Coming on December 25, a limited pressing of 100 copies of the Buffalo Rock City boxed set, and the entire "BRC" collection being made available digitally for the first time. Not The Originals" is a four-album collection featuring the two studio albums, Buffalo Rock City and Buffalo Rock City II, the live recording Buffalo Rock City ALIVE! (Music Is Art & More), plus a fourth bonus disc, Solo Obsession. Solo Obsession features 12 previously unreleased covers, specifically crafted for and exclusive to the boxed set.
While there’ve been over 50 KISS tribute records released over the years since the very first, the 1990 punk Hard To Believe (which featured Nirvana's cover of "Do You Love Me"), most of the other releases have been compilations varying in quality and sonics, cited as being unlistenable to fans of quality recordings.
The Buffalo Rock City boxed set has been organized by the executive producer of the project, John Jeffrey, a member of Buffalo’s KISS tribute band, KISS This!
The new album: Solo Obsession...
The newest album (available exclusively as part of the boxed set) features previously unreleased KISS-related covers, compiling new renditions of two songs from each the 1978 KISS solo album releases of the four original members, plus one from each post KISS solo members’ releases.
While the first Buffalo Rock City album and Buffalo Rock City II both featured recordings of songs done by the co-writers of the tracks they helped create (Mitch Weissman singing "While the City Sleeps" and Jean Beauvoir singing "Who Wants to Be Lonely"), boxed set producers John Jeffrey, Dave Comer & John Peace decided that In addition to working with other great Western New York musicians, they wanted to push the envelope once again, and this time, actually recruit original performers who had played on some of the original tracks, to recreate their parts for Solo Obsession.
Musicians on Solo Obsession:
· Brad Fernquist (Goo Goo Dolls lead guitarist) played all guitars on "All About You" (from Paul's 2006 Live To Win)
· Mitch Weissman (Beatlemania) recreated his original harmony vocals on "Mr. Make Believe" (from Gene’s 1978 solo album)
· Frehley Comet’s vocalist Tod Howarth added his signature vocals from "Insane" (off the 1988 Frehley's Comet album Second Sighting). This was recorded as a tribute to original Frehley’s Comet bassist John Regan, who passed away in April of 2023
· Guitarist/producer Tommy Denander (who is a featured guitarist on Paul Stanley’s Live To Win plays on two Peter Criss songs “Hooked On Rock ’N’ Roll” from 1978 and "Let It Go" from 1982's Let Me Rock You)
· Tim "Ripper Owens, mostly known for his tenure in Judas Priest and currently in KK's Priest sang "Carnival of Souls" from Gene’s 2004 solo opus, Asshole. The origin of the song dates back to the early 1990's
Solo Obsession was mixed by John Peace (Buffalo Rock City ALIVE!) and David Julian (Buffalo Rock City II) and mastered by Anthony Cassuccio (Buffalo Rock City II). Melanie Watts (artist and booklet designer for Buffalo Rock City II), handled the artwork for Solo Obsession.
The Rest Of The Albums:
Album # 1 Buffalo Rock City:
The first album, Buffalo Rock City was released in 2020 and raised close to $5000 for Buffalo, NY’s homeless shelter Compass House Foundation, which provided assistance to over 700 people.
Buffalo Rock City features international acts and band members with KISS connections. One is area favorite DoDriver, handpicked by KISS and manager Doc McGhee to open for their Sonic Boom tour at Darien Lake in August 2010. Others include the Goo Goo Dolls’ Robby Takac (vocals), Alice Cooper’s Tommy Henriksen, Radioactive guitarist Tommy Denander (who’s written and recorded with Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and many other household names), Journey and Bad English’s Deen Castronovo, Guns N’ Roses and Asia’s Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. Buffalo Rock City was mastered by Jay Messina, who engineered and/or mixed KISS’s 1976 breakout album Destroyer, 1979’s Dynasty, and 1980’s Unmasked.
Album # 2 Buffalo Rock City ALIVE! (Music Is Art & More):
Buffalo Rock City ALIVE! (Music Is Art & More), from 2022, is a live album of recordings that KISS This! compiled from their archive as far back as 2017, with 4 songs recorded during the 2021 Music is Art Festival, run by Goo Goo Dolls co-founder, Robby Takac. The MIA live tracks feature the “all-star” Buffalo Rock City album alumni members, including producer/guitarist John Jeffrey, drummer Shawn Przybylak. guitarist Gene Schmidt, and vocalists Jody Velletta, Nat Peace, Casey Moyer and Robby Takac reprising the songs they performed on the studio Buffalo Rock City album.
Buffalo Rock City ALIVE! was co-produced John Jeffrey & John Peace, and released as a limited edition with only 400 CDs pressed and distributed only for one day at the 2022 Music Is Art event, raising over $1000 for the organization.
Album # 3 Buffalo Rock City II:
Buffalo Rock City II is a studio release from October 2023 to benefit the Maria Love Fund to offer financial assistance to the people of Erie County. Within a year of its release, the single CD sold out, allowing a substantial donation of over $5000 to the Fund.
Produced by John Jeffrey, the album features great musicians from the Western New York music scene, as well as international players.
The Plasmatics and Little Steven’s Jean Beauvoir sang lead on "Who Wants To Be Lonely" which he co-wrote with Paul Stanley, originally on KISS' 1985 album, Asylum. Buffalo natives Billy Sheehan (Talas, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big) and Howie Simon (guitar), plus John Corabi (Union, Motley Crue), Jeff Scott Soto (vocals), Rafael Moreira (Paul Stanley, Pink, and TV’s Rock Star-INXS), Deen Castronovo (drums and vocals this time), Lillian Axe’s Steve Blaze (guitar), Accept’s Philip Shouse (bass), Killset's Dave Comer (vocals) & Mitch Weissman (vocals) are among the names.
Brand new artwork was created for the sensational Not The Originals boxed set cover by Nobuya Tamaki, who did the cover art for Buffalo Rock City ALIVE!
In addition to the 100 physical copies available worldwide, the full boxset will be available for digital download and streaming, exclusively on the Bandcamp website here.
Along with Solo Obsession, this release marks the first time Buffalo Rock City ALIVE! and Buffalo Rock City II have been made available for digital download in their entirety.
Pre-orders for the physical, hard copy edition of Not The Originals are available now, here.
