The rock world has countless tales of explosive tours, onstage antics, and backstage drama. One such tale was recently brought to light by none other than Phil Lewis, the former frontman of the British glam rock band Girl. During a recent appearance on the Eddie Trunk Podcast, Lewis opened up about the time his band went on tour with the iconic rock band KISS in 1980, describing it as nothing short of a disaster.
To put this into context, back in 1980, Girl was a promising act in the English rock scene. Their unique blend of glam and hard rock had caught the attention of music mogul Don Arden, who decided to give them a significant platform by placing them on KISS’ tour. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t quite live up to expectations. Rather than a golden opportunity to showcase their talent, the tour quickly turned into a nightmare for Girl.
In his chat with Trunk, Lewis recalled the situation as being unmanageable and frustrating. The band, without a managerial or label presence to support them, was left to fend for themselves. He shared how they felt like ‘orphans’ wandering around Wembley, trying their best to put on a show under challenging circumstances.
Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t the members of KISS that caused the trouble. The issue, according to Lewis, was with the KISS crew, who seemed to go out of their way to make things difficult for the members of Girl. The tour reached its boiling point when they had to perform two shows back-to-back. The pressure, coupled with the lack of support and the relentless attitude of the KISS crew, pushed Lewis to his limit.
The second night, unable to bear the situation any longer, he didn’t show up. Lewis wasn’t just upset about the treatment they received from the KISS crew, but also about the complete absence of their label representatives. He felt a deep sense of frustration and abandonment, which eventually led to him skipping the second performance.
Here is what Lewis said about touring with KISS:
“He [Don Arden] put us on the KISS tour, the English KISS tour. And that went disastrously. They were very nice to us, and we were just trying to put on the show, and we didn’t have anyone from the label. We were playing f*cking Wembley. We had got nobody from Jet, no manager.
We were just a bunch of f*cking orphans running around. Not so much KISS the band, but the crew. They were just going their way to make it. It was difficult as possible. We had two shows in a row back to back, and the second one… I just couldn’t face it. I couldn’t go. I didn’t show up.”
Trunk stepped in and said:
“Because you were just pissed off how you were treated.”
The singer continued:
“Yeah, and the fact that we had no label there. I just couldn’t bear another night that the way the KISS crew treated us.”
Lewis’s account indicates that the glamorous world of rock and roll is not always as it seems. Behind the electrifying performances and roaring crowds, there can often be a hidden world of struggle and frustration, even when you’re sharing the stage with the likes of KISS. For Girl, the 1980 tour was supposed to be a stepping stone to stardom, but it ended up being a trial by fire, testing their resilience in the face of adversity.
