During a new appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron remembered how KISS threatened to sue him almost 50 years ago.
When he was 13 or 14, the drummer was in a KISS cover band in his neighborhood. They played at local parties and his dad knew someone who worked at the venue where KISS was performing. So, they got to see their soundcheck. Matt brought his bandmates and their photo album from their band. He continued to tell the rest of the story:
“So anyways, we took this photo album to meet [KISS frontman] Paul Stanley. We got a photo with him. And so, we were sort of, like, ‘Hey man, we’re in a KISS cover band. Here’s our stupid little photo album.’ Cut to, like, I don’t know, four to six months later, we get a cease-and-desist letter from [KISS’s then-management company] Aucoin Management.”
What Did They Think About The Letter?
Cameron recalled their reaction to the letter:
“And we were big KISS fans. So, KISS used to put the logo from Aucoin Management on their albums, so we were all excited [when we got the letter]. ‘Whoa, we’re getting a letter from Aucoin Management. We’ve made it.’ And it was a cease-and-desist from KISS.”
Apparently, KISS’s management had a problem with Cameron’s band using the name ‘KISS’ without permission. So, they changed their name to ‘KISS (imitation)’ to avoid legal trouble.
Pearl Jam Has A New Album
Cameron and his Pearl Jam bandmates were on The Howard Stern Show to talk about their new album, ‘Dark Matter,’ which just came out. It’s their first record in over four years. In one of the songs named ‘Wreckage,’ Eddie Vedder sent a message to Donald Trump. The singer told the Sunday Times after describing Trump as ‘desperate’:
“It is all on the line, and he’s out there playing the victim — ‘at least they’re doing this to me, because if not, they would be doing it to you’ — but you haven’t falsified your tax records. You don’t have classified information in your basement. So the song is saying, let’s not be driven apart by one person, especially not a person without any worthy causes.”
The band will be touring the world to promote their new album. Their tour starts on May 4 in Vancouver and ends on November 21 in Sydney.
You can watch Cameron’s chat below.
