werner in a new band called RETURN OF THE COMET.
Richie Scarlet Known worldwide as “The Emperor Of Rock And Roll”, Scarlet has played guitar and toured with Criss and original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley. He has also performed with Sebastian Bach and Alice Cooper, and played bass with MOUNTAIN.
Peter Criss, played his final show in June 2017 at the Cutting Room in New York City.
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