For Immediate Release - February 20, 2024 - San Francisco, California
Written by Stylist & Fashion Blogger Jamie Lee Kendall
PR contact Jamie Lee Kendall 415-362-8300 or westcoastleathersf@gmail.com
For West Coast Leather TV
American fashion designer Skip Pas of West Coast Leather partnered with the Metal Hall of Fame to make custom jackets for the Inductees. They were presented at the Metal Hall of Fame Gala on January 22, 2025 in Anaheim, California which was a major event of the season with many stars of metal music and music executives in attendance. It was a a night of fashion and music, which is partly what drew Skip and West Coast Leather to want to partner with the Metal Hall of Fame -- its long history of working closely with the music industry.
After creating the leather jackets, we sat down with the founder and CEO of the Metal Hall of Fame, Pat Gesualdo for a two-part interview, once before and once after the event.
Link to the jacket for purchase: Metal Hall of Fame 2025 Awards Jacket – West Coast Leather
Pre-event interview:
WCL: Tell us a little bit about your background.
Pat: In addition to being the founder of the Metal Hall of Fame, which inducts legendary bands and music industry executives, in the mid 90’s I served as the Director A&R for an imprint label to a major record company, and in the early 2000’s, was director of the warped tour for Sony Music. I'm the author of "Drum Therapy: Healing with the Drumset." I created a nonprofit organization called D.A.D, and I lecture and perform all over the world.
WCL: How did the Metal Hall of Fame come to be?
Pat: In 2016 Deep Purple got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When the drummer's wife went up to accept the award on his behalf the camera panned to the audience and everybody was like-half asleep. 10 seconds later, Eazy-E got their award and everyone was so excited. I was so annoyed. I said, "You know what? We need our own show and we are going to call it the Metal Hall of Fame." That was in April and that following January 3,000 miles away, we had our first show.
WCL: What is your favorite thing about working with the Hall of Fame Inductees?
Pat: We are dedicated to preserving and honoring the musicians that have worked so hard for so many decades to keep the music that we love alive and something needed to be done about that.
WCL: Can you tell us a little bit about the selection process to make it into the Hall of Fame?
Pat: All artists are nominated by a fan vote which is done online and then the nominating committee makes a decision from there.
WCL: What are you looking forward to most with the partnership with West Coast Leather and the jackets for the Metal Hall of Fame?
Pat: It's an honor to be able to transcend into the fashion world with such an exciting brand, West Coast Leather.
WCL: What are some of your big plans for 2025 (yourself and the Metal Hall of Fame)?
Pat: Next year is our 10th anniversary and Alice Cooper will be inducted and performing. We are looking forward to doing even more events around the world in person and our fans. This organization is part of the Drums And Disabilities organization (D.A.D.). We bring free therapy programs to special needs people as well as doctors, teachers and schools in over 15 countries.
WCL: Is there anything else that you would like to share with us?
Pat: Because of the LA Wildfires, we are turning this year's Gala into a "Rock Telethon" that will be live-streamed for free on the Facebook page so you can donate directly on the Red Cross website.
Post-event interview:
WCL: What was your favorite thing about this year's Metal Hall of Fame Awards?
Pat: My favorite thing about this year's Metal Hall of Fame Awards was definitely our jacket and doing the pre-party. The jacket was extra special for me because this was our first year doing it, and I was really excited about that.
WCL: Great job on putting together the telethon and all of the components to help the victims of the LA Wildfires and the ties in to the Red Cross. Was it difficult to pull off on such short notice?
Pat: Once I realized that I wanted to make this a Telethon in order to help the victims, we had the technical team there and we were able to pull it off fairly easily, thankfully. It went straight to the Red Cross.
WCL: I can see how much fashion is a part of the night with how attendees and performers dress. Did you have fun wearing the jacket?
Pat: I absolutely love wearing the jacket. I was so proud of it. You, Skip, Myranda and myself... we all just did a great job. Honestly, we got a lot of people excited that night about the jacket and I was really happy to see that.
WCL: What is the hardest part about planning and running an event like this?
Pat: There are several components that go into this each year: availability of the artist, whether or not they want to do something at all, the managers... each inductee takes a lot of work because it needs to be around a schedule and you multiply that times ten sometimes, or however many inductees there are and there can be that many issues. All in all, it is really about availability and if in fact they want to be inducted.
WCL: What are you most excited for about next year's event?
Pat: Next year is going to be the 10th Anniversary of the Metal Hall of Fame so we are really excited about that and doing some really special things and special partnerships. Plus, with our new clothing line it will be even bigger and better.
WCL: What is your favorite thing about the jacket?
Pat: It is just fantastic, right down to the zippers. I have the only suede one and people absolutely love both versions of the jacket. They are just amazing.
WCL: Nice answer. Can you tell us a story about designing the jacket with American Designer Skip Pas and all of the time designing it on the phone including adding and taking away components? Such as going through the artwork and logos?
Pat: You, myself, and Skip worked many, many, many hours on designing the jacket. Especially with you getting the names of all of the inductees sewn on the inside and all of your patience and perseverance with that. I greatly appreciate that. The work that Skip did was just unbelievable with his foresight and thinking of what he wanted to do. How the three of us started from the beginning, designing my jacket (the suede jacket) and coming up with that last minute. I'm so proud of the work that the three of us did because so many people enjoy and love it and that is the telltale sign that you're on to something.
WCL: Thank you for those nice words. Anything else you'd like to add?
Pat: I just want to thank you and Skip for all of your hard work and all of the support and taking all of the time. You have no idea how much it means to me to be working with both of you and it is a huge honor. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I'm proud of you guys, proud to be working with you and think we will do some great things going into the future together.
From West Coast Leather:
We will also be interviewing Frankie James, who is on the board of directors for the Metal Hall of Fame and has 30 years of experience in the music industry. Frankie is with Culture Rock Media and he is a major part of the event.
There were red carpet events, press and media, models, and a before-party at the House of Blues. The designer of the jackets, Skip Pas was there for all of the festivities. West Coast Leather model and PR Director Jamie Lee Kendall was also there to walk the red carpet and to present trophies to Inductees on-stage and during the telecast. Jamie was in Los Angeles filming more of a movie she has been working on.
The jackets are designed to make you feel like a rockstar and as Skip says, "like you are on a runway." They have many bold details like gold, bright colors, big logos, and a 1970s vibe.
The jackets have skull designs with red eyes and are made using 5 layers. The lining, which features the names of the Inductees, takes 4 hours to print with gold thread. The jackets were cut and sewn in California with the work of two factories.
#CaliforniaMadeCaliforniaProud
#WestCoastLeather
#MadeInAmerica
Below are photos of the jacket
Again, the jackets can be purchased here:
Metal Hall of Fame Limited Edition 2025 Awards Jacket – West Coast Leather
