Sly Fox
North Olmsted, Ohio
February 18, 2012
|
*Winter Update*
There is nothing else to say...WE DID IT! With so much support from fans just like you we took our passion for KISS to Las Vegas and brought home the very first title of "World's Best KISS Tribute Band". Of course we feel elated to possess the title that so many just like us tried to covet but we had what it took to bring it home. So thank you to each and every one of you that voted for us. To those of you who have always appreciated what we do as a tribute to KISS this is just as much your title as it is ours. We put everything we had into our 4 song set and because we believe in what we do as much as you do we want to share this with you.
Here's to an amazing 2012 as the "Best in the World"...MR.SPEED!
Rich, Joe, Andrew & Danny
MR.SPEED
|
|
Brand New Interview with Rich at Kissintime.Webs.Com
| | |
01.09.2012 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
Click Here
to read the interview!
|
|
"Exclusive" images from The Arcada
| | |
01.07.2012 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
|
|
MR.SPEED Press Release!
| | |
12.24.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
"You wanted an album, you got an album"! Due to an overwhelming show of support for us to perform an entire KISS album at each one of our shows we've risen to the challenge. The choice has been made and the album is "Rock And Roll Over". We have also changed the name of our 2012 tour to the "Rock And Roll All Over" tour.
Never wanting to settle for anything less than what you the fans expect this classic KISS album will be played from front to back at every show. We'll also make sure to include as many rare and classic tracks from the vast KISS catalog too. "Raising the bar not only for us but for our fans is what drives this band. Being inspired by their enthusiasm keeps the energy within us alive" said Rich. We were thrilled that so many fans asked us about this particular record. "Performing Rock And Roll Over in its entirety is something that has never been done. What I'm looking forward to most is digging deep into cuts like "See You In Your Dreams" and "Baby Driver". I'm stoked to be performing my all-time favorite KISS album" notes Andrew. Over the years we have performed other KISS albums at expos but never made them part of our "live" show. This will be a first for us. Joe continues "Rock And Roll Over is my favorite KISS album and is the album that I consistently go back to when jamming in my basement".
So get ready for another first from America's KISS Tribute. We know you're going to love the new set and we can't wait to set the new standard for our show that you've come to expect from us.
|
|
...More images from The Arcada
| | |
12.22.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
|
|
"Exclusive" image from The Arcada
| | |
12.17.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
|
|
MR.SPEED Thanks YOU!
| | |
12.04.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
On behalf of all of us associated with America's KISS Tribute we wanted to say "THANKS". Each and every one of you that came out to one of our shows this past year played such an important part of helping us to live out our dreams. Without you taking time out of your lives to come and spend it with us we would be nothing.
So on behalf of Joe, Andrew & Danny we would like to thank you for your continued support. To everyone that booked our band, carried some gear, came to the shows and inspired us we only want to say "Thank You". See you all next year...
|
|
MR.SPEED Rocks Central Michigan
|
| |
11.02.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
MR.SPEED recently performed in Manistee, Michigan at the Little River Casino. Along the way they stopped off in Cadillac, Michigan to visit with Jim Neff.
We will have a full report on the weekend coming very soon.
Here is a shot taken on the Cadillac High School football field Friday afternoon that may look somewhat familiar to you from when KISS visited Cadillac.
|
|
MR.SPEED & SEETHER
|
| |
09.22.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
|
Andrew, Joe & Rich met up with fellow MR.SPEED and KISS fan John Humphrey last night at Blossom Music
Center. Seether was in town as part of the Uproar Festival. Seether's set was a power packed 40-minutes and we loved it.
After the show we met up with John and hung out on the bands bus. He played us the track from an upcoming Eric Carr tribute record. The track is titled "Eyes Of Love". John is very proud of his contribution to this new project and we support him too.
Here's a shot of the four of us on their bus just before we said our "good-byes".
Thanks to John and Howard for extending to us such generous accommodations...you both ROCK!
|
|
MR.SPEED Destroys Lock 3 Park in Akron, OH
08.20.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
An estimated 5,000 people witnessed the return of MR.SPEED to Lock 3 Park last night. The band performed an enthusiastic set of classic KISS tracks that left everyone wanting more. Here we are leaving the dressing room just prior to the start of the show.
|
|
Mr. Speed to give Middletown KISS
07.22.2011 | Middletown Journal | By Andy Sedlak, Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN — There may be only two bands in the world that begin applying makeup three hours before show time.
One would be KISS.
The other might be Mr. Speed, a Cleveland-based KISS tribute band that will headline Middletown’s Broad Street Bash on July 27.
Named after a song in KISS’ vast catalog of polished hard rock, Mr. Speed has doled out thousands of dollars in stage props, makeup and equipment over the past 17 years to emulate the band its members feel is one of the most iconic in rock.
"It’s definitely a different beast than most cover bands," said Rich Kosak, who plays the part of KISS’ Paul Stanley in Mr. Speed. "With everything we go through, we try to give you the visual part of it. It’s a hard pill to swallow when (tribute bands) just basically stand there and look like they walked out of Hot Topic."
Mr. Speed’s KISS stage set — complete with the oversize dummy amplifiers, lighted staircase and drum riser — is said to cost $10,000. Whereas some bands will ask a beer sponsor to jump on board and put some money into posters or other promotional items, Mr. Speed’s members cover costs almost entirely out of pocket. And although KISS does not endorse tribute bands, Kosak said Mr. Speed has contacts close to KISS and his band was asked to play an upcoming KISS Kruise of the Caribbean in October. They were dropped when KISS itself decided it would play.
In true KISS fashion, Mr. Speed will arrive in Middletown with smoke machines, theatrics and even some pyrotechnics.
"They’ll do as much as they can get away with — it’s easier to say sorry than ask for permission," Tim Lewis, who had a hand in booking the band in Middletown, said jokingly.
"They sound dead-on."
When asked if the recent heat, combined with KISS’ makeup and costumes will be a problem, Kosak was indifferent.
"We did a show in Indiana eight or nine years ago and it was 103 degrees," he said.
"If you can’t get up there and do what you do just because it’s hot, you shouldn’t be selling yourself as a band to anybody."
The bash will begin at 5:30, with local band 3 Feet Deep opening.
|
|
MR.SPEED Recaptures Classic KISS!
07.24.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
At last, here they are everyone. We're very proud to unleash the latest KISS classics that we've recorded. Over two sessions early this summer we went back to the very beginning with "Deuce". Fast forward to 1978 we then took "Goodbye" off of Paul Stanley's solo album because we can. So turn 'em up and rock with us...
|
|
Joe & Ace collide in Indy
07.06.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
Hi Mr. Speed fans, Joe here reporting back on an exciting weekend. My wife Ann and I, along our daughter Miah traveled 5 hours to attend the "Days of the Dead" horror convention in Indianapolis. This weekend would turn out to be unlike any other. The Days of the Dead was a chance for Fans of horror movies to come face to bloody face with their on screen Heros/Villains. We knew that the one and only Ace Frehley was going to be there for a rare appearance to sign autographs and take pictures.
When we arrived on Saturday we were informed that the line for Ace was four hours long and had been running that long all day. Fortunately for me actors from my all-time favorite horror movies "Phantasm" and "Halloween" were there to kill the time while we waited for Aces line to subside (no pun intended). As we ventured off to scope out the rest of the convention. We ended up running into Keith Leroux from KISSONLINE and Steve Stierwalt from KISS Army Warehouse who were there to sell KISS memorabilia, seeing those guys really tied KISS into the convention for me. Normally when we are in Indianapolis It is because of an event that these two guys put together. We hung out and wrapped KISS for an hour or so and shared some laughs!
We head back to an area where Ace was signing and his line had diminished considerably, I had waiting in line for approx. 10 minutes and it was then our turn with Ace. We walked in and there was Ace exactly how I remembered him from two and a half weeks earlier (we had seen him play in Pittsburgh) wearing his sunglasses and a leather jacket. I had Ace sign my Dynasty solo poster and a photograph from Myrtle Beach in 2007 when he came up and Jammed "Shock Me" with me and the guys. It was a surreal moment that validated why I was so passionate for KISS. When he had seen the picture he had said he remembered that night.
After giving him a current Mr. Speed Shirt Ace, Miah and I set up to take a picture. Ace picked up Miah and held her on the table while I positioned myself on the left side. After a few quick snaps Miah started to cry, I thanked Ace for his time and shook his hand, he then said it was nice to see me again. It was one of those moments that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
I literally could go on and on in greater detail but I feel my words captured the events of the weekend nicely. I will have to agree with Rich and Andrew about what they had to say with their venture to a similar event a few weeks earlier. It was not exactly what I expected. It was more than I expected. I would love to attend another one of these events in the future. I highly recommend them.
|
|
In The Studio/Part #2
06.22.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
Last night Joe and I once again entered AV Works Studios in Strongsville, Ohio. This time Joe was to lay down his solos for both "Deuce" and "Mr.Speed". We met up with Eddie at 7:30 PM and soon after had everything ready to roll. This session was really a last minute thing having only found out about the opportunity to record at 10:00 AM that morning. So we packed up one Marshall 50-watt amplifier, two guitars and a few hot licks.
Joe got started first. He tackled "Mr.Speed" first and nailed the solo in one take. Next would be "Deuce". Overall he really captured the familiar vibe that we all hear from the classic Ace solo. After a short hour or so Joe was finished. Then it was my turn to add a couple of licks that I missed on "Goodbye" the first time around. After all was said and done 3 hours would pass us by and we found ourselves one step closer to finishing the project. I even took a little extra time to record an acoustic version of an early 80's track as something fun to share on the site.
Here's a few photos from last night's session. We can't wait to share the new songs with you. Stay tuned.
|
|
MR.SPEED records more classic KISS!
05.22.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
This morning Danny, Andrew and I hit AV Works in Strongsville, Ohio to record a few more tunes. I got the recording bug a few weeks back and asked the guys if they wanted to join me. Unfortunately, Joe was out of town this weekend visiting family so he will go in and put his stamp on what we laid down very soon. Recording for us is very gratifying. It gives us the chance to really see what we can do musically because it's humbling. Sure there are tricks that you can use to make things sound better but we can't live with ourselves that way. Sure we make mistakes...sometimes quite a few. But once we get into a groove we can feel it. We got off to a slow start with this session but soon found ourselves right where we wanted to be.
The tracks that we chose for this session were "Deuce", "Mr.Speed" and a bonus track from Paul's 1978 solo album called "Goodbye". Initially we start by jamming one song to get the vibe of the session. Our sound engineer whose name is Eddie joins us after each take and lets us know if we reminded him of his childhood growing up listening to KISS. If he walks in from the control room and says that we kicked ass then we know we hit the mark. We started with "Deuce" and used the third of three takes to get this one just right. Then we moved on to "Mr.Speed". I had a little trouble keeping the riff going on the first take but thankfully got it together on the second. By the time we got to "Goodbye" we were feeling pretty good about things and we used the first take of the song that we played. I went back a second time and added an additional rhythm guitar track as well as all of the lead guitar parts too. Once the music was where we wanted it we moved on to recording the vocals.
I took care of all of my parts right off the bat. Each of my lead vocal attempts were the first takes for each song. I laid down a few extra lines here and there to add some punch to certain sections of both "Mr.Speed" and "Goodbye" so that they would sound more full. Danny then came in and did the lead vocal track for "Deuce" as well as his background harmonies on "Goodbye". Once the vocals were completed we stepped back into the control room with Eddie to put everything together. I felt that we continued our story of as faithfully as possible giving our best shot to a few more tracks for you to enjoy. The session was a little longer than we anticipated but in the end we all felt as though we really put together another couple of tracks that can stand along side the ones that we have done in the past.
Here are a few images from todays session. We hope that you enjoy them. As soon as we have the final mixes delivered we will add them to our "Promo" page for you to rock out with.
|
|
MR.SPEED attends the 2011 MotorCity Comicon!
05.15.2011 | MrSpeedOnline.com
Rich and Andrew took part in the 2011 MotorCity Comicon this past weekend in Novi, Michigan. Thousands of fans attended the event. Many were dressed as their favorite movie or comic book hero very similar to what we see at the KISS Expos that we attend. We were amazed at the size of the event and the thousands of fans that were in attendance. It was really something to see. We even heard that there are similar events in other cities that make this one look small...I can't even imagine.
For us the best part of the day was meeting Sam Huntington. Many of you may know him as "Jam" from the KISS movie Detroit Rock City. He couldn't have been nicer to us when it came time for us to meet one another. Of course we introduced ourselves to him first and then told him about our tribute to KISS. Andrew pulled up one of our band photos on his phone to show him that just how serious we are and he was amazed. He was very complimentary to us and took as much time as needed to make sure that we got a few photos to share with each of you. We managed to purchase a movie poster from Detroit Rock City which Sam willingly signed to MR.SPEED. We will proudly hang the poster in our rehearsal room this coming week.
We really enjoyed ourselves more than we thought that we would and we certainly plan on attending other events just like this one in the months ahead.
P.S. For you STAR WARS fans I lived out a dream by meeting Peter Mayhew. Peter is the 7'4" tall actor that played Chewbacca in the legendary STAR WARS trilogy.
|
|
Rivers and Spires Festival in Clarksville, TN
|
|
This text will be replaced by the flash music player.
This text will be replaced by the flash music player.
This text will be replaced by the flash music player.
Low Bandwidth Version
High Bandwidth Version
|
Copyright 2012 MR.SPEED
All rights reserved.
After winning our title of "The World's Best KISS Tribute Band" we were also granted some time to meet with Tommy Thayer one on one. Tommy congratulated us on our win and complimented us on the dynamics of our performance that he felt gave us and edge. We wanted to share some of our excitement with all of you.
