Gene Simmons of Kiss has been at the forefront of the rock world since the mid 1970s, and he’s still going strong in 2013.
A true visionary, he and his original bandmates transformed rock and roll into something no one had seen before: a dynamic stage show full of fire, explosions, lights and straight up rock. Critics were stunned. Radio didn’t know what to do with them. But the fans loved it — and probably will again when the band plays Seminole Hard Rock Live on Saturday.
Been a long time since the New York City days. What was that like back then?
We were four bums off the streets of New York who dreamed like everybody else and were lucky to be in the right place at the right time with the right thing. And you say privately, when you have dreams, “Dear God, just give me a chance, just one chance. I promise I won’t screw it up.”
Still get excited about selling out every night?
Sure. The first time we played at the Garden, the first of three nights, back when nobody was doing that stuff, Kiss was three years in a row the no. 1 Gallup Poll band. Two and three went between Zeppelin, Beatles and Bee Gees. And in 1978, 20th Century Fox had the rights to do licensing and merchandising, and the no. 1 and no. 2 biggest licensed products were Star Wars and Kiss.
Impressive.
It is. We started in 1974, New Year’s Eve . . . . And within a year and a half we’re playing Anaheim Stadium. Before cell phones, cassettes, 8-tracks, before anything. Before Rock Concert, before Midnight Special, before MTV, before any of that.
Was there one particular moment when you knew you were going to succeed?