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Small Tribute Paid to Larger'Than'Life Rockers KISS From: Yahoo News by Samira Nanda 
Imagine four little people dressed in black leather and chains, faces covered in garish black-and-white makeup, wearing wild black wigs, wagging their tongues and rocking on stage to the heavy metal beat of KISS. That was the dream that led KISS fan Joey Fatale to create Mini-Kiss, a tribute band with a difference. No matter how well this band plays, they will never fully measure up to the original 1970s rockers because each of them is not much over 4 feet tall. "Whatever you do as a little person, people are never going to take you seriously," said the diminutive Fatale, who lives in a New York suburb with his wife and daughter and has been working in entertainment for more than a decade. "People probably do think, 'Oh it's just a gimmick,' but when people actually see it performed and see how much we try to present ourselves as good as them ... that's what makes it cool," he said before a recent gig in a New York club. "You see little people do all kinds of stuff on TV and it's always something corny or some stupid gimmick, but this is something where people enjoy what we're doing ... It's really cool to hear people chanting 'Mini-Kiss, Mini-Kiss."' Kiss is known for outrageous stage shows in which the band members strut their stuff in catsuits slashed to the crotch, leather trousers hung with chains, bat wings and armor. Kiss frontman GENE SIMMONS is said by fans to have the longest tongue in rock and roll, which he used to display for cheering crowds, leering and spewing blood. Fatale imitates his idol right down to the tongue. "The lights go on and boom, you've got four little people dressed to a tee like KISS ... We put on a really wild show," he told Reuters Television in an interview. FROM FAKE GUITARS TO MINI GUITARS The idea for the band came six years ago when Fatale was moving and sorting through old albums. "I still have the first KISS album. I was looking at it, and I thought 'Imagine four little people dressing up just like KISS.' It just hit me. It hit me out of nowhere," he said. The line-up has changed since the early days and the quality has gradually improved. Fatale said they used to lip-sync the songs and mime with plywood cutout guitars. "Now we have real guitars. I went out and bought mini guitars," he said. However they're still practicing and for they moment they still rely on a backing track. "I want to start playing for real; if we do that we're going to be phenomenal," Fatale said. In another departure from the original all-male KISS, two of the four in Mini-Kiss are women. Drummer Kerry Robinson, who takes on the persona of PETER CRISS, says she is normally rather shy and retiring but the stage show liberates her. "I just go for it," she said backstage at New York's Cutting Room club. "I feel like I have a mask on. It's not Kerry, it's mini-Peter." After playing parties and bars for several years, Fatale says his proudest moment came when they were invited to play at a magazine launch party for original KISS wildman Simmons. "We got a call from a friend that I know that said, 'Do you want to play for GENE SIMMONS?'," Fatale said. "I was like 'Hell yeah -- the god of rock and roll, without a doubt."' "He didn't even know, I don't think. He was surprised. We came out, we performed and he just loved it." "He has probably seen tons and tons of KISS tribute bands, but he's probably never in his life seen a little people KISS tribute band," Fatale said. "That's what's so cool about what we're doing. And I think also, in my head, we're keeping KISS still going." The crowd of around 100 at the Cutting Room evening of "mini" entertainment headlined by Mini-Kiss was appreciative. "I thought they were great," said audience member Laurel Hartmann. "I was a little surprised because I didn't know what to expect. But they are very talented and confident. And it is encouraging and inspiring, I think." |
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