Vinny Dawson (Kisstory, Sweet Leaf, The Ultimate Sin) – An Xperience Interview

By Rob Smittix.

RRX: Vinny, how’s things?

VD: They’re going, just trying to stay busy, you know?

RRX: Well, you are definitely doing that. I mean … you got a bunch of shows coming up, but you also are doing more than just one project nowadays.

VD: Yeah, just added the Ozzy thing. The KISS thing is like … I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s kind of slowing down. The Ozzy thing is picking up more.

RRX: I would think, obviously with the recent passing of Ozzy, it would probably be a very popular show to do. 

VD: And plus, we offer something different. We do Sabbath, all dressed like Sabbath from the ‘70s, and then second set I’ll come out as ‘80s Ozzy, which nobody really does with the blonde. I’ll just throw on the blonde wig and the ‘80s outfits.

RRX: So it’s two different variations of Ozzy. That’s cool. Tell me more about the Ozzy tribute and who’s doing what in the bands.

VD: The Sabbath band Sweet Leaf, we’ve got Mike Hughes playing Tony Iommi, John Caulkins  playing bass, and OJ (Barr), the drummer, plays in both bands. He plays in the ‘80s Ozzy Ultimate Sin too, which I have Ron Toth (guitar), who’s awesome and amazing. I mean …

RRX: He is.

VD: Yeah, when we did our first rehearsal with him, it was like having Jake E. Lee next to me.

RRX: Right? No, Ron’s definitely got the skills.

VD: And playing bass is Dave Bariteau. I went to go see Crazy Train to see how he was doing his show, and I noticed they used a lot of … he didn’t have keyboards, and I’d rather have real keyboards. I noticed they’re using, like, what I think they call click tracks; I’m not positive what they do …

RRX: Almost like a sample.

VD: Yeah, and I didn’t wanna do that. So, I got a keyboard guy (Cy Romleski). 

RRX: Nice, so you’re doing it the right way and the real way.

VD: Yeah, and then we also wanted to do that Lita Ford song, so we’re gonna hire Athena, a local singer, to do that part with me. So that’s in the works too.

RRX: You gotta do the Lita Ford song. “Close My Eyes Forever.” Did I get it right?

VD: Yeah, because when I saw Crazy Train, he had opened up a casket and had a video screen in there. He had a girl singing it with him on the video screen, so it really wasn’t live. 

RRX: Again, you’re doing it the right way. Others are cutting corners. Oh, that’s cool, man. That Lita and Ozzy song was the soundtrack to the summer of 1988, if I remember correctly.

VD: I think you’re right; I think it was 1987, 1988, somewhere around there.

RRX: And then of course you’re still doing the KISSTORY thing. I noticed that you’ve got more of the Ozzy tribute shows coming up than your KISS tribute.

VD: There’s four shows coming up for the rest of the year with KISSTORY. I’ve been keeping it mostly to just the theaters and the festivals, you know? Kiss is almost like a cult following, but Ozzy’s like huge. I mean, it’s such a difference as far as the audience attendance too.

RRX: Sure. I’ve never seen KISS live, which sucks. But for me, KISS is more of a band that I would love to have seen live, and I think as far as tribute acts go, especially like KISSTORY, that’s something that’s gonna live on forever. I don’t think that’ll ever get old, but what I’m trying to say is, I was more into their live performances than the actual music itself, if that makes any sense. As a Kiss fan, “Beth” is probably my favorite song. But then with Ozzy, though, like you said, it’s huge. Everyone from all over, everyone seems to be a fan of Ozzy’s music, no matter your upbringing or your musical upbringing. Everybody’s a fan.

VD: I wanted to bring something different. It’s almost like our own Ozzfest tribute.

RRX: Do you bite the heads off of anything during these shows? 

VD: Obviously, I’m not gonna throw water on anybody, but I got a bucket of water, and I get a bunch of rubber bats. What I’ll do is toss that to the crowd. They seem to like it. And then I take the bigger bat, cut it, and whatever song I do, I’ll bite the head off and then throw it back.

RRX: That’s great crowd participation. So the Ozzy thing, it’s kind of a new thing that you’re doing, right?  

VD: Years ago in the ‘90s, in my first tribute band, we did the Doors. And then I did AC/DC, but I was always trying to get an Ozzy one going. But back then, when you just had the Metroland, it was like slim pickings.

RRX: Right.

VD: I started the KISS thing in ’96, and that’s going on its 30th year. It didn’t start picking up until the Internet came in.

RRX: But you do the whole thing, I mean… You do the fire blowing and all that stuff. You really put on a good performance.

VD: I’ve got all the props. We built the tank riser, we got the snake, and I got all the costumes from every year from ’74 to … we actually go from ’73 to ’83 is what I’m trying to do.  And we added Vinnie Vincent with Ron. When he was jamming the Ozzy songs, one guy in the band goes, oh, you should do Vinnie Vincent, he’s like, I love Vinnie Vincent. So then $1,200 later, I bought him a costume.

RRX: Wow, that’s not cheap at all.

VD: He did a great job. He did his first gig at the Strand, and the second gig he did up in Ticonderoga, the festival they have every year.

RRX: Next door to where we are in Cohoes at the music hall, pretty recently … I forget the wrestler guy’s name, but he has his Kiss tribute, and they played.

VD: Jericho.

RRX: Chris Jericho, yeah. Jericho himself, he’s a name; he’s gonna bring people out on name alone, but personally, if I’m gonna see a Kiss tribute, I want everybody wearing the getup.

VD: Right! We went that route one time. We tried to do the unmasked thing when we did a lot of the ‘80s and ‘90s s**t; it just didn’t sell, because every time you called somebody to try to book it, they’re like, oh, you guys got the makeup and everything? And you gotta tell them no, they don’t want nothing to do with it.

RRX:  Yeah, I agree with that. 

Check out KISSTORY at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs on Saturday, August 15th, and Sweet Leaf & Ultimate Sin on Saturday, August 22nd at Dango Fitzgerald’s in Gansevoort or Saturday, August 29th at Ophelia’s on Broadway in Albany.