Examiner

Katey Sagal appeared on Wednesday morning’s Howard Stern Show to talk about her history in show business, her dark past and her father’s tragic accidental death at the hands of a helicopter blade.

Sagal entered acting as a teenager thanks to her father Boris, who was an acclaimed television director. But Sagal says that her real passion was music. She sang back up for Bob Dylan (who she described as “a little on the creepy side”), Bette Midler (“It was the hardest job”) and she got her first record contract thanks to Gene Simmons (“He was instrumental in helping me.”) It took some serious grilling, but Saga eventually admitted she did have sex with the KISS star

“He really noticed my talent,” said Sagal of Simmons. “I didn’t fall in love with him but I had a big crush on him.”

In the hour long interview, Sagal also shared her dark history of drug abuse and addiction. Sagal said that in her teens and early 20s she dabbled with drugs including mushrooms, acid and cocaine.

Check out this teaser clip of King Of The Night Time World by Gord Prior featuring Spiro Papadatos and Steve Georgakopoulos!
KISSIN’ TIME: CANADA’S TRIBUTE TO KISS comes out tomorrow! Support SickKids Foundation by ordering your CD right now at kissintime-canadastributetokiss.bandcamp.com/

Michael Branvold | Michael Branvold Marketing

In this episode Michael Brandvold and Mitch Lafon geek out on KISS and talk about the new KISS album “Monster”. Not so much a song by song review of the album, but a discussion of our feelings. Do we like that album? Yes, but listen for some great discussion.

Opie and Anthony

Part 2 of the interview is HERE
Part 3 of the interview is HERE 

Wireimage

Jim Kerr | Q104.3 News

Founding member of KISS, Peter Criss talks fromMake Up to Breakup, surviving breast cancer, and responds to comments from Steven Tyler.

Peter will be signing books this week:

Tuesday October 23 at 12:30pm – Barnes And Noble 5th Avenue NYC
Wednesday October 24 at 6pm – Bookends in Ridgewood, NJ
Saturday October 27 at 7pm – Barnes And Noble in Eatontown, NJ

Amy Andrews | Irish Central

George Pimento / Scott Alan

The KISS bass player admitted he finds the hunky actor attractive at the Carousel of Hope gala in Beverly Hills, California, at which George was the guest of honor for his philanthropic work.

Gene told ETonline.com: “What do you girls say when you like another girl, but you’re straight?”

When told he was referring to a “girl crush,” he added, “George could be my ‘boy crush’,” as he raised his eyebrows and tilted his sunglasses.

Gene’s wife, Shannon Tweed, was also very complimentary about George, praising his
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Chris Epting | Noisecreep

Chaiaki Nozu

KISS recently returned with Monster, their 20th studio album and a rocking return to the thunderous hooks and classic chordal mayhem that makes them, well, KISS. Over their 40-plus year history, the band can boast 28 U.S. gold albums, the most gold records for any American rock band, along with over 100 million albums sold worldwide.

Noisecreep recently had the pleasure of talking with longtime lead guitarist Tommy Thayer about the new album, and his life in the band.

It must feel good to finally have Monster in stores.

We’re all super happy and super proud of Monster and we put a lot of time and effort into making it great. We approached it from a very organic and simple place, like a band just starting out. We were just hanging out at each other’s houses, we arranged the songs at rehearsal then we’d go in and just knock them out. We didn’t even do demos. We didn’t have a label involved when we did it so there was no manager or A&R person telling us what to do, it was just the four of us making the calls, so whatever was in our hearts made it onto the record.

How has your role in KISS evolved over the years?

It has evolved a lot. My first dealing with KISS was an opening act on the Asylum tour in 1985 while I was in my band Black ‘N Blue. We did about 24-25 shows with KISS and I got to know Paul and Gene and then the relationship with Gene evolved after that. He produced some of our records, and then I worked on some KISS albums after that. Black ‘N Blue then ran its course and I was hired to work behind the scenes with KISS, managing different sorts of things. Then ten years ago things evolved again and I came on Continue reading →

Chad Childers | Ultimate Classic Rock

Christopher Polk / Rick Diamond

A lot of people would love to see Led Zeppelin play again, and Kiss‘ Gene Simmons says there was one promoter who went as far as to use him as a go-between in attempting to reunite the band for at least one more show.

Simmons tells the Sun that a promoter one handed him close to £200million (approximately $320 million) to tempt the remaining band members to play again. The singer recalls, “In 2009/10, I was given a few hundred million dollars in an account by a large concert promoter and given the task of reaching out to Jimmy [Page] and Robert [Plant] and trying to convince them to get back together. Of course, it didn’t work. Robert just doesn’t want to do it.”

Led Zeppelin have been asked multiple times to reunite, but have always kept quiet about how much they were offered to get back together. During a recent press conference to promote the band’s ‘Celebration Day‘ concert film, the band bristled at questions about whether or not they would perform again, with Plant going so far as calling a reporter a “schmuck” for asking the question.

After realizing the reunion questions would continue, Plant elaborated, “If we’re capable of doing something, in our own time, that will be what will happen. So any inane questions from people who are from syndicated outlets, you should just really think about what it takes to answer a question like that in one second. We know what we’ve got, you know.”

As for Kiss, Simmons recently answered a few questions of his own about the band’s original lineup. He stated, “It would be the death of the band with Ace [Frehley] and Peter [Criss] today. They’re both equally important as Paul [Stanley] and I for the beginnings of the band but not everybody is designed in their DNA to be a marathon runner. They were short distance runners and that was great for the beginning of the band but we have to take it to the next level. With Eric and Tommy (Thayer) in the band it sort of revitalized the band, through fresh eyes and fresh ears you realize, ‘Wow, we’re in Kiss!’”

Kiss are promoting their newly released ‘Monster‘ album.

Photo credits: Peter Arquette / KISSasylum.com

This past Thursday evening, Peter Criss was honored with a very specil award for his work promoting breast cancer awareness. Peter has been very vocal and has worked relentlessly to educate the world that this type of cancer is not limited to women only and his eloquent speech that night was the exclamation point on all he has done so far. Peter talked about meeting other male breast cancer survivors that said they felt all alone because of the general ignorance about the facts. He talked about how couples should check each other for breast cancer, (“that’s one way to get guys to check themselves!”, said Peter). His status as a celebrity gives Peter a unique opportunity to reach out to the media and therefore millions of people with knowledge that can save lives and for this, the Cancer Support Community, and the rest of us, truly thank him.

The evening was topped of by a fashion show for cancer survivors with many local businesses donating hair styling, makeup artists and fashion clothes for the event. At the end of the show Peter came down the Catwalk dressed to the nines with two babes in his arms in typical rock-star style! All-in-all a wonderful evening for everyone involved in the Cancer Support Community.

Peter Hartlaub | San Francisco Chronicle

From what I’ve seen, 1977 was a fantastic year to be a rebellious teenager in the Bay Area with a little bit of disposable income.

There was no greater night than Aug. 16, when KISS played the Cow Palace with Cheap Trick opening. It was just two months after the release of “Love Gun,” 10 days before the band recorded the bulk of “Alive II” in Los Angeles and one of the last tours with all of the founding members (before the original KISS reunited as a nostalgia in 1996). It was also the day that Elvis Presley died.

This week’s Let’s Go to the Morgue! is a tribute to the KISS Army, and their phenomenal showing at the Cow Palace in 1977. I hope you all got home safe. And even in middle age, may you continue to rock and roll all night, and party every day.

A few more notes below …

* If you’re one of the face-painted kids featured in this photo gallery, please contact me at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com. I’m hoping to interview at least one fan for my Let’s Go to the Q&A project.

* Chronicle music critic Joel Selvin, a noted KISS detractor, reviewed this show. He wrote his most scathing review during their first trip to the Bay Area in 1975. An excerpt from that piece:“KISS takes the cake. The ludicrous hard rock quartet that appeared Friday at Winterland may be the

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Alan Stout | 102 The Mountain

On Saturday, September 15, we here at 102.3-FM presented “KISS ON THE MOUNTAIN,” a three-hour radio special which celebrated the musical history of one of the most successful American rock bands of all-time. The show was done in conjunction with the group’s September 18 show at Montage Mountain in Scranton. We had a great time putting it together. And based on the feedback we received, we know a lot of people enjoyed it. In fact, thanks to the fact that info about the show was posted on the official KISS website and Facebook page, as well as some of the most popular KISS fan sites in the world, we knew we had people listening not just in Northeastern Pennsylvania, but also all around the globe.

We were also aware, however, that a show broadcast in Pennsylvania, USA, from 8-11 p.m. (EST) might not have been the best time for someone to listen in Australia, England, or Japan. And we also had some of our regional listeners tell us that they’d like to hear it again. Thus, in celebration of the recent release of KISS’ new album, “Monster”  – which is currently the No.1 album in Northeastern Pennsylvania – the entire “KISS ON THE MOUNTAIN” program is now also podcast. You can now listen to the entire radio special right here on our website, commercial-free. And to make it even more convenient, we’ve broken it down into six segments.

What will you hear?

1. Excerpts from a new 2012 interview with Gene Simmons, during which he talks about  “Monster,” as well as several other musical topics.

2. Audio excerpts from archived newspaper interviews that I had done with the band dating back 18 years. They include conversations with Paul Stanley, Simmons and former members of the group and include conversations from 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2011.

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Kissfaq.com

An awesome collection of never before seen vintage KISS photos from the 1976 Alive! Amsterdam show have surfaced and can be seen at the KissFAQ.com website!

“Soooooo… I’m sitting outside on my terrace on club night (We have a blowpipe club at my place where you shoot darts at a target at like five to ten meters)
when just chatting with one of the members about photography he spots my kiss tee and casualy states:
‘Yeah you know my dad took some pictures at the 1976 paradiso concert'”….and here they are!

Link to the photo gallery is HERE.

Jimmy Kimmel Live

Randall Roberts | LA Times

Cesar Aguilar

Call it a clash of egos, a publicity stunt or merely one more battle in the long-running war between Boston and New York City, but Aerosmith‘s recent dismissal of KISS as “a comic book rock band” has prompted a response from KISS singer-guitarist Paul Stanley.

Last week, for no apparent reason, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith decided to denigrate KISS on Florida radio station the Bone. Responding to a question about the 2003 KISS/Aerosmith tour, Tyler fired this shot: “Kiss is a comic book rock band and they got a couple hits, but they’re more of a comic book. You see them in their spackled faces.”

Ouch.

Tyler continued: “We were always a band that had something to prove. We always wanted to blow off whatever band it was, and I remember when we went out with KISS in ’76 or something, one of our roadies got into a knife fight with their guys. So I hated them ever since.”

He then compared KISS’ guitar work with Aerosmith’s, calling them “two different worlds.” The distinction between the two bands, he concluded, was that “we really do take ourselves seriously.”

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PeterCriss.net

Peter Criss has invited everyone to come join him this Sunday at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Point Pleasant NJ. Come meet Peter, walk the 5k hike and be part of this annual event. If you can support the event with a donation, please do so at the link below. If not, please just come out and spend the day with the Catman – it’s fun, free and most of all, it’s for a worthy cause!

From PeterCriss.net:
We invite you to join us in Point Pleasant, NJ to walk against breast cancer and raise awareness to help conquer this awful disease.  The walk will begin at 10am on October 21, 2012.  We look forward to seeing everyone there!  Please visit the link below to join our team or make a donation and learn more about the event:

Make a Donation Against Breast Cancer – Click Here  

Creatures of the Net

Well, it’s finally that time again. KISS has released a new studio album and everybody is loving it! The KISS Army is relishing in a Monstrous album that celebrates the 2012 lineup. In this episode, Cassius gives his review of the album track by track and shares his hypothetical setlist for KISS’ upcoming world tour in 2013.

Rich Chamberlain | Music Radar

“I’m deliriously happy,” retorts an unnervingly deadpan Gene Simmons around five seconds into our transatlantic chat.

Whether he really is in the midst of a good mood to end all good moods or not, the KISS founder has every right to be pretty darn pleased with life right about now. Fast approaching 40 years since they formed, the veteran classic rockers are enjoying a rich resurgence, with this week seeing the release of new album Monster, their second in three years, following the critically-acclaimed Sonic Boom.

As he geared up for the record’s release, Gene shared a few memories from some of the band’s career-defining efforts from down the years.

Read the rest…

Rolling Stone

Chelsea Lauren; Michael Tran

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry ripped into Kiss in a radio interview with Florida radio station the Bone, calling their former tourmates a “comic book rock band.” After host Cowhead expressed his disappointment in Kiss’ set during a coheadline show with Aerosmith “a couple years ago,” Tyler began to ridicule the flashy rockers. “Kiss is a comic book rock band and they got a couple hits but they’re more of a comic book. You see them in their spackled faces,” remarked Tyler. “It’s theater,” interjected Perry.

“We were always a band that had something to prove we always wanted to blow up whatever band it was and I remember when we went out with Kiss in ’76 or something, one of our roadies got into a knife fight with their guys. So I hated them ever since,” continued Tyler. “It is different: a Kiss lick, a Joe Perry lick – two different worlds, and sometimes depending on the time of day get offended. I hear that and I go, ‘Yeah, that’s alright. Do they really mean it? And what’s this all about?’ And that’s why I think Aerosmith has been around forever, we really do take ourselves seriously.”

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