KISS HELL (Joe D.): How does it feel to be back in KISS?

PETER CRISS: Well it's funny, maybe it's like winning the rock & roll lottery! I just never thought I'd be back with the guys. I learned never to say never, that's one word I don't use anymore because I would become a big hypocrite so it's amazing. I feel like I'm back where I belong. where I always should have been anyway, that's kinda my deal it's like I'm right back in my old seat again.

KH: How do you feel about just completing the biggest & most successful KISS tour ever?

PC: I'm happy to be home! I'm talking to you from my home and I'm like major brown cause I live right on the ocean so I'm really dark and I'm walking around in shorts and it's nice to be home man! We were out for longer than a year and it's probably the biggest high I've ever been on so I'm glad we're off now cause I think we all needed time to get our brains back together again!

KH: Why do you think this tour went over so well with the fans? Did you expect it to be this big?

PC: I don't know, I guess everything is timing, I'm a firm believer of that as a drummer obviously but I just think that the time was perfect. I don't knock new bands, I like a lot of the stuff out today. I like a lot of it and I don't like a lot of it and it's my preference and I've found a lot of the music for me, when someone's singing about suicide and heroin and like it's a drag being up there and let's get a revolution goin, I don't get it man you know I don't buy that. I always thought that the time on stage that I get to perform for my fans is really precious time and it's a great time because the best time for me when we were out there was the two hours we played every night. My best two hours of the day was on stage because I saw people from 1 to 100 forgetting their problems that were wearing KISS t shirts and KISS makeup and it was like a party again. I really believe that the world needed to get out of this, because the worst thing is a musician or a quote unquote 'rock star' who makes it and he starts quoting you what he thinks life is about and what he thinks politics are about-that's bullshit. Noone really knows you just kinda try to do what's right and wrong I think. For me I'm just trying to play my heart out. I'm playing my heart out and I'm seeing now that a whole new generation's really digging us.

KH: Will there deifinitely be a new studio album coming out from you guys (the original band)?

PC: I don't know, right now as we speak they're negotiating that. They're negotiating on a record and we're just kinda sitting tight and we were told to kind of relax and enjoy ourselves cause we worked so hard and we've got some time off. I mean I haven't seen my girl in a month and she lives in New Jersey and she's coming to L.A. with me. There is definite talk of a CD absolutely all four of us are in definite favor of going in to do one, we all wanna do one. It's been a long time since we've done one together and I personally believe that the best KISS album hasn't been done yet and we're better musicians and we're wiser and we're much more focused so I would gather it with that energy alone right there. Our reunion was a major success and a major event in rock & roll history, I think the album would be fuckin' kick ass!

KH: Has the band started writing any songs for the album yet?

PC: Well I've got songs I'm sure we all got songs and it's just a matter of if they're the right songs for the right concept whatever that may be. In the albums we were always firm believers of the real concept like the Love Gun album we had guns that popped and and it always had something to do with it, something about the album always had a great concept to it, right down to Destroyer to all of them and I think the same with this album. We were talking about it towards the end of the tour that you gotta have the classic KISS sound, you must have that cause we don't wanna do something really difficult or intricate we wanna stay as simple KISS as possible yet it still has to be really good and knockout as much as my favorites like "Black Diamond" down to "Watchin' You", "Strutter" and all those songs. It would still have to have that but with a whole new attitude and I think that's not so easy. It's easier to say it than to do it. We've proved ourselves on stage to the world but we wanna prove it on CD. Seeing what we did already man we're miracle workers!

KH: Do you think the new technology will affect the classic KISS sound?

PC: We wanna stick as close to KISS as possible and don't wanna lose that energy. It's funny when I listen back to our stuff we had this really loose, yet incredible energy sound. There was so much energy in our music and yet there was still the thick chords or the thick drum fills that I would throw in, these jazz drum fills I was doing at the time. I was throwing marching stuff in rock & roll when nobody was even trying that so we wanna capture that again and I think today you can't go wrong with the new sound systems and especially Ace is like computer brainwashed. He's the computer maniac of the band. He came up with the morph at the end of the KISS show so he's really into it. I think it's gonna be dynamite.

KH: How do you feel about the new KISS action figures?

PC: I love it! I get a big thrill out of it. I didn't think I'd get off on it. It was like okay here comes these stupid dolls again like our Barby dolls we had which I hated and these are so cool. I mean Tod McFarlane is no flash in the pan, especially with that new Spawn movie that's out. Spawn is huge for him so to know he's the guy who did our things, I'm really flattered and he did it incredible they're really cool! I gotta go in myself in a few days and pick up my four guys (laughs) it's like I want my four action figures and my daughter wants hers and my girlfriend wants hers so everybody wants em but I think they're very cool.

KH: So you like these way more than the 1978 (Mego) dolls?

PC: Oh yeah! You know, mine has this cool drum that shoots these battle axes out and the ones back then were like Ken and Barby, that was chump.

KH: I've got the new ones & yours is probably my favorite one.

PC: Ha Ha! Excellent! Thankyou.

KH: Towards the end of the tour you had your own guitar picks made. How did you get the idea to make your own picks?

PC: Well it was actually my drum tech. Eddie Cannon who got that idea. We were up there one night and he says you know Cat whenever you go out and take your bows he said you don't have nothing to give the fans, you never have nothing to give them, because they abandoned throwing drumsticks out and the drumsticks I use are very expensive and they're specially made for me, for my arms since I have carbo syndroms in my right arm and my left elbow and it's really bad so these sticks are really weighed out for me and they're just perfectly balanced and they're very expensive. They're changable so that's why I never throw or give them out because it's just not like that so we really felt like there's something we gotta do and Eddie came in one day and he said here's a big bag of picks I made up for you and I go wow these are really cool let's do em in green so we did em and then I would start giving em out to ya and I felt kinda cool cause I was one of the first drummers to give out guitar picks!

KH: Do you play any guitar at all?

PC: Yeah I'm sloppy though but I have a beutiful collection. I've got some great guitars. Ace gave me a beutiful Les Paul and the band way back when it was one of my birthdays they gave me a Les Paul signature way back then so I've got some nice guitars but I play sloppy. I'm more like it just comes out of my head and I gotta sing it to a guitar player or hum it to em and that's the way I write.

KH: I hear there may be plans to re-release "Out Of Control" & "Let Me Rock You" on CD. Is that true at all?

PC: That would be cool! It would be okay with me. It's really old stuff, it's like outdated stuff I would imagine but there were some pretty good players on there and at the time a lot of people wrote some nice stuff for me, even Gene wrote a song for me ("Feel Like Heaven") and Steve Stevens and there was a ot of people writing. It was some cool stuff for its day, for now it's just outdated.

KH: Which of your solo album did you enjoy the most or which is your favorite solo album?

PC: I guess the first one.

KH: Really? "I Can't Stop the Rain" is a real classic I think.

PC: I get a lot of compliments on that song man and it really is funny through all the years that have gone by, that's the tune that people still say 'Jesus that is one great ballad.' For anything on that album and for all the songs I wrote there was a lot of meaning behind 'em from "Don't Let Me Down" and all that type of stuff. I was showing my Beatles roots and my R&B roots, it was my favorite album from "Out Of Control" to "Let Me Rock You" even through the last CRISS album I did on that small label TNT but you know the first time is always the best.

KH: Going back to '73, can you tell us how you came up with your Cat character & makeup?

PC: I don't know, I mean Gene was obviously destined to be the monster of the band, he really loved monster and horror movies and Ace loved the space stuff, he was like the starman of the band, all the guys felt that Paul would be the center guy. It was hard for me and I was sitting at home, and we're all really good artists, and I was just scetching and scetching and I had this black tom cat, big old cat, and I started adding his face structure to my structure and started painting in the whiskers and I tried it at rehearsal one time and everybody was like 'wow that's great! that fits you.'

KH: Do you think you relate to cats? Was that part of it?

PC: Yeah, I'm kinda like very domestic yet I'm really not, I'm still an alley cat. I still like to rumble but I'm not domestic. I'm a funny guy, I will either love you or I'll hate you, there's no in between with me and I don't believe in lying or stealing, that's a far thing from me. I'm really great around certain people and then if you rub me wrong you'll know about it pretty fast. I'm a real straight guy, I'm a straght shooter. I don't care for phonies, I don't like for people to bullshit me.

KH: Why is your drum kit smaller now than the kits you played in the '70's?

PC: Actually now there's only one less drum than my old drums. Believe it or not it's only one less drum so it's really not. Instead of three in the front I've got two in the front. I've gotten used to two in the front over the 17 years I've been away from the guys. I got this really big ride, I like to ride on a big, big ride cymbal and I got into that habit and I couldn't just change it overnight cause I'm getting back with KISS and all the sudden raise it to 20 pieces and put another drum there, I would've played like shit, so it's only one less drum.

KH: Do you feel that less is more sometimes musically with drums?

PC: I play all the drums I've got up there, I mean everything I've got I do hit but sometimes absolutley less is more, sometimes less is the best. Pretty much I'm always on the bass drum, high hat & snare. I'm not a double bass drum guy and KISS has always been a straight-forward one bass drum band and I've always made sure that the time is right, and that is pretty simple when you're not playing much.

KH: How would you compare the latest KISS tour to the tours you did in the 70's?

PC: Oh my god! Well we worked harder, we worked more, more shows. We had our own jet-we nicknamed it Ralph, so we had our own jet & that made things a lot easier of course, even though in the earlier days we've had our own jet but this jet we've kept through everything. Every show was huge, everything was sold out way ahead of time-we did 4 nights at the Garden, we did 3 nights at the Forum, it's like now it's way over 3 million people we've played for. 72,000 in Donnigton, a stadium in England. We couldn't go wrong. It seemed everything we did was homeruns and it wasn't like that in the old days. We didn't even need an opening act half the time because noone really gave a shit as long as we were there and that was really the truth. I could feel the roar of the crowd in my dressing room half the times, just starting my way down the ramp-the insanity was just amazing! It's like we were bigger now than we were then.

KH: How do you feel about the fans being so dedicated after so many years?

PC: You gotta love it, you gotta love the KISS Army. Without the fans and the KISS Army I wouldn't be where I am today and I live a really comfortable life. I've got money, I've got my health, I've got everything a guy could want but I don't let that go to my head. I realise without the KISS Army and the KISS fans KISS would be nowhere and that'll show you something; we will have been together almost 25 years this year and for people to be with us for 25 years is a long time. When you talk about dedication I don't really know of any other bands who've had fans like KISS.

KH: What do you think of some of the KISS tribute albums that have come out?

PC: I love it and I think it's a great compliment anytime anybody imitates you or looks like you or sounds like you. It's a huge form of flattery I think. I see these tribute bands and it blows my mind and I hear these huge acts today that have covered our songs and it blows my mind cause I've met so many of these guys from White Zombie to Anthrax to like Metallica and Aerosmith, they've all come backstage kinda like 'we're not worthy' like 'you guys rule!' very cool.

KH: Why wasn't the set list changed around more during the last tour?

PC: We did (change it) for Europe actually. It was just that we felt it was really hitting homeruns and it was a really good show and everybody really knew their parts right down to the guy who does the smoke. It's almost a precision run show and we didn't wanna change it much because sometimes if it's not broke why fix it?

KH: Were there any songs you would've liked to have played?

PC: Well I would like to do "Hard Luck Woman." We have so many songs it's so hard to say that.

KH: Did the band do any writing on the road?

PC: I don't know what they had. I did a lot of lyrics, I'm starting to collect 'em back up cause I didn't even realise I wrote 'em some nights and I was going 'wow they're pretty good', I'm starting to collect 'em now. We haven't even been home a month, I'm still taking stuff out of suitcases, everytime my cleaning lady comes to my home there's like more stuff around so I'm still not really settled.

KH: From what I've heard you guys did a soundcheck at almost every show & I was wondering what kinds of things the band would usually play during soundchecks?

PC: We would always play "Deuce" and "Love Gun" and maybe I'd go through "Beth", definitely a little bit of "God Of Thunder." Always pretty much "Deuce" & "Love Gun" for checking the harmonies, those were pretty much the best songs, and Paul was flying towards the end so he had to check his (flying) rig, so those would pretty much be the things at soundcheck. KH: What usually goes on backstage when you're putting on your makeup? Do you do anything to get warmed up psysically?

PC: I do now, I wish I would've did it when I was younger and I wouldn't have so much trouble maybe with my arms and I wouldn't have had to miss a show and now I do play on a pad before we go on. First I soak my arms in hot water and I work out 10 minutes on a pad. For a KISS day: nobody puts a day in like KISS. A KISS day starts for us like wake up at 12 o' clock and then around 1:30 to 3:00 we'd maybe do a bunch of phoners (interviews) in our rooms and then we have to split the hotel and get in the car, get on the jet, get off the jet & get into another car, go to the gig, do soundcheck, eat, and by the time that went on and then whatever else was happening and then by the time the show would be finished we'd get back to the car, get back to the jet. I would get to bed at like 2-3 or 4 in the morning sometimes and that was pretty much what a KISS day was like. From like 1 o' clock in the afternoon to 2 in the morning we'd never stop. I don't think there's a band in this world that could do that! Really (laughs) and we're older and we're in great shape but to keep such a grueling schedule like that I don't see it. A lot of these guys just kinda walk onstage in their pajamas and they looked like they had played in my swimming pool! KISS is not like that. We prepare, we believe it's like going out to battle.

KH: When you started playing drums, what were some of your favorite and most influential drummers?

PC: Well definitely Gene Krupa, I think him and Buddy Rich were the big drummers when I was a kid. I was a little boy and my father used to have all their albums and I just thought these guys were awesome and finally when I got into rock & roll drumming I liked Charlie Watts and not that many people think he's great but I love Charlie Watts. I think he's great. I've always dug John Bonham. I was influenced a lot by Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and definitely Mitch Mitchell so those were a lot of influences on me.

KH: What do you remember the most about getting that first phone call from Gene back in 1973 (to join KISS)?

PC: I had a party at my moms. There was a bunch of people there and I'd left my band Chelsea close to a year to that. We were on Decca and we didn't make it so there was a whole misery to that and I was looking to make it again and I'm glad it all happened actually and it worked out for the best, and this maniac (Gene) called me, and this guy's at the other end of the line asking me these really blatant questions you know: 'are you good looking?', 'do you have long hair?', 'what color eyes do you have?' 'what's your influences?' I mean putting me through this major degree of stuff and I thought 'who does this guy think he is?' 'Am I good looking? Am I Cute?, am I bald?' and he just went on and on and it was funny to Gene but he knew what he wanted I gotta respect him for that. He didn't want no jerk off coming in there, they said they didn't want some audition with a maniac they just wanted to get right to the point and I'm glad cause I didn't wanna audition with other jerk offs either.

KH: Are there any plans to ever do another KISS Convention tour in the future?

PC: Right now I think we're just concentrating on the CD and preferably a summer tour next year and then I think maybe after all is said and done and we're all tired of doing the classic KISS I could see us going out without the makeup and having a really good time, I could see that but it's definitely not close.

KH: With the KISS original chemistry back it seems like Paul & Gene have found new appreciations in playing with yourself & Ace again. Do you have any new appreciations from playing with Gene & Paul again?

PC: Well I appreciate them in a different way now. We all have kids now, there's a big difference right there and it's funny cause a lot of people get a kick out of hearing us talk about our kids, talking about 'how's your house coming?' but pretty much everyday stuff. It seems like we're more family guys now and we've all really grown up a lot and we really enjoy each others company . We laugh a lot and we make fun of each other inconsistantly, noone else is allowed to do that though only we would do it to each other and there's still this major bond and I don't know if it's been there ever since I was a kid with these guys, it seems like there's something magical about the four of us when we walk into a room. I'm told that people just freak out. Something about our aura that we have that I really agree that we didn't have it alone but when I'm with the four of us it's a magical thing so we know that now and I think we're really grateful.