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From: The Sun News Take away the studded leather outfit, black-and-white stage makeup and platform boots, and KISS rocker GENE SIMMONS could pass for an everyday businessman. Well, except for the jet-black long hair. And the constant come-ons and sexual innuendo. OK, but there's a businessman tucked in there somewhere, one that has become a marketing machine. He persuades consumers to snap up just about any item bearing the KISS name, much like he persuaded fans to give a makeup-wearing, blood-spitting band a chance three decades ago. Long past the band's heyday in the 1970s, Simmons is still on the road, this time promoting the latest products to join the crowded field of KISS-branded merchandise. There's not much the band hasn't slapped its name on in recent years - including coffee, condoms and coffins. The latest venture, which brought the rocker to Myrtle Beach a week ago, is perfume. To shake hands with Simmons during his four-hour stint at Belk at Coastal Grand Mall, fans had to plop down $100 for, not one, but two bottles of KISS fragrance, one for guys, one for girls. Still, several hundred crazed fans did it and got an autographed bottle and picture with Simmons, who played to the crowd and camera with his rock-star appeal. It was Simmons' second swing by Myrtle Beach this year. In June, he christened the KISS Coffeehouse at Broadway at the Beach, the band's first foray into food. Last week, he hinted that there might be more in store for Myrtle Beach, mentioning a meeting he had scheduled with "an outdoor entity about doing a big KISS-themed event." He wouldn't give details but did say he has not talked with developers of the Hard Rock Theme park. But a theme park ride wouldn't be out of the band's realm. Simmons' has a wide-reaching resume, including rocker, author, promoter of Indy Car racing, reality TV star of "Family Jewels" and "Rock School." A cartoon show developed by Simmons is in the works. Question How do you describe the KISS fragrance to people? Answer That's not the issue. It's like tasting something really good. All you know is, 'Boy, I like that.' Then someone else describes it as a little fruity, a little sexy, it's a little this. All I know is you put some [KISS fragrance] on, then you get lucky that day. Q. How did you pick where you were going to go promoting it? A. I didn't. The guy you are sitting with over there, Neil [Katz], is king of the fragrance line, Gemini - Gemini [Cosmetics] is our partners with this. We basically took a decidedly American point of view, which is of the people, for the people, by the people. New York and Los Angeles is not what makes America great. It's the heartland. It begins and ends there. Lots of things work in New York and LA and nowhere else. If you can make it in Peoria, baby, you can make it anywhere. Q. What role did you play in developing the scent, packaging? A. What we did is what people do. You know the Nielsen ratings are designed so that people are in charge. The people are the ones who say we like it or we don't like it. As this was being developed, we'd say, 'We prefer this scent over that scent. Or this bottle over that bottle.' Try not to mess it up. We are not the ones qualified to create it. You can't put me in a chemical lab and say, 'Now do the mixture that will make women and guys love it.' By the way, it's a fragrance. From head to toe. If you've got a crevice on your body, it might as well smell good. So we've got stuff for your underarms ... anywhere, anyhow, on your head. Shampoos. All good stuff to make you smell good, which of course makes you look good. Q. Which is your favorite? A. I always wonder why people make you choose. When you have 10 children and someone asks you which is your favorite. I don't get that. I'd buy it all in a Merry KISSmas package - that's KISSmas, K-I-S-S. I'd give them all as a gift pack. By the way, the days of women putting on fragrance just to go out are gone. Put on a pair of jeans, T-shirt, a little dab will do you. Two guys, some KISS fragrance - you'll do all right. Know what I mean? Q. What's the next product we'll see from KISS? A. Well, down the road we have the KISS Coffeehouse, which is a big success. Huge, as a matter of fact. We have plans of going nationwide. Q. Where are you looking to open the next one? A. There are talks immediately about Montreal, New York and Vegas. Those are the first ones that have stepped up. When you do a KISS Coffeehouse or any KISS product, one of the most important things is making sure you have partners who are passionate about it ... You want to have partners who want it, love it and can't wait to come to work. Q. What products will we never see the KISS name on? A. No heavy booze and no cigarettes. Q. Why? A. Because, ultimately, I don't want to have that on my conscience. I don't want to have a 15-year-old fan deciding to smoke or drink because of KISS. No matter how you skew it, it is just not good for you or, a decidedly blunt way, it'll kill ya. Q. How does a rocker like yourself become such a businessman? A. Well, compared to Disney, I'm an amateur. But if you believe in truth in advertising, it actually does say 'music business.' The word business is up there. People who play guitar are shocked when you start using the word but it says so right there. There's a bigger world out there and it's not limited to music or business. It's called mindset. Before you do this, you have to have an overview. Be able to step way back instead of getting real close because perspective is everything. Q. What advice would you give to someone wanting to be the next GENE SIMMONS? A. The advice is just hard work ... I'm just trying to figure out how I can charge you for this. You know, make another dollar. That's what I do. Q. You've got the KISS Coffeehouse here, you're here with the perfume, any other plans for Myrtle Beach? A. I think Myrtle Beach should change its name to KISS City. And on the way in and on the way out, you've got to KISS someone. That's the toll. Have girls from Hooters greet you on the way in and on the way out. |
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