LORETTA CARAVELLO
by David L. Wilson ( isentertainment@juno.com )
-Interview with Loretta Caravello
For the 11 years that Eric Carr sat on the Kiss drum throne there was a thunder that could drown out all of the gods on Olympus. Where other drummers were content to pound out a heavy metal march Carr was a beautifully brutal artist. To experience the Carr drum attack in concert usually meant that you would be looking over your shoulder to see if Godzilla hadn't just snuck into the building. Such an incredibly big sound from such a slight man and drumming was only the beginning of Carr's talents as is finally proven with the release of his first solo album, ROCKOLOGY.
ROCKOLOGY is a showcase for all of Carr's many talents, his voice, his writing and of course his drumming are all fully and gloriously on display here. A single listen to this incredible disc begs the question, "Why did it take so long to get this out in the first place?" "Eyes Of Love" and "Somebody's Waiting" are classic Kiss songs and, to my ear, superior to anything on any of those '80s Kiss records. No matter, it is finally here and those who were left behind after Eric's death in 1991 have seen to it that his memory will remain.
Loretta Caravello is Eric Carr's little sister and as she has taken on the task of keeping the flame it was appropriate that we speak with her about her brother and this new testament to his creative life.
DAVID LEE: I think that Bruce Kulick told me that this was a long-term project for him, something that he spent any spare time he had on?
LORETTA CARAVELLO: Oh yeah. We are talking about years and I never thought that it would see the light of day but now it has. It was a lot of hard work by a lot of great people to put this all together.
DL: And the fact that you, his sister, is pushing it all along says a lot to me, I mean, who could have truly known him better?
LC: You know what, I did know my brother, very well and he loved what he did with his music and it is unfortunate that this stuff never really made it to the Kiss albums. That is not because it wasn't good enough but there was a lot of other material to choose from. This is something that he would have wanted out, I have no doubt of that.
DL: As you say, a lot of this material could have easily fit in with his version of Kiss...
LC: Oh, yeah. The ballad, "Somebody's Waiting," I could see that fitting into today's sound with its four part harmony.
DL: They really are some great songs, powerful songs. In all the times that I met him he was always friendly but very reserved, maybe this is where he let it all hang out?
LC: Maybe. I will tell you something, he loved the fans. He would have hung out with the fans every night instead of going to parties, that was never his thing. We still get stories from kids who met him in 1985 and then in 1987 he would see them again and remember their names, the kids would be mesmerized that he remembered them, that is how much he cared for his fans.
DL: You were Eric's baby sister, right?
LC: I was considered the baby, you know Italian families, there is always, "the baby!" (laughs)
DL: Did Eric ever start a family of his own?
LC: No, none at all and towards the end he was very hurt that though he loved children he knew that he was never going to be a father. He did have a girlfriend, Carrie Stevens. She is in a movie now called, "Metal God" with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. It is funny because she told me the story of how she got the part, I guess she went for the audition and she walked in with a HOT IN THE SHADE jacket on that my brother had given her and the woman that was there said, "That is a beautiful jacket" so Carrie told her the story of where she got it and she got the job! So now she says that Eric was her little Angel in the room. He touched a lot of people's lives and he is still touching people's lives every single day.
DL: The fact that this is "Kiss related" elevates the whole thing to another level in terms of fan rabidity.
LC: Oh yeah, they [Kiss] will live on forever, it doesn't matter who is playing the drums but you would be surprised at how many fans loved the eighties but it was never pushed as hard as the seventies or the nineties. Still, Kiss are starting to play some eighties songs and it is very refreshing that they are proud of every year that the band played no matter who it was in the band. My brother was there for eleven years so it is nice that they are remembering those times.
DL: Like millions of others, Kiss was my first big arena concert and I remember being squashed right against the middle of the barricade and when the band came out, I only saw a blur when Gene [Simmons], Bruce and Paul [Stanley] all ran by but when Eric tapped his kick drums it blew back my hair and when I looked it was this little guy in the middle of this enormous kit just grinning, I'll never forget that.
LC: It was a mega-drumset, I know. I remember when I was backstage with Eric and Carmine Appice and Eric was digging through the refrigerator for some kind of heath food and Carmine tells me, "I just adore your brother, he is my idol!" My brother says, "No, you are my idol!" and then Carmine says, "Do you see how small this guy is? He kicks ass on those drums!" I never forgot that because I know it was so sincere especially because Carmine is so huge and my brother was so tiny, that amazed a lot of drummers. My brother was tiny but he worked out a lot, he exercised all of the time.
DL: Did the two of you have any other brothers or sisters that went into music?
LC: We have another sister, we call her "Sissy," and we all played instruments. My mom played the piano and my grandfather, he played everything so it was natural that my brother would follow in that direction.
DL: Was the whole family supportive of Eric when he was starting out playing in bands?
LC: Yeah. We used to travel with him when he was in his first band but he was in a lot of bands.
DL: Have people from those bands stayed in contact with the family through the years.
LC: Yeah, when he was in Creation, this is the same band that was in the fire, they started out as Salt & Pepper and then Creation and finally, Bionic Boogie--this was from the seventies until 1980 and some of them are still in the business. [A fire broke out at the venue where Carr's band was playing. Some people died, but he was able to escape. - Tim] John Henderson, the singer, he is in the recording field and one of the organ players, Jerry Ade, he is a booking agent. Another guy is a lawyer for IBM and my brother used to go and meet with him for lunch all the time so my brother stayed in touch with a lot of the people from the seventies.
DL: Do you know if he had any musical aspirations that he wasn't able to fulfill before he passed on?
LC: I don't think so other than the music for "The Rockheads" which was his big thing and towards the end he was working even more intensively on it. ["The Rockheads" was Carr's concept for a cartoon show. - Tim] There were some demos where he did some Neil Young music where it was just him in his room fooling around. He played the guitar and there are always CDs coming out with my brother singing, the kids have a way of finding those things so if they are out there they will find them.
DL: Do you go to the Kiss conventions?
LC: I do. I went to the first one after my brother passed away just to thank the kids and it was really great. My parents went one year and they were in their glory and surrounded from the minute that they walked in. They just wanted everyone to love their son, that is what keeps him alive. It keeps them alive to know that so many people loved my brother. This year I won't be going to the convention but Bruce Kulick will be there and Jack Sawyers, the guy who produced TALE OF THE FOX, he is the same guy who produced all of the Kiss videos. I could tell you a quick story about Jack Sawyers if you want?
DL: Absolutely.
LC: Jack Sawyers, I think that it was around 1985, he used to work at Guitar Center in Los Angeles and one day my brother came in and Jack said to him, "You know, someday I would love to be in video" and Eric said, "Tell them that you will be right back" and then Eric took him to a Kiss shoot and he said to the guy who was producing it, "Give this guy a job." The rest is history. From that point he did KISS KONFIDENTIAL and other stuff. He was so appreciative of the help that he always told my brother that he would do a video just on him and my brother always laughed and said, "Don't worry about it!" Then in 1998 he got in touch with my parents and they called me and I said, "Yeah, yeah, I have heard this line before." Throughout the years I had been told so many things that where supposed to be done and they never materialized and this sounded like another one of those things but Jack kept his word. He put this video together with the help of Thoughtscape and it has gotten rave reviews. You get to see my Mom and Dad and it is just a very warm tribute to my brother, there is nothing negative about it at all. That is just the little story about how this all came about. You will see my brother's actual home movies and you go into his room, he shows you his Porsche, he is hilarious.
DL: As I remember it, he did have a bit of a reputation as a jokester.
LC: He had a great sense of humor. I know my brother loved Howard Stern and I know he would have thought that this was funny, do you know the web-site, Metal Sludge?
DL: Yes.
LC: Well they had a joke there that went, "Kiss is going to bring my brother back into the band and change their name to Carr-Kiss." (laughs)
DL: Oh! (laughs)
LC: I said, "You know that is really sick but my brother would have laughed. He had a great sense of humor and he would definitely have laughed. (laughs)
DL: I am ashamed to admit it but it really is funny.
LC: It is funny and that was how my brother was and if he loved Howard Stern then he could love anyone! (laughs)
DL: You said that Jack Sawyers pretty much shepherded the TALE OF THE FOX video and that Bruce Kulick did the same for the ROCKOLOGY record?
LC: Well, yeah, Bruce really deserves a big hand for keeping his word. He always kept telling me, "Be patient!" and I was like, "Come on, I want to put this out!" I was like a kid and I would say, "Don't worry about the money Bruce, we can do it!" And he said, "When the time is right we will know it." And I am glad that we did wait. All I knew was that even if I had to record this on little cassettes, this was going to go out, it wasn't going to be stuck in a drawer. I think that it is going to do really well. The kids have been amazed by what he really could do and they all wish that he would have done more on the Kiss albums.
DL: Is this the last of the unreleased material written by Eric or could there be more in the future?
LC: There may be more. You know where he was scatting on some of the songs?
DL: Yeah.
LC: What would it take to have someone who worked with my brother to come in and finish these songs? You could get any artist to record it and put out a second part to the ROCKOLOGY.
DL: Well again, I have to say thank you for stepping up to be the caretaker of Eric's memory and music and for taking the time to remember him with all of us out here.
LC: My pleasure.
TAKEN FROM DETRITUS
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