Marty Friedman has revealed that he was once turned away from a KISS audition for being “too short” – see what the former Megadeth guitarist had to say below.
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Friedman, best known for serving as Megadeth’s lead guitarist between 1990 and 2000, recently spoke to Sam Ash Music for an interview, where he revealed he once had to opportunity to audition for KISS, but wasn’t able to able to make the cut.
Friedman recalled when asked if there was any KISS song he would’ve liked to play guitar on: “I would’ve wanted to be on any KISS song. I’ll give you a quick story about that – when they were changing guitar players a long time ago, I got a call from KISS’ people.”
“They say like ‘Do you think you’d be interested in auditioning for KISS?’ I’m like ‘Tell me when and were’. They came back and were like ‘We’ve got a couple of questions for you. You don’t have any facial hair, do you?’ No. ‘You got long hair right?’ Right. ‘You’re skinny right?’ Right. ‘And you’re over 6feet tall?’ and I’m like ‘What? I’m 5’7 but I’ll have an operation, I’ll do something.’”
And they were like “‘I’m sorry, it’s not going to work out.’ I was so bummed.” Friedman would go on to say that he gets why he was turned away, seeing how KISS are so meticulous about their image, and having a height difference wouldn’t fit the band’s aesthetic.
In other KISS-related news, Gene Simmons was recently honoured with the keys to Niagara Falls city and North Tonawanda in New York. That’s not all however, as Mayor Restaino revealed that a downtown street in Niagara Falls — running between a section of Main Street between Pine and Cedar avenues — has also been temporarily renamed to Gene Simmons Boulevard as an act of acknowledgement toward Simmons’ significant investments in the Niagara Falls-based beverage business Rock Steady Sodas.
It was recently confirmed that Simmons has recorded a cover of ‘Stormy Weather’ for the upcoming Ronald Reagan biopic, Reagan. Also recording music for the film are Bob Dylan, Clint Black and Tanya Tucker.
Earlier this year in April, the global entertainment and music investment firm Pophouse announced that it had concluded an agreement with KISS to acquire their music catalogue, brand name, trademarks and likeness, which includes their signature face paint designs.
