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While performing a meet and greet acoustic set in Durant, Okla. last Friday (Jan. 29), KISS played a special version of an old classic. Drummer Eric Singer walked away from his small kit (video above) as Paul Stanley introduced, “Ladies and gentlemen, the next KISS drummer.” A 12-year-old kid named Logan Gladden took the drum stool and exclaimed he wanted to play “Nothin’ to Lose” off the band’s 1974 debut album. Before he started, Singer informed the rest of the band that Gladden will be singing too.
“I’ve been playing drums and listening to classic rock music all my life. My parents put videos of me on YouTube when I was small and Eric saw them and invited me to meet him when I was three and he was with Alice Cooper,” Gladden told Team Rock. He continued, “That day I played his drums during soundcheck and still remember it. Since then, Eric has helped me so much by giving me advice and introducing me to people and by following and supporting me and just being a cool friend.” Speaking about his Friday performance, the drummer commented, “But I never thought I would actually get to play with them.”
The kid counts the band in and displays the immediate qualities of a KISS member, coming across as a true showman. He also demonstrates skills well beyond his years, not only with his emphatic drumming, but utilizing powerful accents as he anchors the band for the first time in what was surely a heart-pounding moment. Confident, he said, “When the song started I just went into performance mode and I have played that song and listened to the unplugged version so much that I just went into auto pilot and pretended like it was my band.” Vocals on the original recording were shared by drummer Peter Criss and Gene Simmons and Gladden pulls double duty effortlessly.
After it was over, he reflected, “I remember thinking a few times that this will probably be the only chance I will ever have to play with Kiss so I tried to relax and just have fun.” Simmons even called him back up after the performance and handed him some money and quipped, “His first paid gig!” Though Gladden said getting the money wasn’t the highlight of the night for him.
“My favorite part was seeing Paul smiling and looking at me and hitting the changes with me,” he began, “and then hearing their voices backing me up on vocals was amazing to think that I was singing with them on stage. I just kept thinking that, even if it was for only a few minutes, I was actually playing with KISS!”
While he might not land a permanent role in KISS, Gladden is keeping busy with his own band, the Robotix, which has already seen relative success. The band made it to the quarterfinal round on the television series, America’s Got Talent.
In recent KISS news, Gene Simmons made a dream come true for another fan last week when he visited the Children’s Hospital of Nevada. The iconic bassist flew in to meet Dilan Kohn, a fan who was “a critically ill 17-year-old” who passed away a few days after the visit. Simmons spent time with him and the family and brought a wealth of signed KISS memorabilia for Kohn.
10 Unforgettable Gene Simmons Moments
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Source: Loudwire.com
