Kiss tribute band Destroyer headlines birthday celebration at Vinnie's
Vinnie's Bar and Grill in Concord hosts a tandem birthday celebration Saturday night for local music scene fixture Jonathan Fenno and show promoter Christine Lommori that also marks the 30th anniversary of Fenno's long-running Kiss tribute band Destroyer.
Started in 1993 by the guitarist and several Kiss-obsessed friends -- Fenno is also a noted collector of Kiss memorabilia with a huge catalog of items he started amassing as a child -- Destroyer would become one of the Bay Area's most popular cover acts with their commitment to recreating the classic '70s-era Kiss experience, complete with period stage outfits and face paint as well as lighting and pyrotechnics. The group earned enough notoriety that it would be featured in articles by Spin and Rolling Stone in addition to opening for Kiss-inspired costumed splatter metal band Gwar and Kiss themselves at the official Kiss Convention in 1995.
The band has maintained its popularity for three decades, partly due to the insatiable appetite of Kiss fans to experience the group's songs in a more intimate setting, with Destroyer headlining a sold-out show at the Fillmore in 2022. Fenno has also fronted beloved all-star Mercyful Fate tribute Hail Satan that featured Death Angel members Will Carroll and Damien Sisson, but last year he branched out with Devolution, his new band performing original material. The group is rounded out by Ancient Mariner drummer Colin Osness doing double duty along with guitar player Rob Riot (of blackened thrash outfit Demon Hammer) and bassist for rockabilly band the Rumble Strippers Ansgar Lorenz and has played several local shows as well as appearing at the Legions of Metal Festival in Chicago last summer.
For this rock and roll birthday party for Fenno and show promoter Christine Lommori at Vinnie's on Saturday, Fenno and Destroyer celebrates 30 years of rocking and rolling all night. They top a whopping six-band bill that includes the blacklight metal of Project Mayhem AD, guitar hero Bryan Kehoe -- a mainstay who played in former Limbomaniacs guitarist Marc "MIRV" Haggard's '90s band of the same name, Ministry, and Jerry Cantrell band as well as multiple groups with Primus bassist Les Claypool -- who performs with his own group Kehoe International, with hard rockers Modern Monsters, Unearthed and Rand and the Boys rounding out the evening.
Destroyer 30th Anniversary Show
Saturday, July 13, 7 p.m. $20-$25
Vinnie's Bar and Grill