Greta Van Fleet Star Believes Rock Is An Endangered Species

Ace told VintageRock.com, "Getting involved with Kiss on the road would take precedence over what I'm doing with my band. But the only way I would seriously consider it is if I took back my make-up and costume and my character - which I designed.

"Tommy Thayer is not a bad guitar player, but he basically just mimics everything I wrote, and tries to imitate my persona. He's been doing it for 15 years. But the reality is I'm the original guy. And nobody can really copy the way I play guitar.

He explained elsewhere in the interview that he owns the rights to his make-up and costume but licenses it to KISS. He said, "My attorney told me that I licensed it to them. That's all I can say. They may deny it, but he told me, 'You didn't sell it to them.' But what are the ins and outs of the licensing deal, I'm not 100% sure of. I think I licensed it to them for perpetuity...

"Our Heritage Prize jurors listened to dozens of classic Canadian albums and tried to imagine which ones would have made it onto a short list in the four pre-Polaris eras," said Mary Dickie, the Heritage Prize jury foreperson.

The trek will include the group's headline performance at next summer's Download Festival and other leading events in Europe including Rock AM Ring, Rock IM Park, 'Impact Festival' and more, along with headline dates.

He left the group in December 2016 under medical advice due to the effects of Marfans Syndrome. He recently gave an emotional interview to I Am Second and discussed his forced departure from the group:

"In October of 2016, my doctor said, 'You can't do this any more.' Every time I was singing I was tearing holes in my spine and the pain was because the spinal fluid was coming up.

He told the Impact Metal Channel, "I've had a couple of offers from book companies but I've been so busy with new music projects and recording and touring that I haven't really got down to it.

Sykes and Fish were hired to help write music for Limp Bizkit's yet to surface new album last year with Fred Durst but Oli told BBC Radio 1's 'Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter' that the sessions were not very productive as far as creating new music for the rap-metal band but did result in their new single.

He explained, "Last year, me and Jordan went and worked with Fred Durst on a Limp Bizkit album. It just didn't work out to be honest. He just didn't show up most of the time. Lovely guy, but I don't think he was ready to make an album. I think he was pushed into it a bit, like, his managers and people said 'these are the guys you want to work with.' So we gave him all these ideas and I mean it was just bad from day one to be honest."

It was difficult for me to chose one song from the Best of Live collection. It was between two of my favorites: Fun and Games and It's Been So Long. On one hand I'd love to elaborate on the torchy, flower-petal-pickin'-he loves me, he loves me not Fun and Games but I chose It's Been So Long. An element these two share in common is the way I presented both songs to the band.

In the early days when we were starting out we had only about 20 minutes worth of material. We were not doing covers either. If I'm singing, I like singing "truth" and that comes from me. They'd play them as fast as I could write them.

Often, for fun, I'd surprise them with a new song on stage. I'd set the groove with the drummer, let the guys know the key and use hand signals for the chord changes (1-4-5-bridge, etc.). It was thrilling and inspiring. However, the first time we played It's Been So Long it was an absolute train wreck; so embarrassing, everybody watching, we couldn't wait for it to be over but the jam was definitely hot. What began as a 3 verse, 1 bridge groove became, over time, an 11 minute rollercoaster ride we loved to perform.

On The Best of Live CD it's been edited to a radio friendly 4:52 minute song and it's great but I encourage you to dial into Rick Dufay and the entire band on the Live at the Lake 11:09 version. Listen to how Rick plays and embellishes the melodic theme I forced upon him. He makes it hip and beautiful. Throughout the song he flies by the seat of his pants and the band is right on his heels. That was Blue By Nature's M.O.. We'd start out with a relatively simply structured song and then everybody fanned out but grooved together-each member listening, feeling, using their musical talent to make it flow. When we played it was an improvisational hot mess! I'm pretty sure that's what our audiences saw and enjoyed. I know I did! I'm not sure I'll ever have the luxury of that kind of wild freedom on stage again; spontaneous, inspired, indulgent, a unique feeling I remember very well. There were performances after which I had to stop and catch my breath! Imagine, I had to lean against a wall and catch my breath! Just incredible! I'm thankful as a musician to have had such an experience and I'm glad a taste of it was captured on this CD.