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From: Bravewords/Bloody Knuckles Founding member of KISS, PETER CRISS, has been out of the spotlight since his abrupt departure from the ‘hottest band in the land’ a few years ago, but this cat hasn’t gone away. Luckily for KISS fans everywhere, Peter is back with One For All – a pensive and personal collection of ballads, and it was with great pleasure that I sat down with the Catman to discuss his latest album and future projects. Mitch Lafon: Tell me about One For All. How did the music come about? PETER CRISS: "The last run of the KISS tour with AEROSMITH without Ace (who I miss dearly). I had a hard time getting through that thing, but a contract is a contract. But the reason for this (ballad album) is that I had a huge hit with ‘Beth’ for my band KISS and for me as a songwriter. It’s the 48th most played ballad in the world. Every night, I went out to sing it, I loved it. It was great! It was the thrill of my life and I realized I like singing ballads and I’m a hopeless romantic metal brain. I’m still metal man and I’ve not changed just because I’m putting out a ballad album. I just finished my rock album with my guitarist and it’s kick ass. It’ll be out next year with the grace of God. But ballads are my thing and I wanted to do something very autobiographical besides doing a book. I didn’t feel by screaming or playing it in a rock/hard rock fashion that it would explain the trip that I’m going on on this CD. It’s a trip of where my life has been and gone. The ups and downs of these last ten years of being back with the guys, losing friends, making friends, becoming idiots and making the same mistakes again, repeating ourselves in the same stupid ways... just all of it and the fans! Always the fans with me. ‘Faces In The Crowd’ is a song I dedicate to the fans for the wonderful life they’ve given me and if it sounds like I’m sticking my nose up their ass... good! Because I have a beautiful house and drive a nice car because of the fans that have bought my music. I grew up poor in Brooklyn, so I’m well aware of coming from ‘down there.’ So, I thought of all of this and I wrote two songs for the fans (the other one is called ‘Memories’). I wrote a song called ‘Space Ace’. Strictly wrote it for Ace because I felt so near and dear to him. We always were the closest and I started missing Ace a lot. I recorded a song my mother loved to sing as a kid – ‘What A Difference A Day Makes’ – so old that it’ll never go over in the world of metal and they’ll probably condemn me for it, but my mom dug it, so I sang it." ML: You’ve got Paul Schaffer from David Letterman’s band playing on this CD... PC: "I’m really jazzed to have him because to me he’s a musician’s musician. I’ve also got Will Lee on bass." ML: Will (Lee) played on Ace’s 1978 solo album... PC: "Yeah, we all go back. Paul and I go back to the ‘70s." ML: Tell me about the duet, ‘Doesn’t Get Better Than This’, with Jennifer Johnson. PC: "She’s another ARETHA FRANKLIN. I thought about the song one night on the Lear Jet, staying at the Ritz-Carlton, we’re playing a huge arena and we’re sold out for a couple of years... it just ‘Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This’. So, that started that song. ‘One For All’ is the major classic for me because it’s about 9/11 and I’m a Brooklyn boy. I’m a New York boy. I happened to be at church and when I came home my wife said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. So, I thought it was a little plane and somebody had made a mistake. Then, I’m watching as the second plane hit and it was so surreal. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. So, this is my way as an artist to say what I thought of it and war sucks. Whether I get condemned for it... ML: I hope not. PC: (Laughs) "Look I’m old school. I come from the heart and I don’t come from any other place and I sure know who I am and where I’ve been. I’m just really enjoying writing music at my convenience, going down at five in the morning and playing drums... it’s a great freedom in my life right now. This is the first album I’ve ever produced and it was a nightmare. It was so many decisions and I hope I made the right ones. We had George Marino master it. We got the best of the best and I didn’t cut any corners." ML: You covered ‘Heart Behind The Hands’ from a Broadway musical... PC: "It stayed with me because I auditioned for a play called Brooklyn. I had just finished a two year acting school and had just done Oz and I was really excited. It was a musical and I got hung up on the music and realized you had to act too. I passed the audition as far as the singing, but when it came to the acting well... and I lost it. I wanted to impress them so much with my voice that I disregarded the acting." ML: Are you hoping to get into a Broadway show? PC: "I’d love it." ML: KISS lends itself to that kind of theatrical presentation... PC: "Look it – I went for it. It was about a vet from Vietnam that comes back strung out... it was a really cool play." ML: Before you mentioned your rock album... Read the rest of the interview at www.bravewords.com. |
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