Cindy Watts | The Tennessean
Britta Pedersen
Tongue-wagging, fire-spitting Gene Simmons of KISS is 64 years old and every night on the band’s 40th anniversary tour, “I have to wear more makeup and higher heels than you ever wore,” he said.
To be exact, those heels are eight-inch platforms and he does it carrying 50 pounds of gear.
Not that he’s complaining.
“I’m happy every day I get up,” said the over-the-top bass player who will appear with KISS tonight at Bridgestone Arena. Def Leppard will also perform. “You open your eyes, you win.”
Simmons said the stage production has been 40 years in the making and he doesn’t want to divulge a single detail because he wants fans to come see it for themselves. He said the fans are his highlight every night.
“The highlight that happens almost every show is when you look out and you see somebody in their 40s or 50s, that’s great,” he said. “When you look out and you see teenagers, they’re cool and they’re seeing their first KISS concert, that’s great. But the amazing thing is when you look out and you see a father and he’s got KISS make up on. And you see his five-year-old kid on his shoulders and he’s got KISS make up on and they’re both doing my hand gesture, it just chokes me up. It’s amazing.
“When I was growing up rock and roll divided the generations and now it’s finally something the whole family can get behind. It’s a unifier and not a divider. I love that about KISS.”
Simmons said the band has tweaked the set list several times since they went on the road in an effort to give fans the music they most want to hear. He knows they’ve succeeded because the fans are standing on their seats yelling in front of the stage.
“It takes money, it takes planning, it takes a lot of hard work,” he said of their 40th anniversary tour. “Then when you see it, It’s like Disney World. You leave and you don’t realize it took 30 years to put that thing together. Forty years, this is our 40th anniversary, and boy do I look good.”
Simmons said he thinks KISS is the hardest-working band in music. His work ethic is driven by an “immigrant’s mind,” he said. Born in Israel, Simmons is a first-generation American and he said he wakes up every day and thinks about the possibility of being sent back.
“In the back of my head, it’s always, ‘Please don’t throw me out of your country,'” he said. “It’s astonishing when you think about it, that I can come here a first-generation immigrant and you give me as much opportunity as you give your own sons and daughters, I would never take that for granted. That’s why I love the military, and when the flag goes up, I shut my mouth. I’m always aware that I’m an outsider.”
To that end, one dollar of every ticket sold for every KISS show goes to benefit Wounded Warrior Project. That’s not the only way Simmons gives back. He happily admits that he’s rich, but explained that’s what allows him to help other people.
“The great thing about working hard all of your life and becoming rich is you can do great things,” he said. “You can help people and create jobs and contribute to pediatric AIDS. Being rich is good. You can do stuff. Being poor, you can’t help people.”
KISS and Def Leppard perform at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, July 16. A few tickets are still available through Ticketmaster.