#telstar records

[oldshowbiz]

1962.

One of those songs that was everywhere once upon a time - and now is nowhere.

[gardenwalrus]

The Beatles' interview with Gordon Kaye, backstage at the ABC Cinema, Huddersfield, 29 November 1963

KAYE: What do you think of [fans] coming in and then screaming?

GEORGE: Well, they've paid the money so they can scream, can't they? I mean, if they haven't paid and they were screaming, it'd be a liberty, wouldn't it!

PAUL: Aye, aye.

RINGO: Would that, Georgie.

KAYE: What is your, sort of, favourite types of music? Beethoven, for instance?

GEORGE: No, I like trad jazz, you know, Kenny Ball and all that.

PAUL: [to George] You don't! You told me you didn't!

GEORGE: I do. I've changed. Washington Square, I got it.

[CUT]

PAUL: How'd it go? Great, thanks. Yeah it was fine. I think it was one of the best receptions we've had, terrific.

KAYE: Now then, let's know a little bit about your personal life. What do you like to do in your spare time when you get it?

PAUL: When I get spare time? Go to the pictures or watch telly, or erm... r-read, uh, read... comics, you know.

[Laughter]

KAYE: What sort of films do you like?

PAUL: What sort of films...

JOHN: [From across the room] The man and [Inaudible]

PAUL: Yeah, the man and the green basket [???]

PAUL: No, just ordinary films like 'The Trial,' 'The Servants.'

PAUL:  Just ordinary, you know... like Walt Disney. You know, 'The Trial' by Walt Disney. It's great.

KAYE: What sort of music do you like personally?

PAUL: Just, I like everybody else. Stravinsky, Beethoven, all of that.

PAUL: No, American groups actually, I listen to.

KAYE: Female groups?

PAUL: But mainly American records, generally.

KAYE: Now then George, what do you like to do on your spare time?

GEORGE: Umm... Well I uhh... umm... [to the others] What do I do?

PAUL: What does he do? I'll tell you what George does. He goes to the pictures.

GEORGE: I go to the pictures, yeah.

PAUL: Reads Tolstoy.

GEORGE: I read Telstar.

PAUL: Tolstoy.

GEORGE: And umm...

RINGO: Beethoven's poems.

GEORGE: And play records and play the banjo!

PAUL: Beethoven's poems.

KAYE: What are your ambitions in, George?

GEORGE: Umm, to join the Navy, actually.

GEORGE: I want to join the Navy and be a lieutenant commander on HMS Queen Victoria.

[CUT]

KAYE: You've never been on [the television show] Juke Box Jury before?

RINGO: Oh no. John's been on.

JOHN: [yelling] I've been on! I was on!

KAYE: How long?

JOHN: For twenty minutes!

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Telstar • Hoaaaaa!!!

Maltine Records

[david-watts]

tagged by @elecctromechanika - thank you!!

last song: honestly don't remember what I last listened to. planning to play one of the records I got over the past couple of days later though. idk I have to reorganise my 7" collection anyway so I might just slap something on from that and if so I'll absolutely be playing telstar by the tornadoes on loop

last book: I'm tempted to lie and say something a little more cultured but it's 'the railway enthusiast's encyclopedia' by o. s. nock. it was published in 1968 so it coincides with the end of steam on british railways, and also because I bought it from the most fascinating little bookshop it smells like my dad's place with all of his old books. adds to the experience

last film: it was indeed what's new pussycat starring peter o'toole and I swear to god this film is going to take me forever to finish because. well. I keep getting a bit too excited and have to stop. you can fill in the blanks

last television show: surprising literally everyone it's not dr who! it was great rail restorations, which is a five-part doco hosted by peter snow and henry cole where they follow the restoration of four railway carriages. it's actually quite fascinating and it's on youtube as well if anyone would like

sweet/savoury/spicy?: I can for certain rule out sweet. savoury to me tastes bad as a word so even though I think I should be saying that I don't want to... and I'm not averse to spice either. actually it's kinda funny because my uncle tried to raise my cousins to like spicy things and they both hate spice now whilst neither of my parents tried and I ended up liking spicy things anyway. but yeah I think I'll go with savoury even if the taste of that word honestly makes me want to vomit

relationship status: combination of 'I am literally the worst person to be in a relationship with outside of obvious toxicity and abuse' and 'I keep falling for people I can't have'. also I'm aromantic

last thing I searched: 19th century sofas because I was organising my reference folder because it'd gotten a little disorganised and I realised I don't actually have many references for 19th century sofas. yes it is crucial that I have references of that specifically. what do you want from me

current obsession: lawrence of arabia. my dad is so proud of me, my m*ther hates me for it. best result of a manic episode ever

looking forward to: finally fucking dying like man. this sucks. even if I wasn't becoming convinced I am going to die in a way that terrifies me which is honest to god worse when you're half-aware you're crazy and it's not actually happening. I don't want to be aware of that. even though last time when I wasn't really aware it was truly horrible. like even without that my life is pretty terrible and I'm fairly certain that the universe intended to put me in a completely different context to what I am in

favourite drink: that's not discontinued? that green monster energy. or the lava guava mother energy. or gin with pine-orange juice. one of those

song played 24/7: dream/joey by the pretty things ohhh my god that song is. fairly crucial to my being. you have no idea. I need everyone to listen to it you have to in a way to understand me

current favourite character: I'll admit there's a bit of a list because I can't truly choose one singular favourite of all time however for the past few days I've had jc from the ruling class rotating in my brain. literally so embarrassing to recognise oneself through the other in that guy. like. actually I'm not elaborating on that it's bad enough as it is that I'm admitting as much

fun activity you would like to get into: I NEED to get back into archery like. the issue is I'd probably need to go to the meets and I don't have anyone to take me. because I'm a loser who lost his learner's test forms and can't drive yet. whoops

last video game: idk it was probably tetris. or online sudoku. if you want the last story-focused video game I played it was xenoblade chronicles 2

last comic/graphic novel: the last one I looked at was the dr who omnibus with the tenth dr who and emily winter and matthew finnegan. but I wasn't actually reading that I was checking on a quick detail in it so the last one I actually read was evening's empire. which I appreciate more now that I've actually watched seven's era. also it's artistically quite striking

tagging @bbbrianjones @fancycolours @cogneartive @abrighterwound @anynameisbetterthanmyfirstone and @death-of-a-ladies-man and of course, no pressure if you don't want to

[randomvarious]

1990s German Trance Playlist (YouTube)

Chicago had house, Detroit had techno, and with both of those world-changing dance genres managing to resonate so profoundly throughout much of Europe, you just knew that that continent was gonna then take all that inspiration from those two styles and eventually create something of their own that could stick too. And the big genre that they came up with was trance, which in its earliest days, was heavily nurtured like no other in the city of Frankfurt, Germany.

Now, although he's not strictly known as a trance musician or DJ, it's safe to say that trance music would not exist in its current form if it weren't for the legendary Sven Väth. Sven, a native of Frankfurt, co-founded Harthouse Records in the early 90s with some other folks, and that label would then prove integral to both the rise and spread of trance and hard trance. Sven was someone who had spent many a vacation in the party capital of the world, Ibiza, Spain, and he had also been to the tiny, coastal Indian state of Goa as well, where the beach parties there had DJs spinning all sorts of psychedelic tunes in order to induce their revelers into a state of trance 😵.

And Harthouse's first release was a trance record by Sven himself, along with his trusty sidekick Ralf Hildenbeutel, who seemed to have more of the technological knowhow in order to make Sven's ideas into a reality. Together, under the name of Barbarella, they released "My Name Is Barbarella," a 1992 song that sampled a line of dialogue from the French-directed Jane Fonda sci-fi flick that they had taken their own name from, and also sounded deeply inspired by Ibiza as well. As an undisputed early trance classic, the 9-plus minute version of this one is currently sitting at over 163,000 plays across a bunch of different uploads on YouTube, and it's the song that kicks off this little ten-song playlist here.

And right after "My Name Is Barbarella" then came another Harthouse classic: "Spectrum," by Metal Master, which was a duo that Sven Väth was also a part of, along with one of Harthouse's other co-founders, Matthias Hoffmann. The record that this song comes from, Vol. 1, is the one that started to establish Harthouse's harder edge towards trance, as its first Barbarella release was actually a much softer affair. True to the name that they'd given themselves, Sven and Matthias seem to have incorporated some metal guitar into this one, in the form of long, atmospheric, and distorted chords, which when combined with string synths, really manage to cinch the whole song together, making for quite an astounding piece of dance music 🤩. Currently nearing 112,000 plays with its multiple uploads on YouTube.

But while those two tracks are wholly important in the history of trance music, I also bring them up here because Sven Väth's other halves from both of those duos happen to have trance tunes of their own that are excellent too. Ralf Hildenbeutel had a song that's really hard to believe was made all the way back in 1993—because it sounds so much more modern!—called "Hypnoticharmony (Part II)," which he released as Progressive Attack. As its title suggests, this one is indeed hypnotic, as well as deep, and more than any tune in this playlist that precedes it, also feels like a blueprint for what trance would soon become. And across multiple YouTube uploads, it currently has under 18,000 plays.

And Matthias Hoffmann's contribution is simply one of the most breathtaking pieces of trance that I've ever heard in my life. Back in 1994, he released a song as Brainchild called "Symmetry (C-Mix)," which was put out on another label that he and Sven Väth had also helped co-found called Eye Q Records, which was closely associated with Harthouse itself. Then in '99, "Symmetry C" was re-released on Multiply Records, a subsidiary of UK label Telstar, and on it came a whole bunch of remixes, including a "Breakbeat Remix" that was done by the UK's Lange. And this is a tune that currently brings the whole playlist full circle too, as it serves as the final song while also taking us back to trance's origin point of Frankfurt. Currently sitting at over 341,000 YouTube plays across many different uploads.

Now, we're almost done here, but I'd be remiss if I didn't, at the very least, make mention of a few more tracks on this thing, all of which come courtesy of Hardfloor, a duo from Cologne, who, although they'd become more known for their techno prowess, applied their mastery of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer (the machine that yields electronic music's famed acid squelch) to some trance tracks, including "Trancescript" and "Into the Nature," both of which appear on their acclaimed 1993 debut album, TB Resuscitation. "Trancescript" is currently at under 85,000 plays and "Into the Nature" has over 130,000. And I also included an excellent remix that they did of Chicago native Robert Armani's "Circus Bells" as well, which currently has over 146,000 plays.

This playlist is ordered as chronologically as possible.

Barbarella - "My Name Is Barbarella" Metal Master - "Spectrum" Hardfloor - "Trancescript" Hardfloor - "Into the Nature" Robert Armani - "Circus Bells (Remixed by Hardfloor)" Marco Zaffarano - "For My Love" Progressive Attack - "Hypnoticharmony (Part II)" Paul van Dyk - "Words (PvD's Words for Love Mix)" Pitchrider - "I Know" Brainchild - "Symmetry C (Lange Breakbeat remix)"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music too.

So with this opening shot, we start with ten songs that clock in at a total of 75 minutes; a bunch of classic, historic tunes along with some that have lower play counts too.

And next week will not be nearly as much of a cohesive history lesson, but I'm planning on revisiting these German 90s with a slate of favorite techno bangers 👀.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[vintage-tech]

Yes, if you’re crafty about it, you can broadcast your record player over a Bluetooth speaker.

Turntable connected to stereo.

Stereo’s headphone jack connected to computer microphone jack.

Computer’s Bluetooth paired to external speaker.

Computer sound input set to microphone...

Computer sound output set to Bluetooth speaker...

Put the needle on the record when the drumbeats go like this.

The music goes down and around, and comes out here.

If I were using my USB turntable instead of a component model, it would be “1) turntable plugged into computer, 2) Bluetooth paired, 3) input set to turntable”.

The song is “Popcorn” by Hot Butter (1972), which I just found the album of at a thrift for $8. Yes, an original pressing because the popcorn boxes are glued onto the cover, not printed on...

Credits: “Moog by Stan Free” followed by five producers/writers. The album goes pretty hard into the disco, and more than half the songs are unexpected covers -- “Day By Day” from Godspell, “Tomatoes” by Neil Hefti, “Pipeline” by The Ventures, “Telstar” by The Tornados, “Solfeggio (Song of the Nairobi Trio)“ by Robert Maxwell, and (with Moog in the place of a bagpipe) “Amazing Grace”. The big hit “Popcorn” is a cover of Gershon Kingsley from three years earlier, 1969, and was also originally played on a Moog.

[compactmemory]

The Best of DANCE 94 - Telstar Records 1994 ᶜᵒᵐᵖᵃᶜᵗᵐᵉᵐᵒʳʸ

[spaceintruderdetector]

TRASH N' TANTRUM vol1 (circuit bending compilation)

1 - Conrad Massie - of radio and modulation (00:00) 2 - Nakateem  - khaladooba gero (06:12) 3 - Rodrigo Constanzo - drums (13:25) 4 - Shoï Extrasystole - ben dot hello (15:31) 5 - Juan Matos Capote   - añaso (20:21) 6 - Marc Bascougnano - integrity of light (24:25) 7 - Brian Mcnamara  - twelve  (28:53) 8 - Devgon Ash  - live @ goethe institut, kyoto (32:17) 9 - Psychiceyeclix / Damian Lintell-Smith  - barbecued angels (42:07) 10 - Pi Mark - the first transmition from telstar (44:50) 11 - Jean-Brice Godet -  transition (46:44) 12 - Tostarra / Kevin Siegel  - anyone svar (48:29) 13 - Banappletoy (Andrea Bui / Vanessa Tripi) - live @ MEFF2017 (49:49) 14 - Andreas Monopolis - knot (58:35) 15 - Circo Bazooko (Nacho & Mos) - your shoes (1.03:32) 16 - Toy Death / Nik Nak - ruok6 (1.06:50) 17 - Bob Kickflip - endangered species  (1.09:48) 18 - Antoine Hubineau & Gael Jaton - Jaensch Stroop (1.13:01) 19 - Tasos Tarafel Stamou - circuit chant (1.14:56) 20 - La Loca de Hojalata - tu eres droga yo soy droga (1.19:11) 21 - BBDKK feat Hanareevab - whirl (1.21:32) 22 - Angel Marcloid - window voice (1.24:02) 23- Fabio Cortez - psycho synths circuit bent tape recorder #1 (1.26:14) 24 - Circuit Bending Starship - just like heaven (1.28:11) 25 - Joao Orecchia - live @ espacio fundacion telefonica (1.31:14)

[cazzyvintage]

Joe Meek at his recording studio at 304 Holloway Road

[julio-viernes]

Ernie Graham había dado sus primeros pasos como músico en Belfast en el grupo Tony & The Telstars, y en 1965 formó The People junto a Henry McCullough (futuro Grease Band y Wings) que se acabaron convirtiendo en Eire Apparent, con un recomendable LP, “Sun Rise” (Buddah, 1969), producido por su amigo Jimi Hendrix. 

Tras la disolución de la banda, Graham firmó con los mánagers Down Home, que llevaban los asuntos de Help Yourself y Brinsley Schwarz. Esta asociación, a su vez, le llevó a firmar con Liberty Records como artista en solitario y publicar su LP con respaldo tanto de los Helps como de los Brislis. Como el disco apenas tuvo repercusión comercial, Graham acabó ingresando en Help Yourself con los que grabó su LP debut. En 1973 finalmente montó el grupo de fusión-aor Clancy con los que sacó 2 LPs, y en 1978 publicó un furtivo single en Stiff. Ernie abandonó el edificio en abril de 2001. Más Ernie Graham.

[ruralwarroom]

Rural War Room (Donavan Suitt & Byron Werner) has been playing unknown records, and releasing culture jam albums since 2005. Where the hell ya been? It's ok. We archive everything...

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.23 (before 1970)

811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum's treasury. 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. 1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. 1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. 1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France. 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. 1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor's coasts. 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. 1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union. 1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union Army. 1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India. 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires. 1900 – Pressed by expanding immigration, Canada closes its doors to paupers and criminals. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. 1908 – The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans. 1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28. 1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana 1921 – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is established at the founding National Congress. 1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. 1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay. 1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties. 1940 – The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin. 1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad. 1943 – The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England. 1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland. 1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua. 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite. 1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed. 1962 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 1967 – Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings. 1968 – Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days. 1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel.

[rockmusicassoc]

In The Rock 7/8/2003: The Woggles release ‘Ragged But Right’, an old school screamer of a long player, on Telstar Records. It’s so chock full of classics, radio was afraid to play ‘em all. #TheWoggles #MightyManfred #LSUG #RockHonorRoll

[weaversweek]

"Telstar" - Tornados

1962 Written by Joe Meek

The sound of the space race, the hum of new technology and the world opening up for us. Number 19 in Let's Do It, my personal top fifty singles from 1954-76.

Joe Meek had always been interested in sound, sci-fi, space, and what we'd later term electronica. He had libraries of sound effect discs, and made "cut-in" records with a similar sound to "Flying saucer" - but much more sober and avant-garde. Meek's calling cards were a cavernous echo, masses of reverb and compression, and tapes played just a little bit faster than they were recorded.

The melody to "Telstar" came to him in a dream, literally the night after watching the inaugural broadcasts from the new communications satellite. The rest of the band chipped in: a Wild West beat the band had used on other tracks, speed it up, and have a keychange in the middle.

Mostly, "Telstar" is a non-stop guitar backing, layers of organ and piano, and the wailing melody on top. And takes, lots of takes, all layered one on top of the other. It's the wall of sound before Phil Spector invented it. Joe finished the production with a bundle of special effects, and by speeding up the tape to raise the pitch.

Less than a week after he'd dreamed the melody line, "Telstar" was with the record company; within a month, it was in the shops. The rest is history.

[docnomore]

My thoughts as of late have circled around questioning who lied, who’s telling the truth, and who benefits from (name) the policy. American-centric, I have studied people like Patton and to better understand him, the time in which he lived and those people who influenced him and those with whom he surrounded himself (I call them satellites). Studying one, leads to studying others. From Patton to MacArthur, to Eisenhower, to FDR, to Churchill, to Truman, to Wilson(Woodrow), etc.,etc., etc..

Terry Melcher, son of actress Doris Day, was a record producer. He was dating/living with actress Candice Bergen. He also recorded a number of singles for The Beach Boys. At that same time, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys was working with none other than Charlie Manson.

Melcher and Bergen sold their house to Roman Polanski and his wife actress Sharon Tate. Angry that he’d been cut out of the record deals, Manson was unaware that the house had been sold. He gave the street address to his followers and sent them to kill anyone and everyone at the address. Charlie thought they were killing Melcher and Bergen.

So, why would the police and the “news” media sell the story of a race war? It was a tumultuous time. Detroit had been torched the year prior - over the racial divide caused wholly by Democrat policies of Jim Crow. Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated as had Martin Luther King, Jr..

In the late 1950’s, Eisenhower as President called upon Congress to present him a Civil Rights bill that was supposed to be his legacy legislation. It did well in the Republican held lower house, but stalled in the Democrat Senate (upper house). It wasn’t until after the bill was rewritten and rendered worthless that the Democrats passed the legislation. Who rewrote the bill? Senate Majority Leader LBJ and his underling, JFK. The question everyone should be asking is “Why would LBJ in the course of six years suddenly reverse course of 200+ years of institutional racism?” The answer is esoteric. The answer is Telstar. The communications satellite launched in 1962. LBJ was acutely and painfully aware that how he “handled” the racial divide he and his party had caused was being watched live stream all over the world.

It was LBJ who wantonly took the country to war in Vietnam - a war set in motion by FDR and Truman. The war Dick Nixon as VP wanted to take the country into. The war to which Eisenhower said “No.”.

So the question in my mind stands, why would the politicians, the police - enforcing the laws written by those politicians, and the “news” media say the Tate murders committed by Charlie Manson and his followers were intended to start a race war? Who benefits? The same politicians who insisted that there was a sudden and as of yet unexplained swap of political ideologies.

[hillsofuhhtennessee]

arguments about kiss becoming functionally a tribute band are pretty amusing to me now that I’ve actually seen an old band that’s basically a ship of theseus’d tribute band- The Ventures

Admittedly not a fair comparison to kiss or a lot of other bands that are aging out, since they’ve always been more of a unit than individuals and not showy at all and purely about the music. Like there’s DOZENS of ORIGINAL Ventures albums, they were ridiculously productive and “deep cuts” could be measured like oceanic depths. For the record, their cover of Tiptoe Through the Tulips is one of my favorite Marianas-deep cuts, it’s the single most Spongebob song in existance. The instrumental surf scene is so small now that a solid band is a solid band regardless of what it’s called and those are so criminally rare outside of maybe California that anything is great.

But gotta say if you like the old Ventures albums you’ll be perfectly satisfied, they sound exactly like the originals and even spice up the simpler songs in a lot of nice ways. Apparently they’re even releasing new material and their cover of Fly Me To The Moon is… exactly what you’d imagine that would sound like from the Ventures. Again, with how few surf bands there are, if they did new releases under the Ventures name that were either directly in their early 60s style or even got more experimental like their later albums could get, I’d be delighted!

Kiss is pretty much the opposite in that eh, I’m just not that interested in new releases from them if they’re just going to be same-old, same-old. I always liked them for their questionable attempts at trend-hopping more. I think blatantly kiss-inspired bands are more interesting than tributes, or even just bands that have some traits in common (Here Come the Mummies with their intelligently terrible innuendos and fantastic stage show/masked characters come to mind). I’d probably watch a stage show that was basically like modern kiss concerts with new members, though Paul seems to be VERY hard to get a good dupe of for any tribute band. But if a different/original band had something with a similar appeal I’d honestly be more into that.

just kind of disorganized thinking out loud here I guess. I’m just not someone who’d be that enthralled by an official kiss 2 when there’s newer bands that have taken a lot of their concepts and done more interesting things with them (though I did love the stage show on the EOTR show I saw). That or I’d just be content with regular tribute bands.

also lol if you like instrumental surf rock at all I’d definitely recommend checking out the Ven2res if they come to your area, really can’t overstate that they’re overall a really fun and solid band and not any more expensive than other tribute ones would be. One of the rarer cases where that model works really well imo. If you like Gene’s basslines you’d probably like the Ventures of any era because they tend to have good melodic ones too (the live 30th anniversary version of Telstar is great)