The early-1990’s hair metal band Slaughter was sort-of a cousin to Big 7 band KISS. It was out of the ashes of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion (Vinnie Vincent being the last KISS member to introduce a new style of make-up before the band ‘unmasked’) that Slaughter was formed. Mark Slaughter was the lead vocalist for both. Interestingly, he didn’t appear on the first VVI album, although they had selected him from his audition tape. He had forgotten to include his contact info and they couldn’t track him down before their debut album was recorded. And in the final twist of irony, the only time that I actually saw Slaughter perform, they were opening up for KISS in June of 1990.
Although the music industry was beginning to outgrow the hair metal days not long after they entered the scene, they did enjoy several Top 100 hits from their 1990 album Stick It To Ya. Among them Up All Night, Fly to the Angels, and Spend My Life. They went on to release a few additional albums throughout the 90’s but never regained their popularity – although they continue to perform on various metal ‘old-timers’ tours.
At a local record show during the early 1990’s, I was lucky enough to find and pick up a great signed photo below of the entire Vinnie Vincent Invasion band for the ridiculously low cost of $7.00. I brought this along to show Mark Slaughter when he appeared at the Chiller Theatre Show in Parsippany, New Jersey, on April 18, 2009.
For just a little over twice that amount – $15 to be exact – Mark Slaughter also signed my CD cover from the Vinnie Vincent Invasion album All Systems Go. He was very nice and willingly posed for a couple of photos and gave me a free Mark Slaughter guitar pick. It was very cool to meet up with this heavy metal icon.
Celebs of the 2009 Chiller Theatre Show will continue…
I saw them too, during the “Hot In The Shade” tour with KISS and Faster Pussycat. I remember that they all put on a good show. It was a rare event to see three bands in one evening whose albums were in my collection.
Dave Chasteen
October 30th, 2009