Black Diamond

Some of you old folks might remember a song called “Black Diamond.” And who wrote “Black Diamond”? That is right, KISS did. The original KISS. The KISS with the makeup and blood and fire and hair. Well, on a crisp, Fall, October evening I cruised down to The Sage in Murray. That night a band was in town. This is how the billing read: “Black Diamond, The Ultimate Tribute To: KISS.” Well, that was enough for me. I wanted to experience KISS, circa Love Gun. I wanted to see if these guys were for real, or as real as you could get in 1995. I end up meeting with four guys from Canada who all play live music and rock ‘n’ roll all night, and party everyday. This is how it went.

SLUG: So, how long does it take you to put on the make-up?

BD: Costume, make-up and do the hair, about 90 minutes.

SLUG: How long have you guys been doing this?

BD: For about a year and a half.

SLUG: How did you guys start?

BD: Benny and I knew each other. We first started an original project together, meaning a band with our own original music. We are all huge KISS fans, so we thought, ‘Hey, why don’t we try a KISS tribute band?’ We are doing this full time right now and because of that, we don’t have time to concentrate on our original material right now. Our original music style isn’t hot right now and we don’t want to change our sound to try and suit what’s happening right now with music. I love a lot of the bands that are out right now, but I just don’t write music like that.

BD: How it really started, before all that stuff, I was working on a project with Paul Stanley. When that finished up, basically, the sound of rock ‘n’ roll changed and he asked me what I wanted to do because what I was doing, as far as music goes, it wasn’t valid any more. I told him I didn’t want to sit in a basement and write tunes or sit in my recording studio, listening to local rap bands. You know what I would like to do is start a KISS tribute band. And he said, ‘Go right ahead.’ So we got permission to use the KISS logo on everything and we put it together and it’s been great so far.

SLUG: Now I heard that Paul Stanley actually manages you or is involved with the tribute band in some way. Is he involved?

BD: KISS does endorse us. There are two KISS tribute bands. We are one and Cold Gin, out of L.A., is another. Paul does not manage us, but he did manage me when I was doing original stuff.

SLUG: Where are you all originally from?

BD: Canada, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Lim is from Victoria Island.

SLUG: What’s the average age of the band?

BD: Mid twenties. We’ve all been KISS fans for a long time.

BD: Yeah, when I was younger, I was at this KISS concert and Ace Frehley threw a pick at me. I caught it and thought that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life, rock ‘n’ roll.

SLUG: How has the response been when you guys are out on the road, pretty good?

BD: Amazing. Huge KISS fans everywhere we go. Whether it’s a huge crow or a small crowd, or a big place or a tiny place, it doesn’t matter.

SLUG: Well, it’s gotta be cool for the people that never had a chance to see the original line-up, makeup KISS, to come to your show.

BD: It’s great because we get to take this show around to a lot of young people that never had the chance to see KISS and to them, we are KISS.

BD: One of the biggest compliments we get is people come up to us, after the show, and say, ‘I never saw KISS, with make-up, but after tonight, I have.’ That makes us feel good.

SLUG: So when you play, do you play all older KISS stuff?

BD: Yeah, we don’t play any song that came out after the make-up went off. We play a lot of their older stuff and that is the stuff that really brings the magic together.

SLUG: Do you play “Firehouse”?

BD: Yep. Complete with hair lighting on fire and everything.

SLUG: Do you breath fire for it?

BD: Oh yea.

SLUG (in complete amazement): Far-out. Where did you learn that at?

BD: I researched it a little bit and asked around and uh… after a few drinks at a party one night, ha ha ha… I finally figured out how to do it.

SLUG: That’s pretty cool because, relatively speaking, there is only a handful of people in the world today that really know how to do that.

BD: Every night I get to watch it and I’m still amazed.

BD: I love it.

BD: Some nights it’s scary as shit, I totally dig it, man.

SLUG: So how did you decide on what KISS character to portray?

BD: We all played our respective instruments, like, I’m a bass player, right? Well, I just happen to be a big Gene fan and have been since I was 12.

SLUG: How tall are you?

BD: 6’2.

SLUG: And that is pretty close to what Gene is too, you even have the long face like Gene.

BD: We couldn’t really sit down and say, ‘Who do you want to be?’ I had no problems with identifying with Paul Stanley or how he felt or any of that kind of stuff. When it came time for all of this, I said, that’s who I am

BD: It is really kind of ironic and strange how it all worked out. Each KISS character that we portray is inherently us, too. I could never play Paul Stanley. I don’t have it in me to be …

BD: To dance like that — ha ha ha.

BD: Yea, dance like that. I couldn’t be Ace. I just don’t have it in me to be the kind of character, ya know? It’s just those inherent qualities in all of us that worked out that way.

That night I thought The Sage was going to go up in flames for sure. Gene blew fire after “Firehouse,” and he bled from the mouth during the bass solo, right before “100,000 Years.” Mark, as Peter Criss, played a better drum solo than Peter Criss ever did. Ace was back in the New York groove and Paul danced all night, while talking about women that were Hotter Than Hell and how good “Cold Gin” tastes when he’s down in the dumps. All in all, I think it was a pretty productive night. I couldn’t believe how good these guys looked and how well they played the old KISS songs. It was a great time and everybody in that place was getting into it, include the employees from The Sage. Black Diamond tours often, so if you want to get in touch with them, here is their address — Black Diamond Legion: P.O. Box 599, Oroville, WA 98844-0599. You can also get a hold of them through the internet. Their web address is www.nextlevel.com/black_diamond and, by the way, they do have their own fan club, so what are you waiting for… Join the Black Diamond Legion today!

Read more from the SLUG archives:
A Few Words from Spacehog
Written in Blood: Hard Music for A Hard World