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Mike Sivo- Drummer for NY's KISS ARMY
As a member of the revered NY's KISS ARMY, Mike Sivo has quickly become
a respected and revered drummer in Kiss fan circles.
His unrivaled energy and love for his craft have been among his greatest
attributes since he first pounced on audiences more than a decade ago.
Sivo, who is widely hailed for his frenetic, yet detailed approach to re-creating
the classic Kiss sound, was "discovered" by bandmate Jerry Skidz at a Bayside,
Queens club in the early 1990s. At the time,
Mike was playing in a local band, but it was apparent he already had the traits of a great Peter Criss tribute artist.
Well
before Mike had ever donned Cat makeup, Lydia Criss had once expressed to him in the late 1980s that he looked and sounded
just like Kiss' original drummer.
Jerry also was awestruck upon seeing Mike play for the first time. "I looked to the side of the stage, and there was this guy really digging what I was doing on the drums," Mike recalled
of his first encounter with Jerry Skidz. At the time, the first incarnation of the The Kiss Army, had gone through a succession
of drummers.
"Jerry heard me hit the snare from the back of the room, and then he moved near the stage and said he freaked
out, because I looked a lot like Peter Criss."
Mike had seen the band before live, and when Jerry asked him to audition,
he jumped at the opportunity. "I thought they were great," Mike said.
"One of my bands had played on a bill with them before,
and I had never seen nothing like them before at the time. I said I would love to be the Peter Criss in a tribute band."
Mike had played at the same rehearsal studios as The Kiss Army in Long Island,
and often heard them playing their material in a nearby studio. But it took some extra coaxing from the studio's owner to
convince Jim Seda, Ronnie Torri and Jerry that Mike would be the man to end The Kiss Army's frustrating string of changes
behind the drum kit.
Spencer, the owner of Knockout Studios in Deer Park, backed Mike's skills fully, and the audition
was scheduled.
"We practiced Parasite and Nothing to Lose, and I instantly loved playing
with the guys," Mike said. "Ronnie turned around to me and told
me how much he liked my fills." It wasn't until the group
launched into Black Diamond, that the existing members were convinced that their long search for a quality drummer and singer
was over.
"We stopped in the middle of Nothing to Lose, and I thought I had done something
wrong," Mike said.
"Instead, Jerry turned around to me and said I was a great drummer, and they never had heard anyone
sing with a growl like that before. I joined the band, and me and Jimmy instantly became great friends."
Mike, who had fashioned Ace Frehley as his favorite Kiss member while growing
up, had first seen Kiss live in 1979 at New York's Nassau Coliseum. Upon joining The Kiss Army, he would often go to Jerrys
house to watch older Kiss videos, and developed a deeper appreciation for Peter Criss' legacy.
"In the earliest years of Kiss, Peter was really great," Mike said.He had this unique jazz style,
but he
was also fast, hungry and he was going for it. Now I understood where Tommy Lee and many other
great drummers had come
from, and who they had been influenced by. Peter was an absolute maniac behind the drums,
and his drumming had heart, balls
and was action-packed."
Much like Peter Criss himself, Mike grew up with a wide variety of musical tastes.
He lists Humble Pie,
Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad among his greatest influences.
He grew up listening, to funk, soul and all types of
rock and roll. He learned the drums as a youth,
playing with his brother, and by the time Mike was in his late elementary
school years,
he was already playing in bands with older kids. Mike, who grew up in Long Island and later moved to Queens,
first
became aware of Kiss in the early 70s, when his older sister saw them live and later brought their first album home.
"She had seen them at the Daisy in Amityville," Mike said, recalling one of Kiss earliest shows.
"She later
bought their very first album, and we all loved Black Diamond. I had seen a picture of them
in the newspaper in the early
1970s, and thought they looked great, and the way they looked made
me want to hear their music even more. Later in their
careers, I also loved Eric Carr. He was an amazing, awesome drummer. I loved songs like Heaven's on Fire."
Mike had already
been in bands who had been published at he time he joined The Kiss Army,
yet he was still overwhelmed by the great reactions
of fans when he first went on tour in the early 1990s.
"The first time I went onstage in the makeup it was real special,"
Mike said.
"I thought people would walk out when I did my drum solo, but instead, they were going nuts.
One of Ace Frehley's
solo bandmates even came up to me after a show and told me I looked and sounded like early Peter Criss."
When Mike saw the original Kiss Army dissolve in the mid-1990s, he admitted he was sad, but still kept in
touch with his old bandmates. Mike then continued playing the Peter Criss role in the East Coast version
of Cold Gin for
a brief period, before embarking on a two-year run with Destroyer.
"I wanted to keep doing Kiss songs," he said. "I loved
playing them, and they were great, raw, rock and roll tunes."
Mike would still go to see Jim Seda play in other Kiss tribute bands, and a three-way phone conversation between
Mike, Ronni and Jim led to the band
reuniting for a rehearsal session in 2003. By the time the band played the 2004 Atlanta
Kiss Expo,
Mike was glad to be back with his old bandmates.
"Atlanta was great," he said. "This is what it was all about, all over again, hands down. We represent classic
Kiss, and here I was again, delivering classic Peter Criss, with all his power and talent."
Mike, who lists She and Take Me among his favorite songs to play live, now resides in Fort Lauderdale. Yet
he claims he will never lose the New York
edge that makes the NY Kiss Army stand out.
"We have a vibe that no other tribute band can ever have, because were from the same streets of New York.
It's great to be out there playing again for the great fans who really appreciate what were doing."
You can contact Mike by email :msive02@sprintpcs.com
Mike's weapons of choice: Pearl Drums
Some of Mikes's favorite places to visit:
Gene Krupa
Krupa Bio
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