Home Regulars Features Star Bios Chat Archive

Features Archive

Search Mr. Showbiz

Interviews Archive


J-Pegged
The Green Room
The Mr. Showbiz Interview

Well-Known Writers Archive


Unedited
Tom Bodett
Tony Hendra
Joe Queenan

Terminal Chic

Apocalypse, Pretty Soon

Games of Skill Archive


Plastic Surgery lab

Plus! Archive


Their Stories
Because I Said So
Museum Piece
Haiku





Wednesday, May 22, 1996
The Mr. Showbiz Interview Archive
KISS

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley reunite their original lineup to put the spectacle back in rock and roll

By Gary Graff
Thursday, June 13, 1996

HE stage is set up in an airplane hanger for rehearsals--it's the only type of indoor venue that won't crumble when the pyrotechnics go off. The trainer has them doing aerobics, weights, treadmills, and stationary bikes. They've practiced putting the makeup on again, and they've reacquainted themselves with the eight-inch stacked heels of their boots. Yes, the original fire-breathing, blood-spitting KISS--Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss--is back and ready to rock and roll all night and party every day in what's shaping up to be the summer's hottest concert tour.

"We've buried the Eagles, Rod Stewart, and Garth , all in one fell swoop," says Simmons, in the midst of a pre-tour workout. "The KISS army is alive and well, and we intend to stay true to the spirit of KISS. We'll play every song they want to hear--as many of them as we can put in there--with every stage effect they've either heard about or come to love, merging modern technology with all of it. We'll basically go where no band has gone before."
The KISS army has been attacking box offices around North America, where the reunion tour--the original quartet's first outing together since 1979--has become the season's toughest ticket. Opening night, set for June 28 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, sold out the show's 33,000 tickets in less than an hour. Concerts in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York followed suit. Pretty impressive, but Simmons--who, at forty-six, can still claim rock's longest tongue--hardly misses a step on the treadmill: "If I say I'm surprised, it wouldn't be the truth. For well over a decade, fans have been clamoring for it. But if I admit I'm not surprised, then I sound cocky and flippant."
The KISS reunion was predicated on a couple of factors, according to Simmons--who, with guitarist Stanley, continued to lead KISS after Criss left in 1980 and Frehley departed in 1982. Fan demand was one--a formidable lobby considering KISS has sold seventy-five million records since 1974. The other was the sobriety of their former bandmates. "No matter how much the kids ask for mom and dad to get back together again, if dad is still drunk, mom is not going to take him back," Simmons explains. "Ace and Peter have had very serious problems having to do with abuse. They've come clean on this subject."
The idea germinated when Criss made a cameo appearance at one of last year's KISS conventions. Frehley did the same thing at another. When the group decided to do an MTV Unplugged session last fall, it seemed appropriate to have Criss and Frehley join the latest KISS lineup, which now includes guitarist Bruce Kulick and drummer Eric Singer. The final factor, Simmons says, was the notion that the old KISS--with its attendant rock-and-roll spectacle--had something important to bring to the nineties alternative scene.
"I want spectacle," Simmons says emphatically. "I'm sick and tired of going to see a pissed-off therapy session in front of me--none of which has anything to do with the fact that I take these records home, and they're brilliant. Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, these are great songwriters. But I don't want to go to see anybody live. It's depressing. Isn't anybody happy out there? Give me one--just one--happy song. What is it about this thing that makes them depressed about it? Let me get this straight: you have more money than you know what to do with; you're young; you're white, which means you're in the power elite; every woman wants to have your child. What's not to like? I don't get it."
Getting Simmons to answer a question is easy; the hard part is getting him to stop. "I have a solution to the money and fame," he adds, hitting his stride. "If you don't want to be famous and you've sold your millions of records, move to Tibet. They don't give a shit. In terms of money, write Gene Simmons a personal check. It'll make both of us happier: you won't bear the burden of having the money; I'll be happier because I'll be even filthier richer."
Simmons may have all the answers, but his partner Paul Stanley is not so forthcoming. He won't venture a guess as to how long this particular KISS tour might last. There is a new studio album in the can, recorded with Kulick and Singer, who he says have been great sports about being put on the bench for an unspecified time. There is even talk about keeping both versions of KISS operating simultaneously. But, for now, Stanley is only concentrating on the present. "This is writing itself as it goes along," Stanley says. "All we know is that we're going out with the greatest show on earth. We're going to tour the world and destroy it. And beyond that, we have no plans."

Gene Simmons & KISS Photos: © 1996 Archive Photos


Back to Archive Index Current Mr. Showbiz Interview


Send your comments to Mr. Showbiz

Copyright 1996 Starwave Corporation. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.