KISS Expo Tour with Eric Singer
May 5th, 1998 - Huxley´s, Berlin, Germany
Another great day for
the German KISS Fans. Eric Singer formerly drummer of KISS was the special
guest on the KISS Expo Tour 1998. Another chance for KISS Deutschland (KISS
Asylum News Germany), to get an exclusive report from that event and
to get an interview with Eric Singer. The Expo took place at the Huxley´s,
a big venue in Berlin. Unfortunately there was no cover band playing, so
I didn't have a chance to see Eric playing drums, but he promised that he will
play when there is a band (on some other locations there will be a band).
Eric did an question & answer session with some news. He said, that
Peter got married last sunday, that he saw Gene surfing several times
through the internet to watch what the KISS sites are doing, he said Gene
is a workaholic and that he and Ace are fiends . Ace is living in
L.A., and because of the recording of Psycho Circus, they both are hanging
out in clubs etc. On Ace´s birthday party he, Ace, Gene and Paul
were on a Cheap Trick gig, and had dinner after that. After the session,
it took about one and a half hour, he signed everything for the fans, this
took about 2 hours. And then it was time for my interview!
And of course there were the KISS dealers, selling everything you want.
There you found every reunion merchandise, videos and a lot of old stuff
- really everything you want.
Eric was a bit tired, cause he has not slept much the night before and asked
me to do it quick. We talked about 15 minutes and after that he was friendly
enough to sign all my cd´s etc.
The Interview:
Florian (KISS Deutschland): What are your plans for the future?
Eric Singer: I don´t know, everytime things change. I have
no big plans, I am just planning for tomorrow and that´s it.
F:
Any plans with Gilby Clark?
E.S.: Gilby is a good friend of mine. We played a lot together in
the past, it was fun. I also played some tracks on his new album, but I
am definitely not in his band. He has no band, his lineup always changes.
Now he is playing with another band, because I am over here, but when I
am home, I will usually play drums for him, because he is a good friend
of mine. We have a lot of fun, and it is a good time.
F.: Why aren´t you the drummer of UNION?
E.S.: Cause that´s not what I wanted to do. I like Bruce,
he is a great guy, but when we both were out of KISS, I wanted to go my
own direction and he wanted his own direction. I wish him well, I think
he made a great record, that´s all.
F.: Did Bruce ask you to be the drummer?
E.S. : No.
F.: How is your relationship towards Gene and Paul?
E.S.: Fine. Last week I was out with Ace for his birhtday with Gene
and Paul, we went to see Cheap Trick in concert, after that we had dinner.
Our relationship is like it always was.
F.: Did they tell you something about their new album?
E.S.: No.
F.:Hasn´t Ace told you something?
E.S.: No, I don´t ask him about this. He played me his own
demos, Ace´s demos, which I thought were very cool, but I haven´t
heard any songs that the band has done.
F:
There were a lot of rumors about the KISS album on the internet.
E.S.: I do not pay attention to the internet, I only pay attention
to my site and that´s it, when people e-mail me on my site, I always
try to answer all mails as much as I can, now I am gone, so I can´t
do it.
F.: I wrote in your guestbook a couple of month ago, but I didn´t
get any answer?
E.: I always do, but sometimes my mails come back, something like
no response or no server, I am not on AOL, I am on the world wide web with
flashnet. But I e-mail everybody back.
F.: What was your best and worst experience with KISS?
E.: The best experience is the fans, I do not know the worst, every
band has good and bad.
F.: What was your best KISS show?
E.: There were a lot of good shows, exspecially Buenos Aires, Argentina
94, it was great, the crowed went nuts, we did there 5 shows.
F.: What is your favourite KISS Song?
E.: I do not know, there are so many, and every time you aske me
this question, there will be a different answer ... Watching You, Black
Diamond, Parasite, so many ...
F.: What is your favourite album?
E.S.: I like the first three records, there the band was really
hungry, Revenge and Unplugged.
F.: How were your feelings during the recording of Unplugged, Bruce
told me he felt sad?
E.S.: I was fine!
F.: No problems?
E.S.: No, I never was worried about a Reunion. I was surprised they
did do a Reunion, but then again I was not surprised.
F.: When did they tell you that they wanted to do the Reunion?
E.S.: When we finished the COS record.
F.: When did Gene and Paul tell you that you were out of the band?
E.S.:August 1996.
F.: Where you surprised about this?
E.S.: No, I was feeling it, I am not dull. You don´t have
to have much of brain to figure this out. They did a tour and were very
successfully. Of course you gonna stay doing this.
F.: A lot of people say, they did the Reunion, because they were
able to make a lot of money, what do you think about this?
E.S.: Well,
of course that´s the main basis, of course. Why do you think they
are doing it? Because they love each other? C´mon! You know, they
realize that this is a good smart move for buisiness, well, you cannot
survive as a musician unless you have succes with your music. So that´s
why they are doing it. Ther is nothing wrong, it is ok. Gene is very honest,
he says it in the magazines also: We did it because there is so much money.
He is honest. I respect that. When I read this in a paper, I had much more
respect for Gene, because he said the truth, not "we do it for the fans",
they didn´t do it for the fans. They did it because they can make
a lot of money. That´s honest, I respect that a lot.
F.: Do you make money with the sales of COS?
E.S.: No!
F.: For what were you paid?
E.S.: I don´t talk about my financial buisiness that´s
nobodies buisiness.
F.: I have read that you´ll do no promotion for COS, because
you did not get any money for COS.
E.S.: No, what I said was, their manager asked/called me up and
said Gene and Paul wanted to know if you wanna do some promotion for COS.
I said no, because I am not making any money and I don´t get paid.
When I was in KISS, I get paid for beeing in KISS. I was no longer in KISS
anymore, so I am not gonna work for free. I can´t do promotion for
something that makes no money for me. You know, I can´t work for
free. I have no problem with the record or promoting it. If people ask
me questions about it, I will answer their questions. But I am not gonna
work for Gene and Paul for free.
F.: They didn´t offer you money for promoting?
E.S.: No!
F.: Well, that is not fair.
E.S.: You know, that´s their choice. I don´t care. But
let me say this: The band did no promotion for COS! Gene and Paul ... did
you see any promotion for COS?
F.: Not
here in Germany.
E.S.: Of course, they didn´t do it anywhere.
F.: But I have heard that they did some radio promotion for COS.
E.S.: No, you know what they did, they went out to promote their
next studio album. They just use COS as a vehicle to promote their next
Reunion studio album and tour. But that is ok, it is smart. Believe me,
I do not want to talk bad or negative or being bitter about KISS, I am
just telling the truth. You know, I respect Gene and Paul for the decission
they made and I think they do the right choices for them ... for me it
was ... well ... but it is ok.
F.: Was you relationship towards Gene and Paul only for buisiness?
E.S.: Yes buisiness! I am friendly with them, I get along fine with
Gene and Paul, but our relationship was buisiness. When I saw them a couple
of days ago, it was the same feeling like it was when I was in the band.
It is only buisiness. Gene and Paul always treat everything from a certain
distance, it is buisiness for them. So I treat the same way, that´s
all.
With Ace I go out and hang out.
F.: How is Ace feeling about the Reunion?
E.S.: I guess ok, you shoul ask him. Ace is a great guy, we had
a lot of fun, to me he is a friend, like a buddy. Let me say this,
when I was in the band, I always get a long fine with Gene, Paul and Bruce
and they will all tell you the same thing. We are not best friends or buddies,
it is not this kinf of relationship, it was buisiness.
F.: Thanks a lot Eric.
E.S: No problem, see you.
Check out the KISS Asylum Expo dates to read the Expo tour dates with Eric Singer!
Florian Hedwig
e-mail: HEDWIG@swhamm.de
KISS Deutschland
/ KISS Asylum News Germany