The Curious Case of Kris Hadlock
"One thing I’ve learned that time doesn’t stand still/Some
make the top, others never climb that hill."
--"Whatever Happened to You?"
Hadlock
It’s an ice-cold snowy January night in Rochester, New York, and I’m
getting a personal tour of America’s most legendary music store, House of
Guitars, by one of its local favorite sons. Kris Hadlock, age 36, has
never had a record deal, performed his songs in front of arena audiences,
been interviewed by Rolling Stone or felt the flash of a
paparazzi’s camera. Nevertheless, he lives the rock star dream, in his
head and more importantly, in his heart. And if and when time and space
should ever catch up with him, look out.
"I grew up in this store, was here every day after school," muses the
bottle-blond only-son of an accordion teacher. "Every band that came
through Rochester back in the day would stop here, meet fans, buy gear,
sign autographs. First Skid Row tour, I hung out with Snake and Rachel,
playing Kramers. That was the best. I was the first one to see Tracii Guns
new haircut. You need a Britney Fox tee shirt? Or an Alice Cooper 8-track?
They got it! Bought my first drum kit here, my first Elvis Presley record
and, of course, my first guitar."
Kris is an 80s metal-bred dyed-in-the-torn-blue-jeans-and–muscle-tee
anachronism (‘something or someone that is not in its correct
historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that
belongs to an earlier time’). He channels the hairy days of decadence
where volume, excess and wind-machine driven power ballads were the order
of the hangover day and late, late night. His numerous homegrown demos and
unreleased indie efforts don’t just sound like they were written and
recorded in 1988, they feel like it. When you hear tracks like
"Take Me With You," "Daddy’s Little Girl," and then close-your-eyes and
you’ll think its Slippery-era Bon Jovi, "Whatever Happens to You?"
– the three-song sampler playfully titled, Your Wife’s Rock Band,
that he’s currently disseminating with hopes of finally landing that
amorphous ‘deal’ – you can’t help but be taken aback by this man’s musical
gift for time travel. But is he the real thing? In other words, who the
hell is Kris Hadlock and what’s his story?
"My dad died when I was three while scuba diving in San Diego," he
says. "I remember dropping my ice cream cone on the ground when my mom
told me. It was in the papers when he drowned. He did wild and crazy
things, hang glided, he could have played pro basketball, least those are
the stories I heard, mostly from my aunts. Six months after my dad passed,
I was hit by a Ford Thunderbird while crossing the street and pronounced
dead at the scene. But somehow I survived and soon discovered KISS
Meets the Phantom in the Park. It was 1978 and that video changed my
life. After that, all I wanted to do was play an instrument. I took drum
lessons, my mom taught accordion at our house. I spent most of my time
watching MTV from 1981 on. I was always at my aunt’s cause she had cable.
I can tell you every group that came out of the 80s. And I can probably
play most of their songs on guitar."
While KISS, Poison and Motley Crue sparked Kris’s glam-metal
consciousness, it was the appearance of five dudes from Jersey when he was
12 that set his dreams of stardom aflame. "When I saw the photo of Bon
Jovi on the cover of that first album, I had to have it," he recalls,
almost vibrating from the memory. "I bought that record and played it a
thousand times. They played the penny arcade here and my aunt took me.
They weren’t gonna let me in but she talked them into it. They let me
stand in the hallway and the only one I could see was Richie. I still have
photos taken with my Kodak disc camera. Guys in school said they were gay,
that they sucked, but I said they were the best band ever. I named my
daughter, Jersey. Guess that says it all, huh?"
Throughout his teens in order to finance his love of music, Kris did
odd jobs around town, from washing dishes at an Italian Restaurant to ad
modeling for local businesses. Then in 1991, he got an opportunity to play
drums for a group called The Chesterfield Kings. "Their drummer had some
problems" he says. "I learned 57 songs in three days and got the gig by
showing them I could nail the material even though it wasn’t my kind of
rock. We did shows in New York and New Jersey. The Kings had a following
in Europe so I got to go overseas. We played some good-sized theaters in
Spain and France. That was an awesome experience."
The big adventure came in 1997 when Kris decided to leave home and go
west. He wanted to live and rock in the Sunset Boulevard kingdom that he’d
come to revere. Hustling his way into modeling gigs and near soap opera
stardom, Kris lived the sex/drugs/rock n’ roll Hollywood life alright, but
when September 11, 2001 arrived, his dream of stardom came
crashing down like the Wall Street Towers. "I was in L.A. bartending doing
modeling shoots and pulling auditions funding it all with my own money.
The Strip was dead. Nirvana had killed my scene. I was up for a major role
in The Bold and the Beautiful – it was between this 19-year-old and
me. They gave the gig to him; a month later 9/11 hit. I couldn’t get a
band together, no showcases, no callbacks from auditions. That’s when I
made my way back home to Rochester where I’d begin re-focus on my music,
start making demos, teach guitar to local kids, and get the dream train
back on track."
For the past year, Kris has worked hard on his songs, soliciting the
skilled studio aid of producer/engineers, Bob Kulick and Brett Chassen, to
help him realize both the sound and fury of his metal man out of time
vision. Brad Pitt is up for an Oscar for his ethereal performance in The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button – the story of a unique soul that is born
old and gets younger as time and tide pass. Kris Hadlock isn’t looking for
gold statues or critical acclaim. He just wants a shot; one shot at
standing on that stage and raising his fist to the rafters in hallowed
exaltation to the power of rock n’ roll.
"I’ve finally come to realize I can’t control anything," he says with
near-humble resignation. "I’ve done my best and I believe in the concept
of image and marketability. I want to be a rock star and I don’t give a
shit if the critics hate me. KISS has never been on the cover of
Rolling Stone. Who fucking cares? I want to live the life, get a
piece of what my heroes have, the validation. I want to revamp this. Bring
back the magic of 1988. Write songs that my mom and kid can appreciate. I
want the ladies to fall in love again. Not with Sebastian this time, but
with me!"
Curious kid, this Kris Hadlock. But who knows? He may just make it…
this time.
--Lonn Friend
Copyright Rumi Enterprises 2009
