Examiner

For millions of fanatics, September 18th, 1983 was the day their rock ‘n roll super heroes KISS showed their faces to the world for the first time in dramatic fashion on MTV. It was a moment that could only be compared to Batman, Spider-Man, or the Flash coming on the national news and removing their costumes and masks on camera. Although Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had already left the band, new members Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr had spent the better part of a year hiding their identities behind faces painted up to look like the Ankh Warrior and Fox, respectively.

You see, there was no internet in 1983. We didn’t have the instant gratification you get today with dozens of different websites running their version of the same story. We common folk had to wait a full twelve to twenty-four hours before our first look at KISS without their trademark makeup.

At the time, I was living outside of Austin, TX in a suburb called Cedar Park. On September 19th, I was eleven years old and getting ready for school that Monday morning. My stepfather always got up early to read the local newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, before he headed to work. He silently slapped the paper down in front of me at the dining room table. I remember looking at the picture of the four members of KISS without their war paint and reading the blurb, which named each member from left to right.

I didn’t find it too hard to pick out Paul Stanley‘s slightly pursed lips and Gene Simmons with his tongue protruding from his mouth. Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr were recognizable mainly because of the shapes of their faces and through the process of elimination after picking out Stanley and Simmons. It was a monumental moment for millions of KISS fans and remains a pivotal point in rock and roll history and the career of the Hottest Band in the World.

On a personal note, I always laugh thinking back on that day. After reading the article, I exclaimed, “Wow.” My stepfather pulled the paper back to himself. With a straight face, much like that of Red Forman’s on “That 70s Show,” he proclaimed, “They should’ve kept the makeup on.” The ridiculous things old people say.

Cleveland Scene

When we went looking for the Spaceman, we found him in Green Bay, Wisconsin, believe it or not. That’s where former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was on Tuesday afternoon when we caught up with him via phone for a brief conversation. He comes to Northeast Ohio on Saturday night to perform at Hard Rock Live.

Space Invader, Frehley’s latest solo album, continues the successful comeback story for the 64-year old veteran guitarist who scored a Top 10 debut on the Billboard charts when the album was released last year in August. The chart debut added another milestone to Frehley’s career, as he became the first KISS member to have an album debut in the Top 10 as a solo artist. Anomaly, his previous solo album, released in 2009, peaked at #26 on the album charts.

The artwork for Space Invader came from Ken Kelly — well-known in the KISS universe for creating the cover art for the classic Love Gun and Destroyer albums. Frehley had been keen to have Kelly work on art for one of his projects and he finally got his wish with the new album and he says that the space theme that populates some of the material on the record began to take shape as he was in the midst of discussing album art ideas with Kelly.

“It kind of started up with the cover idea,” he says. “I wanted to get Ken Kelly to paint something and then we figured that [it should have] me coming out of the spaceship and it just snowballed from there.”

Frehley assembled the bulk of the album in less than a year, writing 11 songs in the process, something that demonstrated that he still had creative mojo that he thought he might have lost.

“You get to a certain age and you just think that sometimes you can’t recapture some of the things that you had in your youth,” he says. “One of the comments that I got a lot on this last record was that my voice still sounds like it did in my twenties, which is kind of funny, you know? Sobriety,” he adds, “has really helped me focus and be more creative. It was kind of fun towards the end as the songs started falling into place and we got really hot on the space theme. ‘Space Invader’ was the last song that I wrote for the record and it just kind of came together during the mixing process [which] was a big surprise and a nice surprise.”

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OC Register

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons listens to Mary Hicks, 101, of Buena Park speak about her experiences as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1943-1945 during the grand opening of Rock & Brews in Buena Park. The restaurant treated Buena Park veterans to lunch for their grand opening celebration.

A pair of rock ‘n’ roll icons turned for the grand opening of Rock & Brews in Buena Park on this week.

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS, who serve as consultants and front-men for Rock & Brews, treated about 150 veterans from Buena Park VFW Post 8954 to a free lunch on Tuesday and made a $10,000 donation to the post.

Rock & Brews is a national chain that bills itself as a family-friendly restaurant serving American comfort food amid a rock ’n’ roll vibe.

The 6,750-square-foot eatery, located about a quarter-mile north of Knott’s Berry Farm, has been open since late August.

Joe Polo

Keith Spera | Mass Live

Amanda Schwab

As of this summer, Kiss has accumulated more gold-certified albums than any other American band. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the trade group that certifies gold albums for sales of more than 500,000 copies and platinum albums for sales of more than 1 million copies, announced that Kiss has 30 gold albums to its credit. Those include 26 full band albums and the four solo albums released simultaneously by the four original band members in 1978.

“The Very Best of Kiss,” a compilation released in 2002, and “The Best of Kiss 20^thCentury Masters (Millennial Collection),” from 2003, were certified gold in June. Those new certifications for these two vintage greatest-hits collections were apparently enough to anoint Kiss “America’s No. 1 Gold Record Award Winning Group of All Time,” with a total of 30 gold albums. Kiss also has 14 platinum albums, and three multi-platinum albums.

Kiss, now in its 41^st year as a band, was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Original members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley continue to tour and record with current guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer – had the good fortune to come to prominence in the decades before file sharing and such streaming services as Spotify decimated sales of recorded music.

While more than 100 digital singles were certified multi-platinum, platinum or gold in June by the RIAA, only one album achieved platinum or multi-platinum status – Taylor Swift’s 2014 blockbuster “1989,” which has sold more than 5 million copies and counting – and only five were certified gold. Those included the two Kiss albums, R&B singer Miguel’s 2012 release “Kaleidoscope Dream” and a pair of compilations: the “Disney Lullaby Album,” from 2000, and the 52^nd edition of the ever-popular “Now That’s What I Call Music” series.

Unless Taylor Swift puts out another 30 albums over the next three decades, it seems unlikely that any contemporary act will ever rack up enough gold certifications to displace Kiss at the top spot.

MItch Lafon

Daniel Kohn | LA Weekly

For the better part of the past 40-plus years, Paul Stanley has been known as the lead singer of KISS. But there’s more to being a rock icon than painting your face and putting on a dynamic live show. In his autobiography, Face the Music, Stanley mentions early on how he got into the Motown and Philly soul, and that played as much of a role as British rock did in shaping his career.

Ahead of that show, we caught up with the Soul Station impresario to hear about the project’s origins, how important of a role this music played in his own songwriting, and what fans can expect from the band’s live show.

Why at this point in your career did you decide to form this group?
A lot of people have asked me similar questions. But before I saw Led Zeppelin, I saw Otis Redding, I saw Solomon Burke and I saw The Temptations. I grew up as much on real blues, R&B, Motown and Philly soul as British rock.

I just find myself thinking that people go to live shows paying for Kobe beef and getting dog food. You get computerized music with fake vocals, and it had me thinking about all of the great Motown and Philly soul acts that did these great songs and delivered the goods. I thought it was a great thing to celebrate, so I called some of the top people who I knew and when I told them what I wanted to do, [and] everybody without hesitation said they were in.

WAAF News

If you try to talk down to KISS, be prepared to be burned.

Recently Dee Snider of Twisted Sister appeared on Eddie Truck‘s show where he expressed his opinion on the current lineup of KISS and how he isn’t too fond of them now that guitarist Ace Freely and drummer Peter Criss have departed from the band. He went so far as to call KISS’ current lineup “an insult,” and he continued with, “I don’t see how people could accept this. Tommy Thayer? I’m sorry. It’s insulting. Not only did he play in a tribute band of KISS, he’s imitating Ace in his entire act!”

Snider went on to express his outrage when KISS went so far as to mimic Frehley’s look and stage moves for the song “Shock Me.” “Oh my God – that’s disgraceful. When KISS replaced Ace and Peter, and they brought in guys [Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent] who had their own makeup and their own thing, that was acceptable. That was awesome. They were their own characters.”

Well Snider’s opinion didn’t sit too well with KISS frontman Paul Stanley, who responded to Snider’s comments while on Chris Jericho‘s podcast, saying, “Let me put it in the simplest terms. In this case, this guy is a wannabe, has always been a wannabe and desperately wants attention and to be taken seriously and that will never happen because he’s obviously clueless that he and his whole band are a bunch of buffoons.”

Stanley went on to describe his relationship with the other members of the band as “not friends,” but elaborates, “I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense. I mean that we were very different people with different interests and separate lives. We didn’t socialize outside of being on tour and even then it was minimal. It was… we had some fun times but mainly being on tour was about playing and getting laid. And frankly I didn’t want the other guys around for the second part of that. But we were a gang. We felt a kinship. We felt special. We were KISS.”

Keith Valcourt | Washington Times

Not many people can lay claim to having played with two of the biggest bands in the history of classic rock, but guitarist Bruce Kulick can. He spent more than a decade in the nonmakeup run of KISS and has been riffing in Grand Funk Railroad for the past 15 years.

Away from those legendary groups, he was also the go-to guy for acts as diverse as Meat Loaf, Michael Bolton and Billy Squier.

Mr. Kulick checked in to chat about his time on the road with KISS, his early start in disco and the future of classic rock.

Question: When did you first pick up a guitar?

Answer: I was 10 years old. The Beatles changed my life, like so many others growing up in the ‘60s. I knew I wanted to learn and make guitar-playing my life.

Q: What drew you to guitar instead of bass?

A: I actually did visit bass early. Cream and The Beatles influenced me. My first electric instrument was a Gibson EB-3 bass like [Cream bassist] Jack Bruce’s. My playing of the bass made my fingers stronger, and I moved to playing lead guitar. Drums never felt right to me.

Q: Did you listen to a lot of classic rock as a kid?

A: The British Invasion was my world. I loved Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who, King Crimson, Yes. Plus Hendrix. I am thrilled classic rock is still important in the world of music.

Q: Does it blow your mind that you got to be in not one but two of the greatest rock bands of all time?

A: I am very honored. Grand Funk was a band I was impressed with, thinking, “Oh, an American version of Cream!” Naturally, KISS is world-famous and infamous! I have worked with a few other amazing, huge artists — Michael Bolton, Meatloaf and Billy Squier as well.

Q: Was your first professional playing gig with Michael Bolton?

A: Meat Loaf was before that. And before that I was touring professionally with some artists that had big disco hits. “Rock Your Baby” by George McCrae got me first on the road. And then Andrea True had a hit with “More, More, More,” and I traveled in her band. All good experiences.

Q: How did you end up in KISS?

A: In 1984 KISS needed a “ghost” guitar player to help on a few tracks for the “Animalize” record that Paul Stanley was producing. I came in and did a good job. He told me not to cut my hair. I didn’t understand till I got the call to tour with them as their guitarist, Mark St. John, had an illness. It became 12 years!

Story Continues →

Michael Brandvold

Joe Polo

Blabbermouth

In a brand new interview with MichaelCavacini.com, KISS drummer Eric Singer spoke about what it was like coming back to the band as the replacement for Peter Criss during the “farewell tour.” He said: “At that point, I was still playing with Alice Cooper. When they did the reunion tour, I didn’t have much contact with anyone in the band for a while. It was hugely successful, and I was back playing with Alice Cooper. Then Paul [Stanley, KISS guitarist/vocalist] called me up and told me that they wanted me to come tour with them in Australia and Japan. He told me they were making a change because things weren’t working out with Peter. I was actually out of the country when I got the call. My lawyer contacted me, saying KISS reached out to him and that they wanted me in the band. I didn’t know what was going on at the time regarding the makeup. My lawyer said, ‘They’re going to have you wear makeup, but they’re not sure what they’re going to do yet.’ By the time I got back, they decided they wanted me to wear the Catman makeup.”

He continued: “I was back in the band for a little over a year, and then Ace [Frehley, original KISS guitarist] decided he didn’t want to be in the band. He was becoming less and less reliable. Every time we tried to do something, it would become difficult because we wouldn’t know if he’d make it or not. One minute he’d say, ‘Yes.’ Then the next minute he’d say, ‘No.’

“I remember that summer, the summer of 2001, when I first came back, our manager booked a European tour three times and had to cancel it each time. The reason why is because Ace would commit to it and then change his mind.”

Singer added: “Just so I’m clear, the band did everything in their power to keep Ace in KISS. But he’s the one that made it more and more difficult. And eventually, we did a show, a private party, and Ace didn’t want to show up in L.A. to do rehearsals. We had already committed to doing the show, so we had Tommy Thayer step in and do the show. And that was it. From that point on, Tommy was the guitar player.”

Eric also talked about the fact that some KISS fans still can’t accept him and Tommy Thayer as members of the band because they are wearing the classic makeup that Ace and Peter used to wear.

“If a band can’t continue on because somebody quits, can’t play anymore, whatever the reason is, that shouldn’t prevent the remaining members from continuing on if that’s what they want to do,” Eric said. “STYX is a good example. I’m really good friends with Ricky Phillips, their bass player. I saw STYX in their heyday back in the ’70s, but I think they’re every bit as good now, if not better. The same thing applies to FOREIGNER. They’re another great band that no longer features all of the classic or original members, but they sound fantastic. To me, that’s what it’s all about. As long as the members of the band are doing the music justice and paying respect to its origins, then I’m fine with it. That’s what it’s all about. If a band gets new members and they aren’t very good, then you have the right to complain.”

He continued: “The way people look at the makeup situation is interesting to me. I don’t play any different in makeup than I do out of makeup, yet people perceive that there is a difference. I do have a more toned-down approach than I did when I first joined the band, but that’s because I believe that’s what the music dictates and needs.”

Eric went on to say: “I’ve heard people say that I was told to sing, play and act like Peter Criss. That’s completely ridiculous. I’ve never once been told to do that. Never. So, when people say that, it’s totally ridiculous. Look at any of the shows I’ve done since being in the band after Peter. I don’t play anything like Peter Criss.”

Read the entire interview at MichaelCavacini.com.

Joe Polo

Sherylyn Toda | Franchise Herald

Is a new KISS album finally in the works?

Bassist Gene Simmons is reportedly writing new songs that could help the American rock band work on a new album.

In an interview with Loud Wire the veteran musician shared that KISS will definitely move forward once they have enough materials for the new album.

“Paul may think there’s not going to be another record; I suspect there will be,” Simmons said. “We never force the issue. There is no one to answer to except our own gut. I recently wrote a song called ‘Your Wish is My Command’ and it feels like KISS. It came out pretty easy. When there’s enough material, we’ll look at each other and say, ‘You wanna?'”

Moreover, the 65-year-old artist also told Press Entertainment that this will be the perfect time for the band to work on a new album.

Apparently, this time the band is not forced to write or complete songs because of a binding contract, instead they could just do so in their own free will.

“There has to be a purpose to us doing an album,” the KISS singer said. “There was a time when we did albums because the contracts said so. But I only want to work now when it’s justified. Sonic Boom was an album that was very much needed to be done and Monster just felt like, ‘Well, we did Sonic Boom – let’s see where we go from here.'”

“Having accomplished that, I feel we can move forward without new music. There are enough things going on in KISS that right now it doesn’t feel utterly necessary to make a new album.”

While things are presumably looking good for KISS as they talk about working on a new album, a release date has yet to be set.

KISSmuseum.com

Chad Childers | Loudwire

It happens to most music lovers at some point in their life. You love what you grew up with but with age you don’t necessarily always relate to what the younger generation is laying down.

In a new piece with Rolling Stone, iconic KISS bassist Gene Simmons was asked to critique a couple of songs, among them the new Lamb of God track “512.” Simmons offered a mixed review on the song.

“Lamb are a solid bunch of musicians — capable and bombastic,” started Simmons. “But while I like the backing track here, I must confess this type of vocal styling — what would happen if a werewolf tried singing? — just ain’t my thing. Not that I’m claiming I can sing, mind you.”

Simmons goes on to add, “Personally, I’d be curious what this fine backing track would sound like with a decent melody and with Dave Grohl‘s vocals.”

The review is an interesting one given that Lamb of God have varied things up a little on their VII: Sturm und Drang disc. While “512″ features Randy Blythe‘s heavy and rough vocals, a song like “Overlord” finds the vocalist venturing into more melodic territory with more singing than screaming, at least until the end of the track.

It is not known if Simmons was exposed to Lamb of God’s full album or just the “512″ song, but it might be interesting to get his reaction to hearing “Overlord.”

Lamb of God’s VII: Sturm und Drang is currently available at this location. Catch the band on the road at these stops.

Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock

Fresh off collaborating on a new album with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, Johnny Depp has been spotted rocking out with Gene Simmons — and for a good cause, too.

As you can see in the above and below footage filmed by an audience member, Depp and Simmons led an all-star pickup band (other participants at the show included Gilby Clarke and the members of Extreme) at the Lucky Strike bowling alley in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, performing what Simmons deemed “loosey-goosey” renditions of the Kiss classics “Deuce” and “Rock and Roll All Nite.”

The event, as Simmons explained to Billboard, was designed to help raise money for Mending Kids, a charity whose mission statement includes helping provide “life-changing surgical care to children worldwide” to children who have “congenital heart defects, orthopedic abnormalities, severe scoliosis and significant cranial facial deformities.”

“Mending Kids does great work,” said Simmons. “All the funding comes in from contributions, and MendingKids.org sends doctors, on their dime, around the world to provide free operations to children with physical deformities, facial, spinal, anything, where otherwise they would have a life of pain and suffering and perhaps death. … Everybody’s gonna jump up and jam. Johnny will play a few songs, I’ll play a few songs, a few other knuckleheads will jump up, and all the proceeds go to MendingKids.org to provide children with operations that they would normally never have.”

Although Simmons and the other members of Kiss are probably better known for making money than donating it, Simmons has done a lot of work for Mending Kids in the past; as he went on to explain, children are his “soft spot,” partly because he still remembers his own poverty-stricken youth in Israel — and how much it meant when he received a charity care package.

“Six months after the country became independent, I was born. And so in the beginning, there was very little infrastructure,” he recalled. “And one day a care package showed up and there were cans of peaches and a Bugs Bunny book, not a comic book. I still remember it: Bugs Bunny is going over the hill and he’s being hunted by Elmer Fudd and all that. Of course, I couldn’t read English at the time and there was a torn sweater. And when that care package came in, all of a sudden I had the sense that somebody cared, and it started there.”

Blabbermouth

Ace Frehley (KISS), Sebastian Bach (SKID ROW), Gilby Clarke (GUNS N’ ROSES), Evan Seinfeld (BIOHAZARD), Michael Starr (STEEL PANTHER), Nuno Bettencourt (EXTREME) and Phil Lewis (L.A. GUNS) are among the musicians who took part in an all-star jam at last night’s (Saturday, August 15) Cathouse Live At Irvine Meadows festival at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater (recently known as Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre) in Irvine, California. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.

Riki Rachtman created the original rock dance club that dominated the Hollywood scene from 1986 until 1993. Now, along with Live Nation and Synergy Global Entertainment (SGE), he brought Cathouse Live to a much larger audience with this decadent music and lifestyle festival.

Said Rachtman: “I recently started a Cathouse Hollywood Facebook page and everyone was asking, ‘Why don’t you do another Cathouse?’ I loved the idea and mentioned it on Twitter. So many bands told me that they wanted to be a part of it that I knew that I had to bring it back on a much larger scale. It was too big for a club, so we decided to do a festival.”

The original Hollywood Cathouse was known for its edgy, underground, dirty rock ‘n’ roll vibe that was rooted in punk. It reeked of raunch and pure decadence. Patrons would freely indulge. The DJ played rock ‘n’ roll between unannounced performances from bands like GUNS N’ ROSES (Cathouse regulars who performed live at the club in 1986 just before their debut record was released), Sebastian Bach, Stephen Pearcy, L.A. GUNS, FASTER PUSSYCAT, JUNKYARD, JETBOY, BANG TANGO, SAIGON KICK, BLACK ‘N BLUE, LITTLE CAESAR, and many more. GUNS N’ ROSES‘ video for “It’s So Easy” was shot at the Cathouse, and Alice Cooper played the club one Halloween.

When Ice-T was banned from every Los Angeles club, Riki invited the rapper’s band BODY COUNT to play Cathouse.

“It wouldn’t be uncommon to see GUNS N’ ROSES one week and ALICE IN CHAINS the next — so many bands played before they were huge,” said Rachtman. “It was also the kind of place where you’d find Robert Downey Jr. rubbing elbows with AEROSMITH‘s Steven Tyler.”

Mitch Lafon | Brave Words

In episode #141 of One On One With Mitch Lafon, guitarist and producer Bob Kulick sits down with Mitch to discuss his new book, upcoming EP, working as a ghost musician on KISS’ Alive II and Killers albums, the making of the Paul Stanley’s 1978 solo album, touring with Alice Cooper, the 1989 Paul Stanley solo tour, Balance, Meat Loaf, Motörhead, his brother Bruce Kulick and much much more.

Drummer Allan Schwartzberg co-hosts this episode. Allan is best known to KISS fans for having ‘ghost’ drummed on KISS’ The Elder, Animalize and Asylum albums as well as credited performances on the Gene Simmons and Peter Criss solo albums of 1978. He’s also appeared, both credited and uncredited, on multiple Alice Cooper albums.

Joe Polo