Mike McLaughlin Talks about Anti Pop The New Record & Life after Peter Criss!

Mike Mclaughlin- NewAlbum Anti Pop

(Peter Criss, Mike Stone, Mark Montague, Mike Mclaughlin)

1- Hello Mike. Most Kiss Fans best know you as the Guitarist for Peter Criss during the Criss Cat #1 & Bad Boys era,  can you tell us briefly how did working with Peter Criss come about  & what was it like playing/working with Peter before & after Kiss?

   MIKE-  As far as how I came about playing with Peter, in the early 90's I was living in L.A playing in several different projects and one band I was in named "Them Generation" was working with the producer Dito Godwin who had been working with Peter at the time. Dito was a guitar player from New York as well so we got to be pretty good friends. One day he calls me up and say's "Hey Mike you remember Peter Criss from Kiss", I said "Duh of course, who doesn't ". He say's, " Well he's looking for a new lead guitar player, would you be interested in auditioning ", to which I responded " Fuck yeah are you kidding me !!! ". So I go to the audition in North Hollywood quite nervous cause this was Peter Criss, one of my idols growing up. I remember clearly it was just me, Peter, and Mark Montague in the rehearsal room and we just kinda jammed some stuff. I always like to lock in with drummers when I play, that's the main thing I listen to, and I remember me and Peter just clicked right away. We played for around an hour I think and when I left I felt pretty good about it, there seemed to be a pretty good vibe between the three of us as well. The next day I called Mark to get some feedback and he said they both felt pretty good and wanted me to come back for a callback, I was totally stoked !!! The only thing was Mark said, " Peter really loves the sound of Les Paul guitars especially after playing with Ace for all those years, you think you could play a Les Paul next time ". I said sure no problem, but it was a problem because I didn't have a Les Paul at the time. I wound up borrowing one from one of my buddies and did the callback, and the vibe again was really cool, just the three of us. You could feel there was something there. After that they told me it was down to me and one other guy, and eventually I got the gig, and this was the beginning. As far as what it was like working with Peter it was amazing, one of the greatest experiences of my life, I learned so much from him. Peter always treated all of us in the band like his family, and he really does feel like my big brother.

                                                 Mike Mclaughlin- "The Purple Shower"

2- You have an album out called Anti Pop & I played it for the first time last week & It Freakin Rocks, tell us how that came about , who plays on it, & where can fans get a copy?


MIKE- Thanks a lot, glad you like the CD. That started in the late 90's just jamming with some people, mainly the drummer Ryan Brown and bassist JoJo Zarillo. We would jam just the three of us and a lot of the songs I wrote for the CD came out of those jams. I moved to Taiwan in late 2001 to pursue my music career there ( that's a whole other story for my book haha ) and decided to start recording the music I had come up with just for the love of it. I had no record deal, no label, no budget, just my home studio and the freedom to do what I wanted. As for the players I called on my buddy Ryan Brown ( now playing and touring with Dweezil Zappa in the Zappa does Zappa band ) to record most of the drums since we had played a lot of the material together already and he's a motherfucking slamming drummer ! There are a few other friend's who played on it as well, I played all the guitars, keyboard programing ( which is not much ) and most of the bass. If fans are interested they can go to :

Mike Mclaughlin

3. Will you be taking Anti Pop out on the road & doing any live shows in the future?

MIKE- I would love to take Anti-pop out on the road to perform live, this project is my baby and nothing would make me happier. It's just a matter now of getting the buzz out and people interested in it, but I would love to go anywhere and play for anyone who wants to hear. At this point in my life I just want to play music and connect with people through it, especially if it's my own music ! Any agents or promoters just call me up, I'll go play for anyone

4- You just got off the last tour with Peter Criss & Sister Doll can you tell us a little about that  ?

    MIKE- Yes, man what a pleasure it was to play with Peter again on the stage after all these years ! I had played with him quite a bit at his home studio when we were working on the " One For All " CD together, but this was the first time we had performed on stage in front of an audience since the Bad Boys Tour day's. As soon as I walked into the rehearsal room and we started playing together it felt just like the old day's, the vibe was still there, and Peter was singing and drumming his ass off !!! Man it was awesome !!! And we also had a horn and string section, and a keyboard player as well so it added a whole new element to the music. Playing " Strutter " and " Nothing To Loose " with a horn section was so cool ! And the Sister's Doll guys were great as well, man they knew Peter's music inside and out so it made it that much easier for us. Really nice and talented guy's as well, they were very respectful of Peter. As you may know, Peter is a big jazz fan as well ( me too ) and Gene Kruppa is his drum idol, so at the end of the show we played some jazz swing stuff as a surprise, it went over great especially with the horns. Everyone I talked to after the show was totally blown away by that, were totally not expecting that.

5- There have been rumors that Peter Criss has recorded another Rock album but it seems like that possibility  sorta came & went? Can you tell us anything you might know about Peter possibly putting out another record?  I know a lot of fans would love it.

MIKE_ Yes as far as the rock album, Peter and I started working on that together after the " One For All " CD was released. For the rock album we wanted to go back to really rootsy ass kicking rock and roll, which is how we approached it. I lived in his house for 2 month's and every day we spent playing and working on the music. Peter's drumming was in top form because we were playing every day, we would get up have our coffee and go straight to the studio at 10:30 a.m sharp every day. We got all of the guitars and drums recorded and were both really happy with the way it was sounding. Then I flew back home it didn't hear from Peter in a while. Turn's out not long after that he was diagnosed with breast cancer, and his wife Gigi was also diagnosed with cancer at the same time, can you imagine ! When something like this happens and your fighting for your lives music get's put on hold, understandably.Thank God as we all know they both beat it and were diagnosed cancer free. I have talked to Peter and Gigi quite often lately, I love them dearly like family. We have mentioned about the rock album and I think Peter is interested again at getting back to finishing it. After playing these recent live shows it gave him some new fire, and his voice ( anyone who was at the shows knows ) was in excellent shape. I can't say for sure whether it will happen or not, that's up to Peter, but believe me I REALLY hope it does, there is some really kick ass material on there and would love to see it get out to the fans. I'm one of Peter's fans as well, he's one of my all time favorite singers and drummers !

                                     The ONLY Catman Playing Bad Ass Rock & Roll!!!

6- What do you think of the current state of rock music these days ?

The current state of music these days, wow. You know I grew up as a kid in the golden era of music I believe, listening to Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, and the list goes on and on. There was something magical about the music then, and the fact that there were some many super groups, it was a spectacle ! Peter and I have talked about that quite often, it was really special. Don't get me wrong, there is some really cool stuff out there today and so many killer shredding guitar players, my God just go on Youtube. And that's another thing, with the internet today it's totally changed the way we listen to, and view​ music. And the business has changed as well, the day's of multi platinum record's is over for the most part, and it's harder and harder for musicians to survive, and that's a real shame. But I have to be positive and think that everything comes back in cycles and rock music will flourish again. I like to believe that if it's good, people will listen                                                                                      

7- Is there anything else you want to say to the fans?

First off thanks for doing this interview and I appreciate all the fans and the fact that they remember what I did haha, as we all know Kiss fans are the best in the world ! Thanks to all you guys for keeping the spirit and passion for the music ALIVE ! As Peter say's without you guys none of it would be possible, amen to that !!!

KISS ARMY ORIGINALS -Would like to thanks Mike McLaughlin for the wonderful interview & for his time, Go out & get his Music it truly ROKS!!!