Doug Aldrich

Aldrich began playing guitar at age 11, inspired by his older sister's Jeff Beck albums. Aldrich's first guitar was a cheap Les Paul-copy purchased from a Sears catalog. Fresh out of high school, Aldrich met the girlfriend of Kiss drummer Eric Carr, who told him that he was the type of guitarist Kiss was looking for to replace Ace Frehley. He subsequently auditioned for Kiss in 1982 but the spot ultimately went to Vinnie Vincent. Aldrich said that although the members of Kiss treated him very well during the audition process, Gene Simmons told him to "lose this number" when Aldrich attempted to talk with him again months later. Aldrich joined the L.A. glam band Lion in 1983, recording two albums and one EP before the band broke up in 1989. When Aldrich was in Lion recording their first album at Scotti Brothers' Recording Studio, he was invited to join the Slaughter, but turned down the invite since the Lion project was just taking off. Nevertheless, Aldrich did play some guitar for Slaughter during those early days. Aldrich was briefly a member of Hurricane, replacing founding guitarist Robert Sarzo in 1989. He participated in the writing and recording of Slave to the Thrill (1990) before leaving the band. …