The 2012 INDIANAPOLIS KISS Fan Expo will take place on Saturday May 12th from 1:00PM to 10:00PM (11PM  for Platinum and 12PM VIP ticket  holders)

Location:
Indianapolis Marriott East
7202 East 21st Street
Indianapolis, IN 46219

For rooms reservations call             1-800-228-9290       or            317-352-1231       and ask for the KISS Expo Rate of $79 a night or CLICK THIS LINK and do it online:
Indianapolis Marriott East

Special guests KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer and KISS drummer Eric Singer! This is Tommy’s first official appearance as a guest at an KISS Expo,and Tommy’s only KISS Expo appearance this year! Come meet Tommy and Eric as KISS gets ready to hit the road for “THE TOUR” 2012! Each band member will also do a Q/A and be available for autographs throughout the day.

– Shout it out loud and sing your favorite KISS Klassics at KISS Karaoke!
– Enjoy a costume contest for all ages
– KISS merchandise and collectibles will be on sale all day from vendors all over the country!
– KISSOnline will be attending with KOL Exclusive merchandise!
– KISSPickWorld.com will also have available guitar picks from the Sonic Boom Over Europe Tour and Hottest Show On Earth Tour.
– Children under 12 get in free!
Order Indianapolis Expo tickets HERE

Mitch Lafon | BraveWords.com

May 19th, 2012 will mark the 20th anniversary of the brilliant KISS Revenge album. BraveWords.com will mark the passing of this landmark record with a five-part series of interviews conducted in the last couple of weeks with the major players on the disc as well as a few musicians that you may not know took part in the album’s recording sessions. Our first such surprise is Tommy Thayer. Many may know Tommy as the current Spaceman of KISS, but back in 1992, he was Gene Simmons’ protégé and former guitarist for the band BLACK N’ BLUE. Tommy’s role on the album was limited to adding backing vocals on a few tracks along with his former Black N’ Blue singer, Jaime St. James. Revenge would mark Tommy’s second appearance on a KISS album. He had previously contributed two acoustic tracks to the band’s Hot In The Shade opus. Thayer’s song ‘Nasty Nasty’ from the Black N’ Blue album of the same name formed the basis of the Gene Simmons composition, ‘Domino’ on the Revenge album. BraveWords.com caught up with Tommy via email as KISS preps to head out on the road in support of their new album, Monster.

“I was there during some of the recording and I sang background vocals on a bunch of those tunes,” said Thayer when asked about his work on Revenge.

Continue reading →

Charles M. Young | Rolling Stone

This story is from the April 7th, 1977 issue of Rolling Stone.

Peter Cade

“We broke Lawrence Welk’s attendance record in Abilene, Texas. I’m very proud of that,” says Gene Simmons, the Kiss bassist, notorious for his grotesquely long tongue and for dressing like a pterodactyl. We sit at a backstage dinner table on the first of three nights they are playing Detroit’s 12,000-seat Cobo Hall – exceptional dates because they are doing mostly secondary markets this tour. “We’re hitting places they’ve never seen a big band, and they’ll remember us forever. The reaction has been amazing. I was watching the local news in Duluth and the announcer said there had been a robbery at the auditorium. I thought, ‘That’s it for the gate receipts,’ but it turned out some kid had gone up to the window and stolen three tickets at gunpoint. I don’t understand it. Tickets are so ethereal. One concert and they’re gone. Now money, that’s real power.”

Money, I object, is as much an illusion as a ticket.

“Not if everyone believes it,” says Simmons, holding up a fork. “If I say this is a royal scepter and everyone recognizes it as such, then it’s a royal scepter and I’m king. That’s power, not an illusion.”

Before I can insist it’s still a fork, guitarist Paul Stanley – known for the black star over his right eye and for his bright red lips – sits down and stuffs a piece of cake into his mouth. “I’m really sick to my stomach,” he says, licking the fingers of one hand, holding his taut belly with the other, and searching for another slice with the calm eyes of an addict who has enough money to feed his habit. “I got chills and everything. I thought I was going to pass out onstage last night.”

Maybe he would feel better if he stopped eating gunk?

“The best diet for the road,” he says, “is soup for lunch and candy for supper. It keeps the weight off and you’re speeding on all that sugar by show time.”

Continue reading →