Original KINGDOM COME Lineup To Reunite For Album, Tour?

Argentinean rock journalist Lucas H. Gordon, who currently resides in Hollywood, California, recently conducted an interview with former KINGDOM COME/WARRANT guitarist Rick Steier. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the Lenny Wolf-fronted band whose 1988 self-titled debut album was certifield gold in the U.S. for sales in excess of 500,000 copies, Steier said, "I don't know if you've heard. The buzz is that KINGDOM COME is getting back together for a reunion tour… They want the original members. Derek Shulman, who worked for PolyGram and actually signed KINGDOM COME back in the '80s, I think probably James [Kottak; former KINGDOM COME and current SCORPIONS drummer] ran into him on the road, 'cause James does the most travelling, being with the SCORPIONS. So he talked with Derek and had thrown around the idea and then Lenny got on board and said, 'It's great,' and they e-mailed me and blah blah blah. So it's in the works. If it happens, it happens. It's be fun. But if it doesn't, life goes on, right?!"

He continued, "I just ran into J.B. [Johnny B. Frank], the [original KINGDOM COME] bass player. We were at the SCORPIONS show together. It was at the Staples Center. So I ran into him. I hadn't seen him in awhile.

"So we have the nucleus [of the original KINGDOM COME lineup for a potential reunion]. [But] nobody's been able to talk to Danny — Danny Stag was the lead guitarist at the time.

"They're kind of making all the connections. I'm kind of sitting back and waiting. I think [Danny] is somewhere back where he grew up in Pittsburgh. I don't know if they've been able to get hold of him. I'm just kind of staying off to the side waiting for the word.

"What [the reunion] would entail would be doing a whole new CD featuring the original guys. And who knows?! I don't know if it would do well here, based on the musical climate here, but in Europe I think they're still into that metal sound."

The original KINGDOM COME lineup recorded and released two albums — 1988's "Kingdom Come" and 1989's "In Your Face" — before all members other than Wolf quit the group.

With a new, mostly German lineup, KINGDOM COME remains active, with several subsequent releases and tours in Europe under their collective belts.

In a March 2011 interview with The Great Southern Brainfart. KINGDOM COME singer Lenny Wolf was asked if he was hurt by the criticism that his band received early on for sounding like LED ZEPPELIN. "I was a young man, a singer who hardly spoke English and our band just exploded," he said. "We were excited and at first the press celebrated us. I remember [U.K.'s] Kerrang! [magazine] said, 'Finally, there's a band like 'the big magic Z!'' and we were all very happy. I must admit that there were some similarities, but in no way did we even get close. Every band, especially young bands, are influenced by somebody and those influences will surface when you start writing your own stuff. In the beginning, we took it as a compliment then all of the sudden some press person overheard Danny saying, 'Who's Jimmy Page?' He was saying it out of context like, 'Oh no, not this question again.' so he printed that one line: 'KINGDOM COME guitarist announces he's never heard of Jimmy Page.' This is so far out and ridiculous but the way the media works. The press loves victims. They love kicking you when you on the ground and they'll kick you even more. That's just the way it is. We also learned that bad press is better than no press and once I realized that, I just ignored it and I didn't care anymore. Fortunately, the music does all the talking and if the music gives you goosebumps and the music moves you than don't worry about it . . . We took it as a compliment and were excited. We were playing in London the night before Robert Plant was playing and we went down to see him. He was goofing with us, having fun and he was so relaxed. Robert Plant is like above all. He's really above everything. He was joking with us and it was really great. It really made me sad when I noticed Jimmy Page, who was one of my heroes, starting to whine about little KINGDOM COME who was never really a threat at all."