Alternative Nation | Brett Buchanan
KISSfaq are reporting that Gene Simmons called out a KISS employee for not lighting him correctly at a recent show. In the video, Simmons’ call out appears to be somewhat humorous, so despite the language he seemed to be calling him out in a lighthearted manner.
Simmons said, “Give me a white spotlight, motherfucker. Asshole has been on tour with us for 20 years and doesn’t get, bitch I know where you live. Oh by the way, fuck you.”
Michael Brandvold
TMZ
Feyyaz Ustaer | Metalhead Zone
Mother of KISS bassist Gene Simmons, Flora Klein has passed away at 93 years of age. Gene has shared an emotional post on Instagram and said:
“I lost my Mother. My Mentor. My moral compass. And I am heartbroken. 🙁 My Mother, Flora Klein passed away at 93 years of age.
No illnes. No pain. She simply quietly, went to sleep.
My Mother will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. Today. And Forever.
And I would urge all of you, to run over, put your arms around your mother, kiss her and tell her how much you love her. Do this every day!”
Flora Klein has passed away from natural causes. Rest in peace.
KISS frontman Paul Stanley expressed his feelings about Flora’s death and said:
“Gene’s mother, Florence Lubowski, has passed away. I knew her as long as I’ve known Gene. Beyond her fierce love and pride in her only child, she was his inspiration to live up to being worthy of the sacrifices she made in a very diffucult and, at times, horrific life.
A holocaust survivor, she fought for all she had, and her fierce protection and pride in Gene made her someone to be feared, admired and loved. I will miss her laugh and smile.
Let us all say a prayer for her, Gene and his family.“
Michael Brandvold
Matt Porter
Podcast Rock City
Michael Brandvold
Love You Live
 
Joe
Loudwire
KISS legend Ace Frehley was the latest guest on Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio program. He discussed his latest solo album, Spaceman, and how he finds the inspiration to keep making new music. He looks back on the arduous process of splicing tape in the studio in the old days compared to the ease of home recordings today. He also explains that a college education may be obsolete and if you want to learn to play like him, you’re likely going to have to change the most basic thing you know about guitar playing. Check out the chat below.
The new album, Spaceman, is your eighth album. Lately, you’ve been releasing a lot of new music. What invigorates you to have the urge to make a new album?
If you look at the timeline, I got sober in 2006, and the last five years or six years, my creativity has just gone through the roof. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to have a record company writing checks to you, as well. [laughs] Yeah, I mean, I signed a record deal with eOne, and the first release was Spaceman. Then I did Origins Vol. 1. I’m sorry. The first release was Space Invader. We’re getting closer here, now. Then I did Origins Vol. 1. Now we have Spaceman, and I’m also contracted to do Origins Vol. 2. That also helped push me. I usually need deadlines, to get things finished, because I’ll spend weeks on one song.
Between your own albums and KISS, you’ve got a lifetime of recording experiences. Making this new album, what exhilarated you about being in the studio?
I work in my home studio, and I work at my own pace. I don’t have anybody looking over my shoulder. Pretty much, for the last three or four records I’ve done, I’ve produced myself. I work with an engineer. A lot of times, we record the songs with the click track and then add drums, later. It’s a really simple process, and I work at my own pace. I take a break when I want. I’ll run out in the backyard and cook some burgers on the grill, come back and do a guitar solo. When you work in a recording studio, you’re paying by the hour.
At your own leisure then.
On the same token, if I wake up at 3AM and I have this brilliant idea for a song, I can just go in and record. It’s wonderful, working that way.
And you’ve been recording albums for such a long time — the way of recording records is so different now. How do you feel looking back to when you did your first record to now, how do you feel about the technology that exists to allow you to record the way you can?
Well, I mean, the technology has made it so much easier, working with Pro Tools, which is the standard in the recording business, pretty much. I remember working with Eddie Kramer on my first solo album in 1978. We were editing a guitar solo on two-inch tape. We’re trying to get the edit right, and we’re slicing the tape with razor blades. We’re putting little pieces here and another little piece there. Then we have to tape it back together, run it, listen to it and go, “That’s a little long.” Then I start cutting quarter-inch pieces of tape, to get the end of the note right. I mean, that took forever. Today, I’ll do three or four takes of a solo and then, usually, piece it together with Pro Tools, but it’s done with the click of a mouse.
It’s pretty amazing. Looking back you have to laugh at how you had to used to do it.
There’s something about an analog tape that does sound a little warmer. You know what? They’ve really improved the technology [with] Pro Tools. You can buy plug-ins that really emulate the sound of tape. They even have a picture of a tape recorder running, so you can get in that mindset.
What I try to do is, even though I’m recording digitally, I use old amplifiers, old microphones, old preamps, racks of different, old preamps, which give you that warm sound. They have tubes in them. I try to use amps with tubes, old Marshall, old Fender, reverbs and the old tweed amps with the Jensen speakers that break up just the way you want it. That’s how I achieve more of a vintage sound on my records.
You’re one of those musicians whose style is instantly recognizable. What aspect of the way you play do you think – are singularly unique to you?
Founding Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley posted a scathing Facebook message to Gene Simmons on Tuesday, alleging that Simmons’ statements about Frehley’s alcohol abuse over the years cost him millions and that Simmons had groped his wife. After the allegations, he included a threat: “Without a complete and heartfelt apology, an offer to give me my old job back and removing Tommy [Thayer, guitarist] from the throne I created, the shit will hit the fan and they’ll [sic] be no stopping it. It’s on!!!” He concluded the post with an image of him pointing at a camera emblazoned with the words, “The gloves are off!!”
The post is an apparent response to an interview Gene Simmons gave Guitar World, in which Simmons said he was not sure yet if he would invite Frehley and original drummer Peter Criss on the group’s upcoming End of the Road Tour. “Ace and Peter have gotten three chances,” Simmons said, according to Blabbermouth. “They were in and out of the band — fired — three times. For drugs, alcohol, bad behavior, being unprofessional … they weren’t carrying their load. … So the short answer to your question is we’d love to have Ace and Peter join us here and there. And if they don’t, it’s not going to be because of us. But they’re never going to be in Kiss again.”
Regarding his last statement, that they’d never be full members, Simmons added, “Three times is the charm; ‘I promise I’ll pull out’ doesn’t work. It’s the boy who cried wolf: ‘Oh, I’ve been straight for a million years.’ Terrific! Have a good life! … Would we welcome Ace or Peter to jump up onstage for a song or two? Of course. Could we depend on either Ace of Peter to do a full set night after night? Not on your fucking life.”
Michael Brandvold
Blabbermouth
Former MARILYN MANSON and current ROB ZOMBIE guitarist John 5 joined Ace Frehley on stage this past Saturday (January 26) at The Canyon in Agoura Hills, California to perform the KISS classic “Cold Gin”. Fan-filmed video footage can be seen below.
After the show, John 5 wrote in an Instagram post: “[Nikki Sixx] and I went to go see Aceand his awesome band tonight what a blast, and yes that is me playing a Flying V.”
Two years ago, John 5 — real name: John William Lowery — took partial credit for reuniting Frehley and Gene Simmons at the former KISS guitarist’s February 2017 concert in Beverly Hills, California, marking the first time the KISS legends were photographed together since their 2014 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
John 5 told Seattle Music Insider that he “wanted to be like KISS” when he first started to play guitar. “[I] loved KISS growing up,” he said. “Who didn’t?” John 5 revealed in a separate interview with Digital Trends that KISS‘s 1977 classic “Love Gun” was the first album he connected with. “It’s got a great cover. I loved it. I was, like, ‘Oh my God — these are monsters with guitars!’ I was so young then.”
Ace‘s current solo band consists of Philip Shouse on guitar/vocals, Ryan Cook on guitar/vocals, Jeremy Asbrock on guitar/vocals, and Matt Starr on drums.
Derek Scancarelli
When producer, engineer and music technologist David Frangioni sat down to compile his newest book, Crash: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Peart to Van Halen, he knew he needed to include two people: iconic drummer Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and KISS drummer Eric Singer. Luckily, he managed to get them to write the book’s introduction and conclusion, respectively.
Crash, the 207-page illustrative book, features an up close look at the most famed drum kits in the history of rock’n’roll. The detailed images and text highlight the design behind the drums of bands such as The Beatles, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Rush, Metallica, Journey, Black Sabbath and more. It’s like a high school textbook filled with a timeline of rock percussion.
For fans of KISS, the book comes fully loaded. Aside from a section dedicated to the band’s founding drummer Peter Criss’ 1976 Destroyerset-up, Crash features a ten-page spread featuring three of Eric Singer’s most legendary drum kits. Singer — who started playing alongside KISS in 1991 — is about to embark on the band’s End Of The Road tour.
Singer and Frangioni grew a friendship through both music and charity. In fact, many of Singer’s drum kits reside in Miami at the Drum Experience Center, a museum-like facility where kids in need learn to play. The center is a division of the Frangioni Foundation, which is directly receiving a portion of the sales from Crash.
Below, David Frangioni and Eric Singer discuss the drums that revolutionized music, a drummer’s expression and KISS kits past, present and future.
What was your approach to compiling this book?
Frangioni: It’s a celebration of drums, drumming, the drummer and the eras that these kits were a significant part of. Drums are one of the rare instruments where you can see a kit and it has an impact on you before you even hear it.
I really wanted it to be picture driven, so that people could enjoy the kits as if they were walking around a museum. For people who are more of a drum geek, they could dive in a little deeper.
Why do drums deserve such attention to detail?
Singer: The great thing about drums, they’re a very personalized instrument. Not that you can’t custom paint a guitar or have a body of a guitar cut to a certain shape. But the thing about a piano or guitar, they generally have they the same amount of keyboards, keys, frets or strings.
Drummers can set up a kit to physically suit their needs, based on the fact that we’re anatomically built differently from each other. I’m 5’6″, so I’m gonna set up the drums to suit my physical stature.
Some people want to express themselves on just three or four drums. Others want 10 or 15. That individualism is expressed throughout the book.
Which drum kit excites you the most in this book?
Singer: To me, the real center piece of that book is probably Carl Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery stainless steel kit. It’s a work of art.
It was a pure expression of somebody having a vision and having it realized. It wasn’t even a drum manufacturer that made the drums. Every aspect was custom.
Michael Brandvold