For one night only, on June 16th at Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas, Nevada – Todd “Dammit” Kerns, Brent Muscat, Michael “Doc” Ellis, and Rob “Boom Boom” Cournoyer – formerly known as Sin City Sinners, now going by the name Original Sin, will reunite for a very special show. The group will play their Exile On Fremont Street album live in its entirety, along with several other songs.

Speaking exclusively to Brave Words scribe Aaron Small, vocalist and guitarist Todd Kerns shares how this unexpected, but incredibly welcome reunion came to be – ten years after the guys first got together in 2007. “The funny thing about this is… these four individuals are in constant contact, and are friends; just like The Age Of Electric (one of Todd’s other bands) in a sense. Ellis and I have been playing in The Anti-Stars for… geez, I don’t even know when we started that? Last year at some point. Then Brent and Rob play in The Saints together, so it’s this funny kind of like, ‘We should get together sometime.’ Next thing you know, it’s the classic example of, ‘What are you doing here? What are you doing there?’ Honestly, we started to get people sniffing around, asking questions, and a lot of residency talk. You know my schedule, there’s no way I could really do a week to week to week thing just yet. So, let’s play a show, see how it goes.”

“It’s one of those things, there’s a lot of history there,” continues Todd. “There’s a lot going on – a lot of drama and weird stuff. Look, I just love these guys and I want to play Exile On Fremont Street live in its entirety, and a few of the other songs we used to play. To me, it’s always about music. It’s never about some sort of pseudo-political stance; I just want to play some music with some friends. And to put a smile on people’s faces, cause I know that a lot of people will be very excited to see that happen and to see these four guys together.”

As far as the name change from Sin City Sinners to Original Sin goes… “We’re calling it Original Sin mostly because it differentiates us from the past; it’s something kind of fresh for us.” And it sets this band apart from the currently active Sin City Sinners All-Stars, as well as Sin City Rejects. “Yeah, just separating ourselves from all this other stuff that, to be honest, is a bit confusing. I’m so out of touch with whatever version there is of the Sinners out there right now. Whatever’s going on, I don’t even know? Why would we go out and call ourselves Original Sinners Mach 1 or something? It just makes sense to do something fresh. That way, if we decide to release something, this is its own entity, just these four guys.”

And these are four very busy guys; Todd plays bass in a little band called Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. “Muscat’s gone on to do a lot of other stuff, him and Zach (Throne) started this thing called Alley Cats; they’ve got a thing going on in Japan. Ellis has multiple things going on, Rob has multiple things going on too. So it’s been one of those really interesting things where everybody goes off in their own direction, and then comes back together with a bunch of other experiences; which is very familiar to me, cause I’ve been doing this for the past two years with The Age Of Electric. But coming back here (to Vegas), I really can’t think of a good reason not to do this. To me, anything that sounds like fun, and will get people smiling in the audience – that’s the most important thing.”

Back in their heyday, Sin City Sinners were known for having a big name guest star at almost about every show. Just open the Exile On Fremont Street booklet and there’s a list of well over 100 people that have joined the band on stage, including: Bruce Kulick (KISS), Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks), David Ellefson (Megadeth), Stix Zadinia (Steel Panther), and adult film legend Ron Jeremy, to name but a very few. However, this show on June 16th will just be the original four – Kerns, Muscat, Ellis, and Cournoyer. “Yeah, absolutely. The band started with this jam aspect, which was a lot of fun, and we happened to be very good at it. But I was always focused on the importance of these four individuals being the main part of it. I feel that was our most successful lineup; it’s the one that people remember from those days. The guest thing is all fine and good, and I suppose if somebody’s in the building, then we’ll jam. But there won’t be anybody slated to guest. Zachary Throne is opening the show, Joshua Alan is opening the show – both of them were affiliated with the Sinners, and I’m sure they’ll get up on stage with us as well. Joshua was in the Let It Burn phase, and Zachary was in the Dive Bar Days Revisited phase; there’s a lot of history even there. In reality, the original four that we’re talking about aren’t the original four. The Dive Bar – the original wave of the Sinners had a bass player, Dee. I’m hoping he’ll be a part of it as well. But Ellis has been there in the highest profile phase of the band.”

Initially self-released in 2010 and long since out of print, the Exile On Fremont Street CD is being sold online for over $1000. Are there any plans for a re-release of this highly sought after album? “I would like to do that. I’m still very proud of that collection of songs and that piece of work we did. It’s just more a question of where to begin with that. At the moment I’m really focused on, let’s play a show for some people who want to show up and do it; then we’ll discuss all these other things. Cause there’s a lot of music we did that simply isn’t available, before it became contentious and just sort of all went on pause. It would be nice to see it resurface.”

Will Original Sin film and/or record this one-off show on June 16th at Vamp’d? “You know, I hadn’t really thought too hard on that, but that probably would be smart, wouldn’t it. We’ll probably record it. The filming of things is always a lot more involved, and it’ll be all over YouTube five seconds after we play. But actually professionally filming a show is so much more than, let’s film it! You need a film crew and a sound crew; but it is a distinct possibility, I think it’d be great. I was saying to the guys, ‘you have no idea what’s coming up or what could happen.’ One of us could get a gig and off we go. The four of us are here now, let’s make the most of it. This could lead to anything, and it always does. I just know the way these things work. Next thing you know you’re being offered this or that; a lot of which depends on my availability, and the others’ availability as well.”

For those unable to make it to Vamp’d in Las Vegas, NV on June 16th for Original Sin, Todd Kerns has two solo shows upcoming: May 19th in Los Angeles, CA at Genghis Cohen, and May 27th in Las Vegas, NV opening for Vince Neil at the Downtown Grand. Furthermore, Todd’s tribute to Canadian music, Toque, have a pair of gigs booked: June 29th in Dauphin, MB, at Dauphin Country Fest, and August 6th in Kenora, ON at Harbourfest.