"Jack will meet Thirteen," says Barrowman over Zoom from his home in Palm Springs. "I can’t tell you how, but he will. He will also be on the TARDIS, Thirteen’s TARDIS. Can’t tell you how he gets there, but he will be there. It’s going to be epic. It’s like going back and paying homage to the Jack and the Doctor stuff of the past, but bringing it in to the present. It’s just an epic episode. In nutshell, it’s f---ing epic."

Below, Barrowman talks more about the holiday special, the future of Captain Jack, and the hair care regime of Chris Noth.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What kind of reaction have you gotten since your return was announced?

JOHN BARROWMAN: I’ve had an unbelievable reaction. People have contacted me and said, "My feed is clogged with 'Jack is back.'" But there’s also controversy. There’s a group of people who didn’t want to be told, some of the Whovians, they're upset about it. I get that. But’s it's something to look forward to. Putting the spoiler aside, I want the show to do well. I want the reaction to be good, because there's a possibility that they could bring him back. So, if there's more people watching it at the time, or there's more people talking about it, then we‘re going to get more of it, so that’s my logic behind it. So, I apologize for the spoiler, but I kind of don’t.

What else can you say abut the holiday special?

There's these sequences that I love which I call "the fear sequences" where Jack is on the hunt for something, and then you get these get these kind of close-ups of him knowing that something bad is going on, and it projects to the audience that this is where we ought to be scared right now. There’s a wonderful conversation between Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Jack. It’s something that Jack has explained to other companions that he's been with, and even people in Torchwood, about why we’re here, why we’re doing it, and what you should expect. What I love about it is not only is the episode mimicking what is happening now — the Doctor is separated from the family as we are all separated from our families — but it’s also helping with Yaz’s mental healthy. So, the episode touches on current issues but in a way that’s very entertaining.

I always imagine Captain Jack could have a sexual frisson with an armchair…

Well, who says he hasn’t? He loves a sofa! [Laughs]

Will we be seeing any of that between the Captain and the Doctor?

It would be out of line if I were to discuss Jack’s exploits with anybody without his permission. Let’s just say, Jack is Jack and Chris Chibnall (Doctor Who showrunner) knows Jack really well. So, yes, there will be some flirtation. The two heats of the Doctor will be beating, I hope.

Chris Noth is also on the episode. Did you and he discuss haircare at all?

He and I had a blast. Everybody thinks of Chris as Mr Big. He is f---ing nuts and I love him. We are both off the wall. When he would be doing a take, he would just off on a tangent and I would be like, I like this man. This is something I can deal with. But the haircare — let’s just say there was a lot of product. I have my particular product I like to use and he has his particular product. And the makeup trailer was always a barrel of laughs.

I’m just jealous.

Darling, don’t worry. A little olive oil, rub it in, you’ll be fine. And then you can squeeze it and cook with it later!

Will be seeing more of Captain Jack after this episode?

I can’t answer that, because I don’t know. However, I've always said, I love the show so much, I love the character so much, that if they ever ask me, at a drop of a hat, I will be back. I’ll make it work, I’ll figure out a way. It will always happen.

What was it like being back on the TARDIS?

I've been in a few incarnations of the TARDIS myself, with Nine, Ten, now Thirteen. Although it’s different, it still stands for the same thing. It still means the same thing for me as the young boy who grew up watching the show and seeing Pertwee’s TARDIS and seeing Baker’s TARDIS and continuing on down the line. To know, even as a young boy siting on my sofa, that I would be welcomed, accepted. When I walked back into that TARDIS, it was the same thing. I felt like I was coming home again. You get goosebumps. It means so much to me and I know it means so much to the audience. Being someone from the LGBTQ+ community, I know  — and I mean this in a positive way — the Doctor accepts people who feel they are different, misfits, whatever. However you define yourself, the Doctor accepts you and doesn’t care. And, as a real person, that’s how I feel when I’m in the TARDIS.

The Doctor Who holiday episode airs on BBC America Jan. 1. Watch the show's trailer below.

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Clark Collis

This article contains spoilers about upcoming episodes of Doctor Who.

Almost as soon as Jodie Whittaker started playing the titular Time Lord in Doctor Who the character began to gather around her a "fam" of friends comprising Bradley Walsh's Graham, Tosin Cole's Ryan, and Mandip Gill's Yaz. But, it seems, the family will soon be no more, at least in its current iteration.

Whitaker has confirmed rumors that Walsh and Cole will leave the sci-fi show after this year's special holiday episode, "Revolution of the Daleks." The actress made the announcement in the course of a remote conversation with Gill and showrunner Chris Chibnall.

"As the Doctor, I will say that the fam as a four is no more," said Whittaker. "On a personal note, [I feel] absolutely devastated. Without getting into a specifics about anything to do with character or what happens or anything, just purely knowing it was last scenes, for myself with those actors, both of them had to carry me to my trailer. I’ve not cried like that for such a long time. I mean, Brad couldn’t cope with it at all…There was not a sense of relief in any way."

"I'm not really that sort of emotional person," said Gill, "but even I was a bit like, This is really sad! I’ll never see you again, you’re so busy Brad, always filming!"

“Revolution of the Daleks” will air on BBC America this New Year's Day. Watch the show's trailer below.

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This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Clark Collis

BBC America has announced that this year's special holiday episode of Doctor Who, "Revolution of the Daleks," will air at 8 p.m. ET on New Year's Day. The network has also released a trailer for the show which features Chris Noth, John Barrowman, flying Daleks, and Jodie Whittaker's titular Time Lord beyond bars.

Viewers last saw the Thirteenth Doctor at the end of season 12, where her fate was left hanging in the balance as she was locked away in a high-security alien prison with no hope of escape. In the upcoming New Year’s Day special, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham are far away on Earth and having to carry on with their lives without her. However, they soon discover a disturbing plan forming. A plan which involves a Dalek. How can you fight a Dalek without the Doctor?

In addition to the regular cast, the show also features Dame Harriet Walter and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.

“We’ve crammed this year's Doctor Who special with an explosion of extraordinary acting talent," said showrunner Chris Chibnall in a statement. "Where else would you get British acting royalty, a globally renowned US screen star, an (inter)national treasure of stage and screen and one of Britain's hottest young actors — just in the guest cast! Put those together with Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, and Tosin Cole (and Daleks! Did I mention Daleks!) — and you get a cast to be exterminated for. And things will explode. Promise.”

Watch the trailer for the Doctor Who holiday special above and see just-released images from the episode below.

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• Doctor Who starts shooting new season
• Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker reveals inspiration behind character’s costume

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Clark Collis

Mark Hamill has paid tribute to his fellow Star Wars cast member Dave Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original trilogy. It was announced over the weekend that Prowse has died at the age of 85 following a short illness.

"So sad to hear David Prowse has passed," Hamill wrote on Twitter. "He was a kind man & much more than Darth Vader. Actor-Husband-Father-Member of the Order of the British Empire-3 time British Weightlifting Champion & Safety Icon the Green Cross Code Man. He loved his fans as much as they loved him."

Torchwood and Legends of Tomorrow actor John Barrowman is another actor to have paid his respects to Prowse, who also worked as a personal trainer.

"Dave Prowse has passed away," Barrowman wrote on Twitter. "We knew him best as Darth Vader.  Dave got me into shape/trained me for my Role in Matador. He was a genuine, kind, loving man, loved life, family, fitness and his fans...His smile will be missed."

Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright, who grew up near Prowse's hometown of Bristol, has also paid tribute to the late star on Twitter.

"As a kid Dave Prowse couldn’t be more famous to me; stalking along corridors as evil incarnate in the part of Darth Vader & stopping a whole generation of kiddies from being mown down in street as the Green Cross Code man," wrote the filmmaker. "Rest in Peace, Bristol’s finest."

Related content: 

• Stars we lost in 2020

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Clark Collis

Fans of Doctor Who will see a new look for those mechanical monstrosities the Daleks in the upcoming holiday special.

The redesign is featured on the front of the new Radio Times magazine and has prompted disagreement among Whovians since the image leaked on Thursday. "I...absolutely adore this new design," one fan wrote on Twitter. "It just looks so sleek. Can't wait to see it in action in all its glory!" Another Whovian was less complimentary, writing, "Front, side, back, it doesn’t matter what angle I look at it from — I f---ing hate it and would literally take any other Dalek design over it."

On Monday, a new teaser revealed that John Barrowman's adventurer Captain Jack Harkness is back for the episode, which stars Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor.

“Putting on Jack’s coat and setting foot back on the set of Doctor Who was just like going back home," Barrowman said in a statement. "It’s always thrilling to play Captain Jack. He’s a character very close to my heart who changed my life, and to know the fans love him as much as I do makes his return even sweeter. I hope everyone enjoys Jack’s heroic adventure with Thirteen.”

In the holiday special, titled "Revolution of the Daleks," the Doctor is locked away in a high-security alien prison. Isolated, alone, and with no hope of escape. Far away, on Earth, her best friends, Yaz, Ryan and Graham have to pick up their lives without her. But it’s not easy, considering old habits die hard. Especially when they discover a disturbing plan forming — a plan which involves a Dalek.

“Revolution of the Daleks” will air this holiday season on BBC America.

Watch the teaser for the show above and see the new Dalek design below.

Author:Clark Collis - Source: EW

Nicolodi appeared in many of the horror movies directed by her offscreen partner Dario Argento including 1975's Deep Red, 1982's Tenebrae, 1985's Phenomena, and 1987's Opera. She also co-wrote the 1977 original Argento-directed Suspiria. Nicolodi's other onscreen credits included filmmaker Mario Bava's 1977 film Shock and 2000's Scarlet Diva, which was directed by Asia Argento.

"Rest in peace beloved mother," Asia wrote on Instagram. "Now you can fly free with your great spirit and you won't have to suffer anymore. I will try to go on for your beloved grandchildren and especially for you who would never want to see me so grieved. Even if without you I miss the ground under my feet, and I feel I have lost my only true point of reference. I am close to all those who have known and loved her. I will always be your Aria, Daria."

Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright, Doctor Strange filmmaker Scott Derrickson, and actress Barbara Crampton have all paid tribute to the late star on Twitter.

"RIP to the wonderful Daria Nicolodi, co writer of Suspiria and truly magnetic star of Shock, Tenebrae, Phenomena, Opera and, my very favourite, Deep Red (Profondo Rosso)," wrote Wright.

"Truly saddened to hear about the passing of Daria Nicolodi, writer of Suspiria, star of Deep Red and other Argento films," wrote Derrickson. "She was deeply loved."

"Rip Daria Nicolodi," Crampton wrote on Twitter. "Fabulous writer and performer. You gave us so many gifts. This hurts my heart."

Author:Clark Collis - Source: EW

Sports icon Diego Maradona has died at the age of 60, according to the BBC.

One of the most talented and famous soccer players of all-time, Maradona passed away after suffering a heart attack at his home in Buenos Aires. Maradona was the subject of a 2019 documentary, Diego Maradona, directed by Senna filmmaker Asif Kapadia.

Maradona represented Argentina at four World Cups, captaining the team to victory at the 1986 event in Mexico. In all, the attacking midfielder scored 34 goals in 91 appearances for his country. Maradona also won two Serie A titles in Italy with Napoli.

The soccer player was a controversial figure. At the 1986 World Cup, Maradona appeared to score a goal against England after illegally using his arm and later claimed he had been helped by the "Hand of god." The Argentinian was also sent home early from the 1994 World Cup as a result of testing positive for the drug ephedrine.

Former England soccer captain Gary Lineker is among those who have paid tribute to Maradona.

"Reports from Argentina that Diego Armando Maradona has died," Lineker wrote on Twitter. "By some distance the best player of my generation and arguably the greatest of all time. After a blessed but troubled life, hopefully he’ll finally find some comfort in the hands of God. #RIPDiego"

Related content: 

• Stars we lost in 2020

Author:Clark Collis - Source: EW

Alex Winter does not claim to be a fanatic when it comes to the music of Frank Zappa. So why did the Bill & Ted franchise star-turned-director decide to detail the life and career of the music icon in his new film Zappa (out Nov. 27), his follow-up to this year's Showbiz Kids?

"I thought he was a uniquely compelling individual and his life story was so fascinating," says Winter. "I’m interested in people who are at odds both with themselves and with the times around them but who are also engaged with the times, people whose demons or inner conflicts are also represented in the ways they engage with the world."

Winter approached the musician's widow Gail Zappa through Frank and Gail's musician-actor son Ahmet.

"I came to know Ahmet quite well over the years," says Winter. "I asked him if he could set up a meeting with me and Gail. He said he could, but that I should really not expect success, that a lot of people had asked her for permission to do this and she’d told pretty much everyone 'No.' You pitch a lot of docs and I'm used to being told no, so I don’t really care. I thought, at the very least, it’ll be 20 minutes of my life and she’s a very interesting person I've always wanted to meet. He set up a meeting and Gail really liked the take. I’m not a Zappa aficionado and I think that’s what she was looking for — someone who was really interested in him, and saw what mattered about him, but wasn't a fanatic."

Gail gave Winter access to Zappa's voluminous archives.

"It was a vast archive," says Winter. "We took years and went through it. We spent two years just preserving vault material. It was a daunting task."

In making the film, Winter did inevitably become somewhat of a Zappa expert. So which five albums by the guitarist would be the best introduction to his work? Winter makes his choices below.

Hot Rats (1969)

"For me, the Zappa gateway is Hot Rats, an album he made in ’69 when he really began to pioneer very sophisticated recording techniques," shares Winter. "He also had an all-star band of musicians on this, everyone from Jean-Luc Ponty to Shuggie Otis and Captain Beefheart. Just one of the great albums of all time. And, if you put this on and have no way in, maybe take a beat and move on to the second one."

The Yellow Shark (1993)

"Yellow Shark is at the other end of Zappa’s career. It’s viewed as serious classical music, but isn’t rarified. It’s beautiful, it’s accessible, it’s got humor, it’s a really fun gorgeous album," says Winter. "I finally realized when I listened to Yellow Shark that Frank Zappa is not a rock & roll musician, so I stopped worrying about whether he fitted into some form of rock or not. Really, he’s beyond rock, he’s kind of in his own genre, but closer to avant-garde classical, I would say."

Apostrophe (1974)

"If you’ve made it past those two, at that point I tell people to go to what most people consider to be Zappa’s heyday, which is the band he had in the mid-'70s and there’s a bunch of albums that are all accessible," the actor says. "My favorite of those is Apostrophe. People love Joe’s Garage and Over-Nite Sensation, but I would go Apostrophe. Very accessible, sort of typifies classic ‘70s rock in some ways, but through the extremely unique Zappa lens. A great album, lots of fun."

Freak Out! (1966)

"If you've made it this far, you’re probably willing to keep going, and if you are, I would tell you to go all the way back to the very beginning to Freak Out!, which is the debut album by the Mothers of Invention," Winter notes. "Phenomenal album. Very mid-‘60s, very much smacks of that era, before he had a lot of his artistic identity worked out, so it’s a little raw, but a great album."

Civilization Phaze III (1994)

"Last, but very much not least for me, if you've gotten through those four, then I think you’re ready for Civilization Phase III, which he made at the end of his life and was actually released posthumously in ’94," he reveals. "It is really sophisticated electronic music. Having said that, it’s a blast, it’s hilarious, and it's beautiful. But I would not start with Zappa's electronic music, I think it would blow the lid off your brain!"

Zappa features interviews with Gail Zappa, Steve Vai, and Pamela Des Barres, among others. The film opens in theaters and on demand Nov. 27.

Watch the trailer for Zappa above.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• The quest to make a third Bill & Ted movie
• Showbiz Kids director Alex Winter on child stars and tackling abuse in Hollywood

Author:Clark Collis - Source: EW

Doctor Who

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We don't yet know exactly when the upcoming special holiday episode of Doctor Who will air — but we do now know it will feature the return of a beloved character.

A new teaser for the special reveals that John Barrowman's adventurer Captain Jack Harkness is back for the episode, which is titled "Revolution of the Daleks" and stars Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor.

“Putting on Jack’s coat and setting foot back on the set of Doctor Who was just like going back home," Barrowman said in a statement. "It’s always thrilling to play Captain Jack. He’s a character very close to my heart who changed my life, and to know the fans love him as much as I do makes his return even sweeter. I hope everyone enjoys Jack’s heroic adventure with Thirteen.”

“A Doctor Who holiday special means treats galore, and there’s no bigger treat than the return of John Barrowman to Doctor Who, for an epic and emotional feature-length episode," said showrunner Chris Chibnall. "If anyone can blast away the sheer rubbishness of 2020, it’s Captain Jack. Daleks beware!”

Barrowman's appeared in an episode of the last Doctor Who season following a decade-long hiatus from the show. The actor also played Harkness in the Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood.

“Revolution of the Daleks” will air this holiday season on BBC America.

Watch that teaser above.

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Episode Recaps

Doctor Who

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Author:Clark Collis - Source: EW

In horror circles, actor AJ Bowen is famous for two things: appearing in the bone-chilling likes of The Signal, The House of the Devil, and You're Next, and being a really big fan of Christmas horror movies.

"I guess that’s my weird kink," the actor tells EW. "It's highly satisfying to me when the stakes of a genre film are meshed together with snow and cold."

Bowen can currently be seen in a Christmas horror movie, the holiday season-themed Deathcember, which also features Barbara Crampton and Tiffany Shepis in the collective cast and a list of filmmakers which includes Lucky McKee and Walking Dead actress Pollyanna McIntosh. Bowen himself appears in a segment directed by Sam Wineman.

"I was working on Chelsea Stardust’s movie Satanic Panic and I met Sam Wineman, who did second unit direction," says Bowen. "We just immediately hit it off and found out that we had a fascination with Christmas horror. He reached out to me and said he was directing a piece for a Christmas-theme horror anthology. I said, 'Let me stop you right there, the answer’s yes.'"

But what are Bowen's all-time favorite Christmas horror movies? Grab a glass of eggnog and check out the actor's choices below.

Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

AJ BOWEN: It’s much maligned. Yes, there’s a haunted shark in it, and, yes, it screams like a lion at various moments. But take the haunted shark out of it and it’s a pretty compelling family drama about loss. I’m not even making a joke about that. Especially at the beginning, when it’s cold, and Sean Brody is out on the water, and I believe there's a children's choir on the pier for whatever reason, singing "The First Noel" as he’s then eaten by a haunted shark — I just loved the combo. It’s supposed to be a time of safety and love and family and then there’s this haunted shark that’s methodically hunting them. That was my gateway drug for Christmas horror.

Black Christmas (1974)

BOWEN: My favorite horror film of all-time is ’74 Black Christmas. It's stacked with really good actors and just seemed so formative for what would end up being the slasher genre, which is one of my favorite subgenres. It’s an annual watch for me, which means at this point I've probably seen it at the bare minimum 25 times. They play it every year at the New Beverly. Anybody who's in L.A. — when there’s not a pandemic — that has the opportunity to go see it with an audience, I highly recommend it.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1974)

BOWEN: I’ll pick one out of the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise, but it’s not going to be the first one. The original Silent Night, Deadly Night is a tad mean for me. But, for whatever reason, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 is hands down my favorite of the bunch. I’m aware it's 60 percent original Silent Night Deadly Night recut but it's kind of a shocking film. The first time I saw it I finished the movie, went back, and rewatched it literally back-to-back.

Deadly Games, a.k.a. Dial Code Santa Claus (1982)

BOWEN: I used to try and argue with people that Home Alone is a horror film, based on character perspective. Because, if you’re one of the burglars, it’s a nightmare. It’s a full-on nightmare. But I don’t have to argue that anymore because I learned that Deadly Games exists. That movie is bonkers. It’s sort of a horror mash-up of Home Alone and Die Hard.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

BOWEN: There's so many I could pick. I could say Christmas Evil. Do you count Night of the Comet as a Christmas horror film? I could rattle off Gremlins and how much I love that movie. But in terms of modern stuff, I’ve got to go with Rare Exports. I’ve already watched it! Normally, I crap on people who start putting up Christmas decorations this early. But this year, given everything that’s going on, I was walking through our rural neighborhood in the mountains, and there’s people with Christmas lights already up, and I just had this moment of, thank you, that’s so wonderful. It made me go put on Rare Exports. [Laughs] I find that movie highly comforting. If it’s Scandinavian, for whatever reason, their filmmaking slays me and so seeing a Christmas horror where, again, a young person is one of the central characters, I felt like I was watching an Amblin movie. It felt like a child of Gremlins in terms of magical realism, things working out. I really love it.

Shout Studios and Scream Factory's Deathcember is released on digital platforms Nov. 24 and on cable VOD Dec. 1.

See the Deathcember trailer at the top of this post.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

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Author:Clark Collis - Source: EW

Doug Brod was around 11 when he first saw KISS performing on the television.

"I was into monsters and horror movies and science fiction and comic books," says the former EW and Spin editor. "They had all of that. I was totally in love with the visual aspect. I started getting into rock and roll and they were my band for probably four years, from ’75-’79."

Four decades on, Brod has detailed the career of the make-up-wearing music act and three other classic rock bands in They Just Seem a Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade Rock and Roll' Remade Rock and Roll.

"These are four of my favorite bands, all of whom had many connections," says the author. "The starting off point was that on Gene Simmons’ solo album of ’78, he had members of all three of the other bands play with him. As I dug deeper, I realized there was a lot of intermingling amongst these bands and they also toured together."

Not always happily. In the book, Brod details problems between the road crews of KISS and Aerosmith.

"The were coming up together around the same time, they were struggling for the same audience," says Brod. "KISS and Aerosmith played shows together. I heard stories about knives coming out. No one got stabbed, but there were threats."

Hachette Books is publishing They Just Seem a Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade Rock and Roll' Remade Rock and Roll Dec. 1. Exclusively read much more about the strained relationship between KISS and Aerosmith in the excerpt from the book below:

Not only did KISS perform as if they were the headliner when they were merely a support act, but they also traveled with a production to match their colossal sense of self, an idea that wasn’t exactly embraced by their contemporaries, who’d constantly push back on some of the band’s extraordinary demands. This, coupled with the common practice of headliners limiting the support acts’ volume and/or stage space, often led to confrontations between road crews. “It was a struggle,” says early KISS sound engineer Jay “Hot Sam” Barth, who later did a number of tours with Cheap Trick. “It was like, ‘You’re gonna put all that shit in front of our shit? You want bombs and fire? We don’t have any bombs and fire.’ You had to fight for what you got a lot of times.”

When KISS opened for Dutch rockers Golden Earring in New Jersey in 1974, Sean Delaney had heard a rumor that the headliner’s crew intended to unplug KISS while they played. “The Delaneys are Irish and we had a meanass father who taught us well, so we were waiting for them,” says Sean’s brother Leon Delaney, who roadied for KISS in the early years. “We were punching and kicking the shit out of them, and Gene, onstage, looked around the amps and saw the fight. Needless to say, they weren’t unplugged.”

On Saturday, March 23, 1974, KISS supported Argent and Redbone at New York’s Academy of Music on Fourteenth Street. When the next evening’s show with Argent in Washington, D.C., got canceled, KISS managed to secure a slot opening for Aerosmith, whose Get Your Wings had just been released, at the Painter’s Mill Music Fair in Owings Mills, Maryland, a 2,500-capacity theater in the round, twenty miles northwest of Baltimore.

Joe Perry, who has alternately, and mistakenly, placed this gig at either a dinner theater or a parking lot in Marion, Ohio—where KISS have never played—saw KISS’s set and was stunned by the audience’s response. “People went nuts because it’s impossible not to when some guy is breathing fire,” he recalled. “It wasn’t about the music at all.” After Aerosmith finished their set and left the stage to modest applause, the guitarist became enraged. “We’re busting our asses trying to write great songs and play them right,” he fumed. Was his band now going to have to dress up like clowns to get a reaction? He was also envious of the fact that, despite having a pair of fuckups in their ranks, as a group KISS appeared to be able to hold things together. “They’d have their pyro and smoke and then we’d come out,” Perry said, “five drunk guys arguing between songs about what to play next.”

Tom Hamilton, likewise, wasn’t keen on having to follow that spectacle. “It felt like we were going out with our pants down,” the bassist has said. “The impact of what KISS was doing was undeniable, even though I felt it was kind of corny. We had a rivalry from then on.”

Whatever animosity may have been shooting off of Aerosmith was not felt by KISS. “I thought their vibe live was terrific, and they wore their influences well,” Paul Stanley says. “It was very comfortable for them. They were much better than their first album.” Stanley did, however, see the other contenders for America’s hard-rock throne as competition. “That’s the nature of the beast,” he says. “It doesn’t make necessarily for uncomfortable rivalry, but you ultimately are rooting for your team. We tried to be friends with every band because we were fans of a lot of the bands. But we drew the line when we went up the steps to the stage. That’s when we were there to kick ass and knock everyone else out. That was not personal. That was about guardianship of the mantle.” And KISS had foot soldiers ready to die, figuratively or otherwise, defending the band’s honor.

On this tour, KISS brought with them a drum riser comprised of a platform and a motorized forklift-like contraption framed by seven-foot-high, half-inch-thick steel, which, when it worked, and it sometimes didn’t, lifted Peter Criss some six feet above the stage. But no way was Aerosmith’s tour manager, Bob “Kelly” Kelleher, going to allow KISS to use it and show up the headliner. And no way was KISS tour manager Sean Delaney going to take no for an answer. “I got into several shoving matches with Aerosmith’s guys over being told that we couldn’t use Peter’s riser,” Delaney said. “They wanted him to set up on the floor, which we never did.”

“We had a fight” is how Kelleher characterizes the altercation in Maryland. “We had a knock-down, drag-out brawl.” And from his perspective, the fight was hardly fair. The KISS crew, he says, were “a bunch of New York goons with black T-shirts, leather wristbands, and knives, though I’m not sure knives were actually pulled.” According to Kelleher, Delaney (“a gravel-voiced, abrasive New York asshole”) cold-cocked Aerosmith crew member Nick Spiegel, setting off the melee: “It was like, ‘Okay. We’ll deal with this.’ ” Perry shared Kelleher’s estimation of KISS’s road crew. “They had a cutthroat scene going,” he said of the band. “They were good people surrounded by shit.”

Peter “Moose” Oreckinto, the KISS roadie in charge of operating the drum riser, doesn’t recall ever having to shut it down. “It’d shut itself down,” he says of the temperamental device. “We didn’t know what was going to break on that thing, and we didn’t have the parts—bearings, pulleys, any of that junk—that thing needed.”

Reflecting on the period years later, Brad Whitford admitted that he felt KISS had an unfair advantage, but also that “they were playing my favorite kind of music, which is guitar hard rock, really simple. It was a really powerful show.”

“KISS was in the same place as us,” Perry has said. “I always looked at it as us having a friendly competition.” Tyler, however, did not agree with this perspective. From that show on, the Aerosmith frontman saw KISS as nothing less than an existential threat. “I remember when we went out with KISS in ’76 or something,” Tyler later said, off by a couple of years, “one of our roadies got into a knife fight with their guys. So, I hated them ever since.”

When Casablanca executive Larry Harris worked his industry contacts to land KISS on the bill of a promotional concert for Detroit radio station WABX two weeks later, again opening for Aerosmith, tensions between the crews had hardly abated. The city, home to a proudly, defiantly blue-collar scene—rich with homegrown heroes like Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, the MC5, the Stooges, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, and Grand Funk Railroad from nearby Flint—was for greenhorns like KISS and Aerosmith crucial Midwest ground they needed to conquer.

One story goes that Harris wanted to persuade deejay Mark Parenteau, a Boston buddy of Aerosmith’s, to start playing KISS on the station. Parenteau had seen the band perform at the Casablanca launch party in L.A. and walked away knocked out by the show but disliking the music. Harris told him the label would pay the production cost for a KISS radio concert and WABX could book the other bands. If the audience responded favorably to KISS, he stipulated, Parenteau had to agree to put their debut album in heavy rotation.

The April 7 concert, which also featured the Mojo Boogie Band from neighboring Ann Arbor and Michael Fennelly, formerly of two underrated bands that sounded nothing alike—the Millennium and Crabby Appleton—was supposed to close out the sixth annual WABX Kite-In and Balloon Fly, a daylong event to benefit the cleanup of Belle Isle, an island park located between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Rain and temperatures in the low forties put a damper on the afternoon’s outdoor activities, but not the concert, which was held later that evening at the Michigan Palace, five miles to the west. Aerosmith were familiar with the grand former movie theater, having opened for the New York Dolls’ Detroit debut there seven months earlier.

WABX, 99.5 on the FM dial, was, in 1974, one of the most influential freeform radio stations in America. Freeform, by design a sort of anti-format, relied on the personality and taste of deejays as opposed to the commercial considerations of a program director. It was a haven for adventurous disc jockeys who, if the mood struck them, could segue from the Rolling Stones into Benny Goodman into the Last Poets into Tim Buckley into Ken Nordine word jazz. “We survived on the premise that we would play what we wanted when we wanted,” former deejay Ken Calvert says, “and we would base it on nothing other than the integrity of the artist, the air staff, and the content.”

“We were the guys in town,” says Dan Carlisle, one of the station’s founding deejays, “so for us to sponsor a show for you, it put you on the map with people who bought records.” For the headliner, it was a different story. “Aerosmith were repaying favors,” he says. “At one time playing Aerosmith wasn’t making us any friends. And we did for at least a year or two before they broke nationally.”

The night before the show, Kelleher was called into a meeting with some of the WABX jocks. Walking in with two crew members, he was surprised to find ten people, including Larry Harris, waiting for him. He immediately thought, I’m being ambushed. Harris made it clear he wanted KISS to have access to whatever lights and sound they required. Kelleher agreed to the request, but the next day at the theater, he dropped a metaphoric sandbag, prohibiting KISS’s crew from using Aerosmith’s upstage, or rear, lighting. “They bitched and moaned,” he says. “But we put our backdrop on the rear lighting truss and raised it like the American flag during the first song. It was our special effect.”

His move incensed the Casablanca executive. “If you don’t work this out,” Harris told Kelleher, “you’ll never get another record played in the country.” Kelleher called David Krebs from the lobby to communicate the threat. “What should I do?” he asked the band’s comanager. Having gotten the response he expected, Kelleher relayed the message to Harris: “Larry, with all due respect, David Krebs says, ‘Go fuck yourself.’”

Being part of a road crew in the ’70s typically involved all manner of strategic brinksmanship. “When Aerosmith opened for Mott the Hoople, they didn’t get backlighting either,” Kelleher says. “It’s part of the game.” To achieve his goals, he applied skills he learned playing hockey in Boston: “You don’t slash back at the opponent when he hits you. You wait till you get him in the corner, when the referee’s not looking, and you drop him. That was my logic. ‘You can use the lights: There’s some on the left, there’s some on the right. That’s it.’ ”

In his recollection, KISS crew member Oreckinto says the big issue involved the amount of space Aerosmith were allotting KISS on the stage. “Aerosmith wouldn’t move their amp line back so we could set up, so buck knives came out,” he says. “Not that we would ever hurt anybody.”

Paul Stanley was proud of how his loyal crew protected KISS’s territory but places the knife fight in Maryland. “It’s not uncommon, to this day and certainly back then, for the headliner to handicap or sabotage the other acts,” he says. “I’ve always believed that if you need to tie someone’s hand behind their back to beat them in the ring, then you should be in the gym more.” Stanley remembers Aerosmith’s amps being moved so far downstage in Maryland, KISS were left with virtually no room to perform, “except to basically walk like crabs sideways.” The band and their roadies weren’t going to stand for it since there was more room to be had. “So, when push came to shove, push came to shove,” says Stanley. “I certainly don’t condone it, but when things escalated a bit, our crew made it clear that Aerosmith’s gear was going to be moved back to make way for us to have a fair and fighting chance.”

“KISS wanted to dominate the stage,” says Steve Leber. “It was much easier to work with AC/DC, who also blew Aerosmith off the stage. KISS was a show, Aerosmith wasn’t. It was something new and different. We should have said, ‘If you want to open for Aerosmith, we want half the management.’ We should have made Bill Aucoin give us a piece.”

Michael Fennelly, who was promoting his debut solo album, Lane Changer, recalls that he also fell victim to a band’s technical demands at Michigan Palace, but they weren’t Aerosmith’s. That afternoon, he and his group found themselves sitting in the auditorium waiting to do their soundcheck. And then waiting some more. And then some more. It was a soundcheck they never got to do because of KISS. “We watched their rehearsal and they weren’t in all their regalia,” he says. “They were just guys running through some songs. We were surprised at how terrible they were, that they were playing out of tune.” After KISS were done, their difficulties extended to a piece of malfunctioning gear, which their roadies attempted to repair right in the center of the stage. “Not carrying it off and working on it,” says Fennelly. “They just set it in front of the drum kit. We thought that was pretty fucking rude.”

While all of this drama played out backstage and onstage, outside had the makings of a disaster movie. Steve Glantz, who routinely booked rock acts at the Michigan Palace, was the nominal promoter of the show, but since it was a station-sponsored affair, the WABX staff had been drafted to coordinate the event on the ground. “We were perhaps the worst people in the world to run a concert, because we don’t like alienating people,” Dan Carlisle says. “We may ask you to not do something, and if you continue to do it, what are we going to do about it?”

The trouble began when dozens of kids who had come early to take refuge from the lousy weather pushed forcefully against one of the theater’s glass doors, smashing it. The organizers opened up another entrance to alleviate the strain and prevent injuries, and in the process allowed some three hundred kids to rush the venue. “A bunch of them were sitting in the fucking theater while the rehearsals were going on,” Carlisle says. “Right away, we weren’t in control of the situation.”

The role of de facto stage manager fell to this station veteran. “I would say to the two hundred people that were wandering backstage, ‘Please don’t go back there. We’re trying to set this thing up,’ ” he says. “It was a free-for-all. We were lucky nobody was killed.” As for Larry Harris and Mark Parenteau’s purported deal, “that’s bullshit,” Carlisle says. “We were already playing KISS. Harris wanted the band to be seen, and this was a good way to achieve that.”

KISS’s and Aerosmith’s sets, which were simulcast on the station, and now can be heard on the internet and via bootlegs, reveal two young bands just hitting their strides yet fully in command of their craft. Tyler oozes sexy menace with his feral yowling, at one point telling the crowd, “If you keep touching me, I’m gonna shock off your balls.” Donald Handy was a sixteenyear- old high school student when he dropped acid before attending the concert. “Near the end,” he says, “someone announced that the next song would be their last, to which I shouted something like, ‘No, it’s not!’ I then felt everyone turn around and stare at me, along with the band members. They did come back out for one more encore.”

While this would be the last time the two bands played together for nearly thirty years, sound mixer “Nitebob” Czaykowski recalls KISS members attending an Aerosmith show in the ’70s as observers. “KISS were playing two nights before,” he says. “I’m sure they wanted to see them because when you’re on tour, you don’t see the other guys’ show. They were like runners in a race, and KISS were a little behind until their fourth record.”

KISS returned to Michigan Palace a week after they played with Aerosmith, to open two sold-out shows headlined by Blue Öyster Cult. And while KISS would release two records, Hotter Than Hell and Dressed to Kill, within a year, in the battle between the rock behemoths, Aerosmith ultimately prevailed when their third album, 1975’s Toys in the Attic, spawned the Top 10 hit “Walk This Way” and eventually sold eight million copies. But the batwinged freaks remained close behind, nipping at their Cuban heels. Soon, Detroit would be theirs.

Excerpted from They Just Seem a Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade Rock and Roll by Doug Brod. Copyright © 2020. Available from Hachette Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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Author:Clark Collis - Source: EW