“I think Matt is a super talented guy, I think he’s a great singer!”
— Jason Bieler on his former Saigon Kick singer Matt Kramer

THE HAIR METAL GURU — We’re JUST kidding with that headline… but, in all fairness, this is a direct quote from the mighty bearded and always handsome Jason Bieler!

“I can already see the title of this video next week, ‘Jason sh!ts on ex-band members'”, says Bieler in his recent interview on The Hair Metal Guru.

Ask, and you shall receive… we’ve made your prediction come true Jason… now go to Vegas and start betting because you are on a hot streak.

In the aforementioned episode of The Hair Metal Guru, the Saigon Kick guitarist, vocalist, and chief song-writer has let it all – or most of it – hang out in this 75 minute clip.

Bieler, who is as self-deprecating as Rodney Dangerfield minus the good looks – is as always – very entertaining.

We won’t give away all the dirt, or the lack thereof… but we’ve grabbed a few tidbits and bullet-pointed below some of the subjects that were covered.

Also, to reinforce again here, Jason does not talk sh!t about anyone… and appears to be very diplomatic about past band-members.

However, the topic of various points in the Saigon Kick career comes up throughout this interview, The Guru asks some of the hard questions and Bieler answers them all.

1. His earliest musical memories of discovering 8-Trak tapes of The Beatles & The Fifth Dimension
2. His first real concert experience was seeing Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads on the “Blizzard Of Oz” tour with Def Leppard supporting and having a moment where he thought; “Oh My…” and it all seemed to click
3. The era, or term Hair Metal is covered and mentioned throughout along with Grunge
4. The band’s huge “Love Is On The Way” ballad blowing up overnight
5. Saigon Kick, the good, the bad, the ugly and the rest
6. “I was a militant pain in the ass” to my band-members and “I can out-work anybody“
7. The falling out with SK and with various band-mates is covered a few times over the years
8. Super TransAtlantic and The Jason Bieler & The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra
9. Bieler Bros. Records which he launched with his brother and working with other bands as a Producer
10. There are talks about money, publishing, checks, and how select band-members seem to have an issue with Jason, and they appear to feel he’s wronged them regarding payments, and Bieler adds; “Both from Tom DeFile‘s stance and Matt‘s (Kramer) stance. Strangely enough, they both received very large checks in the last 6 months, based on something that I found and hooked up for them.”
11. Jason talks the 2012 SK reunion and says; “I took zero pleasure from that experience”, but notes in relation to the fans and their anticipation he loved it for them but also adds; “I’ve had out patient surgery that would rank higher.”
12. Talks about bands reuniting, aside from SK, also mentions the Skid Row / Sebastian Bach topic
13. “I think Matt (Kramer) is a super talented guy, I think he’s a great singer” and more on his former frontman
14. “We got lucky because our manager was a lunatic” and how they saved their record deal with Atlantic Records a week after their lead singer quit the band
15. Jason Flom of Atlantic Records telling him; “I have no idea what the hell you guys are doing!”
16. “It was like the love at first sight thing” when bassist Chris McClernon auditioned
17. Mention of the SOTO KICK dates and his friendship with Jeff Scott Soto going back to the mid 80’s before Saigon Kick was even formed
18. His songs appearing on a few Sound Tracks over the years, including “American Pie“
19. Jason says “Never say never” on (another) Saigon Kick reunion, but it might be safe to say the Fan Base probably shouldn’t hold their breath
20. Jason looks like Rick Rubin‘s somewhat cleaner looking cousin, which is not covered in the interview but this is an observation from Metal Sludge

Saigon Kick formed in Florida in 1988, and peaked with their “Lizard” record from 1992 (Atlantic Records) which was certified Gold by the RIAA.

The band’s sophomore release hit #80 on the Billboard 200 mainly based off their Billboard Hot 100 single “Love Is On The Way” which peaked at #12.

Listen to the full interview with Jason Bieler below on The Hair Metal Guru.

Stay tuned to Metal Sludge for Breaking News, Updates and Features along with both New Interviews and Classic 20 Questions.