Matthew Wilkening | Ultimate Classic Rock

Kiss and Momorio Clover Z have unveiled a 50-second video featuring what appears to be part of their upcoming collaborative single ‘Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina,’ which is due to be released on Jan. 28.

The highly colorful video blends animation with scenes of the Japanese girl group seemingly preparing for battle against their much larger and even more ornately dressed American counterparts. Unless Gene Simmons‘ voice has changed dramatically since the last time we saw Kiss in concert, Momorio Clover Z is handling all the vocals on this clip.

The song is one of two that Kiss frontman Paul Stanley co-wrote for this collaboration. The second, ‘SAMURAI SON,’ will appear on the ‘Kiss Version’ of the single’s two CD releases. Momorio Clover Z will also be opening for Kiss at their March 3 show at the Tokyo Dome, part of the band’s extended 2015 trek through Japan, South America and Europe.

Artisan News Service

Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley has had a big 2014 with a tour and a new album Space Invader, and he talked with Artisan News about his guitar style and the technique that sets him apart from other players.

Guitar World

Brian Lowe

In 1976, Ibanez approached Kiss frontman Paul Stanley to collaborate on a signature guitar that would become the instrument with which he would be forever associated.

Now, for the first time since 1996, Paul and Ibanez have reunited to re-issue three exciting new versions of the original Paul Stanley Signature Model.

“Renewing my collaboration with Ibanez feels like going home to where it all started,” Stanley said. “The guitars we created remain iconic and we will celebrate them and more as we move forward into our future together.”

“We’re very excited to be partnering again with Paul Stanley,” said Ibanez Artist Relations Manager Mike Taft. “It’s been an amazing year for Paul and the band, including the release of his best-selling autobiography, the band’s long overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the ongoing world tour to commemorate their 40th anniversary together.

“I couldn’t think of a better time for Paul to reunite with Ibanez. Along with their distinctive styling, these historic instruments have proven themselves on albums and in concert worldwide, where their sound has made them sought after by guitarists for decades.”

Stay tuned for more details soon!

Dave Lifton | 1037 The Loon

In 1974, 10 years before he joined Kiss, Bruce Kulick was in a band with two friends, and now the music they made is about to get a wider release. You can check out the teaser video for the project above.

Kulick first issued the six songs by KKB — named after Kulick, Mike Katz and Guy Bois — in 2008 in a limited numbered run of 1,000 CDs. As he explained on his Facebook page, “Since then, Mike Katz, our singer and principal writer, found the original multitrack tapes we recorded in 1974. We discussed writing a new song and updating the mixes, with a vision of squeezing every bit of fidelity and spirit out of the performances. In early 2015, KKB will be released with a brand new song that will blow your mind, along with remixed versions of the original six songs and some more recently unearthed material as well. It was a long time ago, but the tracks still sound remarkably current.”

A few years after recording this music, Kulick joined Meat Loaf‘s touring band in support of ‘Bat Out of Hell.’ That was followed by a few years in Blackjack, Michael Bolton’s group before the singer became an adult-contemporary heartthrob. Kulick then spent more than a decade in Kiss, and since 2001 has been playing guitar in Grand Funk Railroad.

“Little did we realize life would never afford us the opportunity to do more with what we created,” Kulick said.

NME

Kiss have announced plans to perform their 1975 gold-selling album ‘Alive!’ in full during next year’s Kiss Kruise.

The ‘Kruise’ takes place between October 30 and November 3 and sails between Miami and Jamaica.

As Gigwise reports, plans for the set have now been announced via the band’s website.

The statement reads, “The time has come to take on your next mission which will surely be the most epic adventure the high seas have ever seen – the Kiss Kruise V! We’re going back to the golden age when Kiss rose to prominence, taking the world by storm. What better way to celebrate the rise of these rock legends than to watch Kiss perform the very live album that launched them into greatness 40 years ago? Get ready to rock out to Kiss playing their first gold album Alive! in its entirety.”

This is the fifth year that the Gene Simmons-fronted band have run the cruise, which will also see performances from an as-yet-unannounced supporting bill.

Prices start from £548 for a two-berth cabin.

Meanwhile, the band recently announced that they were to collaborate with Japanese pop group Momoiro Clover Z.

The band will perform on the Japanese five piece’s single ‘Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina’, which is due to be released worldwide in January, with an alternate version also due to be included on Kiss’ forthcoming ‘Best Of Kiss 40’ compilation.

Lazer 103

Richard Shotwell

Rocker Gene Simmons has credited a fear of disappointing his mother with steering him away from drugs and alcohol.

The Kiss frontman insists he has never been drunk or gotten high because he always worried about his mom’s reaction.

He tells U.S. talk show host Wendy Williams, “My mother is actually my biggest inspiration. At 14 years of age she was in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and I’m an only child. Our father left us when I was about six or seven years old. I would never break her heart.”

However, Simmons admits he found other ways to indulge after deciding to stay away from drugs and booze his whole life, although his days as a ladies’ man are now firmly behind him, because he only has eyes for his wife, Shannon Tweed.

He continues, “I’ve been a jacka** most of my life… I have been self-absorbed all of my life, self-centered, arrogant, selfish and full of myself and it took the angel that walked into my life, Shannon…

“Part of the parcel of being a jacka** and not growing up to be a man is not realizing that the dream woman of your life was always there and it took 29 years for this jacka** to grow up and realize I have everything…”

Dave Lifton | Ultimate Classic Rock

Throughout the history of the animated series ‘Family Guy,’ Peter Griffin’s love of Kiss has often been worked into the plots. Now, the group has become a part of the show’s smartphone game, ‘Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff.’

“Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!” says the update’s description in Apple’s App Store. “’Tis the season of giving, unless you’re Peter Griffin,” For him, it’s the season of p—ing off the Giant Chicken and ruining Christmas. Lois and Santa need your help delivering a successful holiday season by decorating the town and making gifts.”

‘Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff’ allows fans to go on a variety of storylines that use the game’s characters and setting in the fictional town of Quahog, RI. It is available for both Apple and Google-powered devices. The game is free to download, but there are opportunities for in-app purchases. You can learn more at the game’s website.

Blabbermouth

KISS frontman Paul Stanley says that the band’s tumultuous “Farewell Tour“ in 2000 was nothing more than an attempt by the group to “put KISS out of its misery” after years of ego clashes and disagreements over songwriting credits between the band’s original members.

In 1996, the original KISS foursome regrouped and embarked on a massively successful world tour, which lasted a little over a year. Less than two years later, Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley made plans to the studio to record “Psycho Circus”, their first full studio album together since 1977’s “Love Gun”. (Peter was replaced by “ghost” drummer Anton Fig on all but one track on 1979’s “Dynasty”.) The results, however, fell far short of expectations, with Criss only playing drums on one song and Frehley appearing on two tracks.

“‘Psycho Circus’ was such a nightmare to make that it kind of turned me off to the whole idea of making another album,” Stanley said during a <a “href=”http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid” =473241″=”” target=”_blank”>recent appearance on “Talk Is Jericho“, the podcast of Chris Jericho, the world champion pro wrestler, actor, New York Times best-selling author and lead vocalist of the metal band FOZZY. “But then at some point I thought, I don’t want that to be our last album. It’s not a good memory. Although ‘Psycho Circus’ has turned out to be a great song; it’s terrific.

“Everything was wrong [during the making of ‘Psycho Circus’].”

He continued: “The problem that I have is that people say, ‘Why don’t you stop bashing Ace?’ or ‘Why don’t you stop bashing Peter?’ And I go, ‘Well, if you ask the same questions, I have to give you the same answer.’ The answer’s not gonna change. Don’t ask the question, because the truth is the truth. It’s not a matter of wanting to bash somebody. I have to tell it the way it is.

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Talk is Jericho

Michael Brandvold

Folgers

Blabbermouth

Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley recently spoke to VH1 about how his fascination with sci-fi and astronomy formed his alter ego, Spaceman; having something to prove when creating his 1978 solo album; and the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame controversy. You can watch the chat in three parts below.

After weeks of bad-mouthing each other in the press, the four original members of KISS were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, with all four — Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss — delivering warm, nostalgic and even sweet-natured speeches that put aside the simmering tensions for at least 12 minutes.

KISS did not perform — the Hall Of Fame wanted the original quartet only to play, while Simmons and Stanley insisted on the current lineup — which also includes guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer — performing as well. In the end nobody won that battle.

“The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was a great experience for me,” Frehley told VH1. “We could have been inducted fifteen years earlier, but we finally got inducted this year, in April. I know there was a little controversy going on preceding the event. Originally we were asked to perform, and at the last minute Paul and Gene decided that they didn’t wanna perform with me and Peter. Me and Peter were up for it. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was insisting that only the four original members perform. Paul and Gene opted not to do it. After forty years, they couldn’t give the fans fifteen minutes. Go figure. I think they’re gonna regret that decision.”

During a recent interview with KNPR News, Stanley was asked why he declined to perform with Criss and Frehley at the band’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. “It’s a tough question to answer, but there’s so much involved in it,” he replied. “Firstly, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame wanted nothing to do with us; they begrudgingly let us in. And my sense was that we were going to be a dog-and-pony show. They wanted to have the original guys play in the band, and all of us in makeup, and, quite honestly, I think it would have done the band a disservice. That lineup has not been together for 14 years, and physically, perhaps, wouldn’t have looked that great, and musically, undoubtedly, probably, would have sounded a bit suspect. So, to have people watch it on television and identify that as KISS because there’s four guys in makeup would not send a great signal to the people who are not following the band in its current permutation, or what it is today.”

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Something Else

For Pete Townshend, the whole Kiss thing couldn’t be more foreign. And not just because Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Co. wear such outlandish outfits. They simply have no connection to the UK stomping grounds that spawned the Who, he says.

“One thing that Kiss are absolutely, unquestionably not — in any sense, whatsoever — is European or English,” Townshend says, in a newly posted talk with Hazy Rock. “They are straight out of Creem magazine meets Las Vegas. Or New Orleans, even. There is a bit of New Orleans in it, a very American, kind of Mardi Gras thing. They couldn’t have happened here. They could maybe have happened in Berlin — in which case their music wouldn’t have been like their music. They would have looked like they looked, but they would have made different kind of music. They’re a very American phenomenon.”

That said, Pete Townshend admits that the on-stage garb baffled him, at least to begin with.

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Strange Ways

Michael Brandvold

Blabbermouth

During a brand new interview with “The Cassius Morris Show”, KISS drummer Eric Singer spoke about the possibility of the band one day carrying on without any original members, including main songwriter Paul Stanley.

“Everybody has broached that subject, meaning, like, fans… I’m sure you guys have heard comments through the years, the past few years, by people saying, ‘Oh, I can see KISS without Gene [Simmons, KISS bassist/vocalist] and Paul,'” Eric said. “Me personally, I’m not saying it’s not possible, but I doubt it will be with me… What I mean is I don’t think I would wanna do that; that’s what I’m saying.

“To me, Gene and Paul have always been the main cogs in the machinery, if you will, of KISS. And I mean that with no disrespect to Ace [Frehley, original KISS guitarist] and Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer], who started the original band [as] those four, and anyone that’s been in the band. ‘Cause everybody has come in and they brought something to the band — maybe in different increments or a different value, depending on how a particular fan may wanna see a particular era. ‘Cause you’ve gota remember, for some people, their version of KISS is ‘Crazy Nights’, or their version of KISS is 1980 with Eric Carr with Ace and Gene and Paul in Australia. Or it’s ‘Revenge’. Or it’s now. I’ve been around this band for 25 years, I’ve seen fans of all eras and all incarnations of the band, but, for me, the one constant has always been Gene and Paul; they’ve always been the

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Anonymous 

Hennemusic

Cassius Morris

Logan Dean Worrell | Noisey

Kiss is the “Hottest Band in the World.” Everyone on the entire planet knows who Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are even if only by “The Demon and Starchild” respectively. They are as iconic American images as Michael Jackson or Madonna or Coca Cola or Apple. The two have more money than god and have bedded everyone from Diana Ross to Cher, not to mention all the various playmates of years past. Being able to ask them a couple questions with an ocean view was an absolute delight, and I can now say that I have met one of the coolest famous people ever in Paul Stanley.

Vice threw a party in NYC and all the Noisey people attended. I hear it was a riot. Sadly, that meant no one from the NYC office would be able to jet down to Cabo San Lucas Mexico in December to hang out with Simmons and Stanley at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar beachfront resort. Luckily the “East Austin” branch was able to pick up the slack. We attended the grand opening of yet another KISS affiliated venture “Rock and Brews”, which is their version of a Hard Rock Café or Hooters. Being a life long fan of Hooters, KISS, and the Hard Rock Café, I was all in. Next stop Mexico.

As a Texan, I have been very privileged to be able to spend a good deal of time down in Mexico, though never on the west coast. A couple months back Cabo was hit with a devastating hurricane and the people are just now getting back on track. The city was great and the people were extremely nice and hospitable. The grand opening was full of red carpets and chicken wings and little mini pizzas, complete with an all-Mexican cover band performing American songs, none of which were written by KISS except for “ I Was Made for Loving You” which epically closed out the night. On an interesting side note the singer was wearing a bootleg KISS t-shirt featuring the ever-recognizable “Rolling Stones” Lips. Mexico, you’re the best.

The next day I was given ten uninterrupted minutes with Gene Simmons. Here are the results. Look for an interview with Paul Stanley tomorrow on Noisey.

Noisey: How did you find your way into the world of restaurants and franchises?
Gene Simmons: The nature of celebrity is one thing, just because you’re the lead singer in “Train”—I’m sure he’s a nice guy—doesn’t mean that translates to business. For whatever reason, perception is everything, even if it’s not the case. And I can’t tell you a thing about the engine in my truck, but I sure know how to drive it.

You put gas in it. 
I don’t do that either. I barely know where the thing is. That’s not what I wanna do. What I wanna do is to drive, and everybody else should do everything. If the car’s dirty, somebody else does the cleaning. I bet you know a lot more about cleaning. And captains know Continue reading →