Previous to carving out his personal legendary profession as drummer of each Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, a teenage Matt Cameron performed in a KISS cowl band. Sadly, paying musical tribute to his rock heroes led to a cease-and-desist letter from the enduring band itself.
Cameron and the remainder of Pearl Jam had been latest company on The Howard Stern Present, selling their new album, Darkish Matter. Through the go to, the drummer shared his KISS story, which additionally concerned assembly Paul Stanley.
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“I used to be in a neighborhood KISS cowl band after I was 13/14, one thing like that,” started Cameron. “We performed native excessive faculties, keggers, what not. And my dad was mates with the pinnacle of the stagehand union in San Diego, so when KISS was taking part in there … in the course of the ‘Alive’ tour, that was ’75, we received to go see KISS do a soundcheck on the San Diego Sports activities Area.”
He added, “So I introduced the 2 guys I used to be within the KISS band with, Tim and Dave Mahoney … and we introduced our picture album from our silly KISS cowl band … to satisfy Paul Stanley, and we received a photograph with him. We had been like, ‘Hey man, we’re in a KISS cowl band, right here’s our silly little picture album.’”
Cameron continued, “Minimize to love, I dunno, four-to-six months later, we get a cease-and-desist letter from Aucoin Administration. We had been massive KISS followers, and KISS used to place the emblem from Aucoin Administration on their albums. So [before we opened the letter], we had been all excited, ‘Whoa, we’re getting a letter from Aucoin Administration, we’ve made it!’ And it was a cease-and-desist from KISS.”
Whereas KISS notoriously have been recognized to be litigious about their model, Cameron admitted that he and his bandmates made a vital error when beginning their KISS tribute act. “I feel we simply referred to as [our] band KISS,” he recalled, as Eddie Vedder and the opposite members of Pearl Jam cracked up. “We didn’t actually assume forward there. So after that, we had ‘KISS’ and in parentheses: ‘Imitation’.”
KISS wrapped up a farewell tour in December, however Pearl Jam are nonetheless going robust. The band is about to help Darkish Matter with a 2024 world tour that kicks off Could third in Vancouver, and consists of a few units at Vedder’s Ohana Pageant in September. Decide up tickets to Pearl Jam’s upcoming exhibits right here.
Take a look at Matt Cameron telling his KISS story on The Howard Stern Present under, adopted by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s latest look on Consequence‘s Kyle Meredith With… podcast.