Wednesday
Aug312016
RIP Kingdom Come
Wednesday, August 31, 2016 at 12:01AM Today we are lucky enough to have another post from our friend HIM.
I really, really hoped that a full-fledged reunion was going to bring Kingdom Come back to my area so I could finally see them. The clips from the Monsters of Rock cruise earlier this year were enough to get me excited about the idea:
Alas, it is not to be. Recently, Wolf posted this message on the Kingdom Come/Lenny Wolf website:
Dear Kingdom Come soldiers, fans and friends!
The Kingdom Come ship has reached its final destination, at least during my visit on our planet earth.
My decision is mainly caused by experiences I made throughout the last 3 years, during which the fun factor disappeared more and more, and our energy and hopes have repeatedly been crushed by people and circumstances beyond our control. Some folks out there may not believe it, but it’s NOT all about money. I realized that chasing something which seems is not meant to be, trying to force things, would never lead to something good. Therefore it’s time to let go.
Allow me to give you a brief insight into my modest self.
I’m happy about every camera NOT pointing at me. I’m happy about every email or Face---- message I’m NOT receiving. I’m a rather private dude, who enjoys cruising through life without much noise, among true friends. Public recognition means nothing to me. It’s a sweet momentary kick, which helped me persuade the girls in my former wild days, but in the end it means nothing, and did not get me to a higher spiritual level. So I decided I'd rather sit on my boat and watch the birds shit on my head, NOT trying to figure out the sense of live. For reference revisit my song “Inhaling the Silence”. Only took me 50 years to figure that out. ;-)
It was a nice and overdue experience to share the stage with my old time Kingdom Come fellows, Johnny B Frank and Danny Stag one more time, which we finally came around to on our Florida cruise 2016. I never thought I would enjoy being locked up with so many people on a boat, but it was a great experience and a good way to organize my mind. That’s what the ocean can do for you! ;-)
It’s been a fantastic 30 year long musical ride, for which I can only be VERY grateful. Having gone through good and bad times, in the end it was an exceptional way to explore our planet, having met countless wonderful people around the globe and building up memories that can not be taken away from me, or you.
I’m not saying that I will never write a song again, or never again enter a stage, but the chapter called “Kingdom Come” is now closed. One day I may revisit the music scene with a new band called "Iron Banana", but until then, it is what it is.
I hope the Kingdom Come songs have given many of you energy, joy and strength, as they did for me. The Kingdom Come songs will live on, long after we all have turned to dust, and will hopefully do the same for many generations to come, unless of course, we have blown up our planet before then.
Not every decision I made was of glamorous choice, but hey, I’m only human. Before ending this note, I would like to express my personal gratitude to the following people who have held up the Kingdom Come flag in good, or bad times.
The Kingdom Come ship has reached its final destination, at least during my visit on our planet earth.
My decision is mainly caused by experiences I made throughout the last 3 years, during which the fun factor disappeared more and more, and our energy and hopes have repeatedly been crushed by people and circumstances beyond our control. Some folks out there may not believe it, but it’s NOT all about money. I realized that chasing something which seems is not meant to be, trying to force things, would never lead to something good. Therefore it’s time to let go.
Allow me to give you a brief insight into my modest self.
I’m happy about every camera NOT pointing at me. I’m happy about every email or Face---- message I’m NOT receiving. I’m a rather private dude, who enjoys cruising through life without much noise, among true friends. Public recognition means nothing to me. It’s a sweet momentary kick, which helped me persuade the girls in my former wild days, but in the end it means nothing, and did not get me to a higher spiritual level. So I decided I'd rather sit on my boat and watch the birds shit on my head, NOT trying to figure out the sense of live. For reference revisit my song “Inhaling the Silence”. Only took me 50 years to figure that out. ;-)
It was a nice and overdue experience to share the stage with my old time Kingdom Come fellows, Johnny B Frank and Danny Stag one more time, which we finally came around to on our Florida cruise 2016. I never thought I would enjoy being locked up with so many people on a boat, but it was a great experience and a good way to organize my mind. That’s what the ocean can do for you! ;-)
It’s been a fantastic 30 year long musical ride, for which I can only be VERY grateful. Having gone through good and bad times, in the end it was an exceptional way to explore our planet, having met countless wonderful people around the globe and building up memories that can not be taken away from me, or you.
I’m not saying that I will never write a song again, or never again enter a stage, but the chapter called “Kingdom Come” is now closed. One day I may revisit the music scene with a new band called "Iron Banana", but until then, it is what it is.
I hope the Kingdom Come songs have given many of you energy, joy and strength, as they did for me. The Kingdom Come songs will live on, long after we all have turned to dust, and will hopefully do the same for many generations to come, unless of course, we have blown up our planet before then.
Not every decision I made was of glamorous choice, but hey, I’m only human. Before ending this note, I would like to express my personal gratitude to the following people who have held up the Kingdom Come flag in good, or bad times.
Well, that sounds pretty darn definitive if you ask me. And while it wasn’t going to be a full-fledged reunion (Kottack did enough jabbing to make sure that wouldn’t happen even if he wasn’t in the Scorpions), that really didn’t matter to me.
After all, this was Wolf’s baby from jump. And it increasingly became only his baby as the years went on. Still, I dug Kingdom Come quite a bit. I found the Kingdom Clone slams a bit disingenuous, even when it came from people who were in and/or related to Zep (Page, please meet Coverdale; Page and Plant, please forget you knew Jones; Bonham, don’t disregard timekeeping). Simply put, they did imitation really well. The songs kicked. No wonder some people thought it was Zep when it first came out. And if Wolf’s Dokken-esque foot often ended up in his high-falutin mouth, that sounds like a lot of other singers of the era. Bottom-line: Wolf, and by extension the band, were gifted at what they did.
But I also liked Kingdom Come when it really became Wolf’s baby. 1991’s Hands of Time actually showed off Wolf’s talents for something beyond appreciative mimicry. Take, for instance, the lead track “I’ve Been Trying”:
That is no simple knock-off Zep song. It has texture. It is pompous (the fake fluke?). It is overwrought (the slow build-up). But it sticks with you. And so it went as I, admittedly, became less and less interested in the Wolf project while always retaining a love for those first three—Kingdom Come, In Your Face, and Hands of Time—albums. I’d check in every now and again. I’d listen to a track or two from the new releases. Then I would hurry back to those albums (or tapes), all the while hoping that Wolf would bring something back to the States.
So I am bummed that I won’t get to see a concert that features those albums (the first two really, as no one is clamoring for Hands of Time or for Wolf to play Ain’t Crying for the Moonfrom start to finish). I have no problem admitting my love for Kingdom Come. Nor do I have any problem say this: thanks, Lenny. You made some slamming music (critics be damned).
Reader Comments (16)
July 3 1988
Van Halen (OU812)
Scorpions
Dokken
Metallica
Kingdom Come
Another killer show
I'll never forget seeing them POINT BLANK at Hammerjack's in Baltimore (the largest selling bar of Budweiser in the U.S. during it's heyday), also in '88, Badland (needless to say, I wish I had caught that Texxas Jam back then -- what a line-up!
Britny Fox and Warrant were also on the bill and I remember also seeing Jason Bonham and Fred Coury in the audience. Even cooler, after the show, there was an impromptu jam of Zeppelin and Stones covers sung by none other than Janie Lane with Danny Stag and Joey Allen (Warrant) on guitars, Billy Chalfant (Britny Fox) on bass and Jimmy Chalfant (KIX) on drums.
I wish I had seen them subsequently as "Do You Like It" is my favorite Kingdom Come song and you know that JAT burned live as it is the perfect melding of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC ever embodied in a song, IMHO.
Also, in 1988, months before finally seeing them at Hammerjack's, I hung out with The Cult poolside on the roof of Le Parc Hotel in Hollywood and those guys asking me to join them to go see Kingdom Come. I had to refuse due to a client dinner and I'll never forget Ian Astbury pleadingly say, "Oh, you really should come -- They're better than Guns n' Roses!"
Whether you agree or not, if that isn't testimony to the greatness of Kingdom Come, I don't know what is! I went to Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard the next day to get the new album in any format and they were all sold out.
p.s. I seem to recall Ace telling us, in Comments on one of Allyson's posts a couple of years back, that Danny Stack has worked at "the liquor store to the stars" in Hollywood in the years following the demise of Kingdom Come. More fodder for the "What are they doing now?" file, Allyson, but I wish there was more to this story as they were such a kick*ss band of multi platinum caliber in their prime.
um, not. Me, my future wife, tommy, and gregg were elsewhere.
I just don't get the people who like bands like Kingdom Come. Loved their name hated their music. 2nd class Zep ripoff artists to me. And I think Led Zep are one of the, if not the most, overrated band in history. Ok...let the hate begin....
That was the one in 87
Boston
Aerosmith
Whitesnake
Poison
Tesla
Farrenheit
And thanks for pointing me (and us) to Stone Fury, glamrockerarchie. Appreciated. Even as people slagged Wolf for sounding like Plant, I thought his voice was interesting/unique in its own right.
Some amazing stories and shows being shared on this post more generally. Imagine a BBG! Convention. That would be an interesting confab of individuals!
JAT, no hate for not liking them. That's the way it goes sometimes. And I thought you were going to break a major story when you talked about Stanley "coming out." I had to re-read that a couple of times. Kidding.
I always found it amazing that such a Hendrix influenced player as Danny ended up aping Page so well... 2 totally different styles.
I went with a buddy of mine and we arrived in plenty of time to see Kingdom Come. I was never really a fan of theirs, but I love live music so we were there in time. We had a little over a 12 pack left from the night before in a cooler in the back of the pickup. My buddy (a big Metallica fan) asks "When does Metallica play?" I said they are second on the bill. He asked "Who's playing first?" I told him Kingdom Come. He said "We need to drink this beer before we go in."
So we spent Kingdom Come's set killing a 12 pack in the parking lot.
We got in just as Metallica was taking the stage and made our way down to the front (festival seating). In the process, we somehow got separated and never saw each other again until we met at the car after the show (this was before cell phones).
For Van Halen's set, Hagar's voice was screwed so he couldn't sing for sh*t. Crowd did most of the singing. At one point he said that VH would play a free show in the future to make up for it.
Fast forward a few years. One of the DFW radio stations kept asking when they were going to do the free show. Finally, without warning, on the morning show, the station announced that VH would be playing a free show at 4:00 pm that afternoon. My roommate at the time (different guy from the initial show) looked at each other and said "We're calling in sick."
It was in Deep Ellum outdoors and was a cluster, but I wouldn't have missed it. Full circle.
Its on youtube
Van halen 1991 dallas tx free show