Lyndsey Parker | Yahoo Music

Sitting side by side at X Japan founder Yoshiki Hayashi’s Los Angeles recording studio to discuss the new X Japan rockumentary We Are X, Yoshiki and KISS bassist/mouthpiece Gene Simmons don’t seem to have much in common. Yoshiki is sweet, serious, and slight; Gene is loud, brash, and 6’2” even sans his signature platform-footed dragon boots. But the two are in many ways kindred spirits, united by their unwavering belief in the power of rock ‘n’ roll. They’re also two of the only rock stars to ever be immortalized by Sanrio as Hello Kitty dolls — Yoshiki’s doll even has a name, Yoshikitty — which says a great deal about Yoshiki’s international superstar status, even if the classically trained Japanese rocker still isn’t a KISS-level household name in the States.

“It’s amazing. Miracles can happen,” grins Yoshiki, seated beside Simmons and a cluster of Hello Kitty figurines at one of his deluxe studio’s many grand pianos. “I’m sitting next to Gene Simmons, and he’s talking about my band. It’s like, that’s unbelievable.”

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Podcast Rock City

Geoff Barton | Team Rock

New York Groove is Ace Frehley’s very own personal anthem. The track is as synonymous with the ex-Kiss man as his silver superhero suit and smokin’ six-string.

Frehley was born and raised in the Bronx, so the Big Apple is his kinda town. And New York Groove is his kinda song – even though he didn’t actually write it. Nevertheless, when Ace barks the line ‘It’s gonna be ecstasy… this place was meant for me’ above that foot-stomping rhythm, you can sense the native pride shivering down his Spaceman spine.

“A lot of people think I wrote New York Groove. It’s not a myth that I’ve perpetuated, but that’s the way it is. I wish I would’ve wrote the song, though. I would’ve made a lot more cash out of it, ha-ha-hargh!” Frehley chuckles in his inimitable style.

In fact New York Groove was written by Russ Ballard and recorded originally by Hello, the glitter-popstrels who enjoyed a brief burst of fame in the mid-70s. Three years before Frehley included New York Groove on his self-titled 1978 solo album, Hello’s version was a hit all over Europe. It got to No.9 in the UK and No.7 in Germany.

Ballard takes up the story: “In 1975 I’d just finished producing Roger Daltrey’s solo album, Ride A Rock Horse. I got it cut in London but Roger said to me: ‘People say Bob Ludwig’s cuts are louder at Sterling Sound in New York. Do you fancy flying out and doing a cut there?’”

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Paul Elliott | Team Rock

Gene Simmons – bassist/vocalist for Kiss, TV personality, multi-millionaire entrepreneur – is the living embodiment of the American Dream. An only child, he was born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel. Eight years later, after his parents separated, his mother Flora took him to live in New York City, where, in 1973, he and Paul Stanley co-founded Kiss. Simmons and Stanley have led the band throughout their career, selling more than 100 million albums.

Simmons now lives in California with his wife Shannon Tweed and their children Nick and Sophie – all stars of the hit US reality TV show Gene Simmons Family Jewels.

What are the best and worst things about being Gene Simmons?

Without sounding too cocky – although I’ve certainly been accused of that all my life – there is no negative to being Gene Simmons. You have to look at it relatively: it’s either this or flipping burgers. What’s the English equivalent, frying chips? What’s so bad about being rich and famous? I don’t understand what all the angst is all about. The only people who should have complaints are the unfortunate poor on the planet. But when you hear the ultra-rich saying: “Oh, it’s so lonely at the top,” what a load of shit. If you can’t deal with fame, don’t be famous. I have nothing to complain about.

What are your tips for pleasing a woman?

Well, the tip that God gave me is the most important one.

What’s your best lyrical innuendo?

‘When love rears its head I wanna get on your case/ I wanna put my log in your fireplace’ [Kiss’s Burn Bitch Burn].

Can you put a figure on your personal fortune? Continue reading →

Arroe collins | Blabbermouth

Radio host Arroe Collins recently conducted an interview with KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons for the “Unplugged & Totally Uncut” podcast. You can now listen to the chat using the Spreaker widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his many philanthropic endeavors:

Gene: “We are the luckiest bastards who ever walked the face of the planet, ’cause we get to live in America. Those of us, especially, who are here legally, and I’m a legal immigrant, because there is a difference. I went, I stood in line and waited for my turn and entered the country legally.

“This country gives more than any other country on the face of the planet. Think about it: there are anywhere from twelve to twenty [million] illegal immigrants in America. That’s more than most of the populations of the countries on the planet. Did you know that? There are more people here, because this is the land of opportunity. I don’t remember the last boatload of people who dropped to their knees on a shore and said, ‘Thank you, God, we finally made it to the shores of France.’ That’s never gonna happen. Here you’re in America, and over here you can be anybody. Yes, it’s a racist country, there are people with decidedly racist points of views, and yet we have an African-American president — two terms. Yes, its’ a sexist country, but Hillary [Clinton] is running for president. And you can have a man I’ve known for a while, Donald Trump, who can freely speak his mind whether people like it or not. [There’s] no place like this on earth.”

On whether he would be willing to share his knowledge as a businessman to get this country moving forward again:

Gene: “Sure, but I’m not a political person. You know, if you’re my friend and your breath stinks, the least I could as your friend is to tell you your breath stinks and you’ve overweight. That’s not a criticism; you’re trying to help. If I can’t tell my friend his breath stinks and he’s too fat, which is dangerous to his health, why call yourself a friend?

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Mike Mettler | Digital Trends

It’s a battle cry any member of the KISS Army will instantly recognize.  “You wanted the best, you got the best!” KISS has been unstoppable for over 40 years and counting, and they just upped their game yet again with KISS Rocks Vegas (out now in various formats via Eagle Vision), a live chronicle of the band’s incendiary residency at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in November 2014 in the midst of the band’s 40th Anniversary World Tour.

“Technology has advanced to the point now where you can really be fully enveloped by and in the center of the chaos that can be KISS from time to time,” frontman/vocalist/guitarist/eternal Starchild Paul Stanley told Digital Trends of the Dolby Atmos KISS Rocks Vegas experience.

Take it from me, the full-bore full-channel assault of KISS Rocks Vegas is most definitely best experienced via Blu-ray and the mega-multichannel Dolby Atmos option, so you can get the absolute complete effect of the set design, the band’s always mind-boggling pyrotechnics, and the glory of each KISS member’s chosen “armor.” Bassist/vocalist/The Demon himself, Gene Simmons, never fails to amaze with what he does and looks like onstage — especially the thunder of songs like Detroit Rock City, Lick It Up, and Black Diamond. An additional KISS Acoustic set featuring stripped-down favorites like Christine Sixteen, Hard Luck Woman, and Beth also show what guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer bring to the KISS backline.

Want another opinion? Take it from Micki Free, the mixed-blood Cherokee/Comanche Native American guitarist/vocalist discovered by Simmons and Stanley in the ’70s who went on to play guitar with Shalamar and glam-punkers Crown of Thorns: “I knew them both really well. Those guys were my mentors in the ’70s, when I was growing up,” Free recalled. “KISS was my favorite band as a boy, you know? Paul Stanley is such a great performer, too — I aspired to dance like he did onstage. He was that guy. I wanted to play guitar like Hendrix, and dance like Paul Stanley.”

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Noisey

KISS My Wax

Rhys Lett | Eastern Suburbs School of Music

Learn to play the guitar solo in Deuce by KISS. Lesson taught by Rhys Lett, guitarist of KISS tribute act Dressed to Chill. For more information about guitar…

I am a guitar teacher from Melbourne Australia. My school is the Eastern Suburbs School of Music, our website can be found at www.essm.net.au. I have written a few KISS based articles for the site in the BLOG section. I also play in an acoustic KISS tribute act Dressed to Chill.

Michael Brandvold

Joe Polo

Fielding Buck | Press Enterprise

Most people spend 40 hours a week earning money and a 128 hours spending it.

That was rock star Gene Simmons’ premise Sunday for his business symposium at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon.

He told fans how to make those leisure hours more profitable in an hour-plus talk based on his 2014 book “Me Inc.”

It was the Kiss bass player’s second business trip to the Inland Empire in five days. On Wednesday, he and band member Paul Stanley were at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in Highland to announce a Rock & Brews restaurant opening there in October.

Simmons will be back at Morongo next month for a Kiss concert.

The Rock & Brews chain, a film company and more than 5,000 Kiss licensing deals are among Simmons qualifications for giving these talks.

But Simmons said in a backstage interview before the talk, “Qualification experience is highly overrated. Our president was elected twice without a resume or experience. He became the most powerful man on earth. …

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Anime News Network

From magazines to films to idol groups to small white cats, rock band KISS has a significant history of collaborations in Japan. This time the band is teaming up with a small metal boy: Tetsuwan Atom, or as he is known in the English-speaking world, Astro Boy.

The U.S. band is holding “KISS Expo Tokyo 2016~Jigoku no Hakurankai~” (KISS Expo Tokyo 2016: Hell’s Exhibition) at Tokyo’s Laforet Museum Harajuku from October 13 to October 31. This is the first time Osamu Tezuka‘s Astro Boy manga and anime is collaborating with a foreign rock band.

Apparently KISS member Gene Simmons is a huge Astro Boy fan. Simmons said, “Astro Boy brings back fond memories of my childhood. I remember jumping up from the couch and imagining I was Astro Boy – fighting dastardly villains, flying through the skies…the little robot boy who defended all of us from evil.”

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Laurie Lucas | The Press Enterprise

Kevin Sullivan

The iconic Gene Simmons, he of the anteater tongue and studded boots, will be at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa this weekend to share secrets about how he does it.

Nope, not how he tricks himself out as his alter ego, KISS’ bass player and singer. We’re going to do that, deconstructing his costume and wild kabuki makeup as The Demon/Dr. Love/God of Thunder.

Instead, on Sunday, multi-multimillionaire Simmons, 67, is going to talk about how he’s made it, deploying business strategies in the digital age.

And the way he runs all of his businesses – without personal assistants or many handlers or red tape – is how he paints and pours himself into his KISS armor and stacked boots: by himself.

Let’s see how he does it.

GETTING READY

“It’s paint by the numbers,” Simmons said in an interview over the summer.

He said his sartorial and cosmetic role models are the Phantom of the Opera and Batman.

COSTUME

Costume: Weighs 35 to 40 pounds, including stretchy nylon and Spandex bodysuit, lots ‘o’ leather, vest, spikes and other metal hardware, codpieces, buckles, gloves and a choker.

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Michael Brandvold

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The KISS Room

Listen to the September edition of The KISS Room! Preview of the New Jersey KISS Expo as well as clips of the KISS acoustic set in Allentown PA. The KISS Room is a slick, professionally produced KISS podcast full of music, news, commentary and much more. It’s always a pleasure for any KISS fan to look forward to every month.

Doug MacCash | Nola

The Krewe of Endymion, the 51-year-old Mardi Gras super krewe, will celebrate 2017 with hard rock, hip hop and disco, as KISS, Flo Rida, and KC and the Sunshine Band entertain at the annual Extravaganza after the Mid-City parade on Feb. 25, the Saturday before Fat Tuesday (Feb. 28).

Krewe founder Ed Muniz said that the Extravaganza entertainers are always invited to ride in the enormous parade, where they serve as celebrity grand marshals. Some accept the invitation. Some decline, fearful of ruining their voices in advance of their post-parade performances, or because riding in the parade doesn’t allow time for sound checks, Muniz said.

Endymion treasurer Joe Travato said KISS frontman Gene Simmons was the parade’s grand marshal in 2005. KISS had been scheduled to ride in the Endymion 1979 parade, before the police strike in New Orleans forced the krewe leadership to move the parade to Kenner. In the end, the band did not appear that year.

Muniz announced that 2017 will be KC and the Sunshine Band’s fourth Endymion appearance.

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