JR Smalling

New York, NY, December 5, 2014 – With the release of Out On the Streets: The True Tales of Life on the Road With the Hottest Band in the Land…KISS!” ($29.95) the band’s millions of fans worldwide will finally get an up-close and behind-the-curtain look at KISS’s formative years on the road.

This highly detailed 347-page book comes directly from the collective efforts of JR Smalling, Peter Oreckinto, Rick Munroe and the late Mick Campise, who comprised the core of the band’s original road crew from 1974 – 1976.  In Out on the Streets the four share an intimate and inside look at life on the road with KISS, and detail what it took to lay the foundation for one of the most spectacular and successful rock bands in history.

Out on the Streets digs into the dirt, the blue-collar work ethic, and the crew’s unwavering loyalty to KISS’s ridiculous “biggest band in the world” pipedream.  The four authors spin tales of fighting headline acts like Aerosmith just to get in and out of gigs, logging over 90,000 road miles in 1974 alone, wrestling with thieves and warding off racism.  There’s violent tragedy on a personal level, mind-numbing hours and days without rest, bullet-ridden vehicles, arrests, abject poverty, catalogs of carnal pursuits, and ultimately a skyrocket of success.

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Nick DeRiso | Ultimate Classic Rock

An invitation to appear on the New York City-based finale of Dave Grohl‘s ‘Sonic Highways‘ series opened up a treasure trove of memories for Paul Stanley. Kiss came of age during one the city’s golden eras of music in the ’70s, a period when Electric Ladyland Studios and the Fillmore East attracted every big name in rock.

Even as Kiss began to work their way into that pantheon, Stanley tells Rolling Stone, they were in awe of the scene.

“I remember when Kiss was in the studio,” he says, “I was in the waiting area just taking a break — and Jimmy Page came out of studio A at that time they were mixing ‘The Song Remains the Same,’ and he knew who I was. For a kid from Queens who sat in the audience spellbound watching them play, it was a transcendental moment to suddenly be on his radar. That was one of those moments that I don’t forget.”

As for appearing on the celebrated HBO documentary series, Stanley was more than happy to participate. “Some people are hams,” he quipped. “I’m the whole pig.”

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Q104

You can not only buy his guitar and clothes from former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent, you can also buy the copyrights to his songs!

An auction has been set up on his website where he has 24 items up for sale. His famous Jackson Shark Fin guitar, stage and video outfits he wore including the belt he wore on the cover of “Lick It Up,” are all up for auction.

Most shocking is the copyrights he is selling for the 21 songs that appeared on the two Vinnie Vincent Invasion albums. Even more interesting is that he is trying to sell the unsigned employment contract with Kiss, which as described, led to “decades of controversy between Vinnie and Kiss.”

These are not selling at a bargain though. Bidding on the contract starts at $10,000 and the copyrights to his songs can be bought for $200,000.

Luke

If you’ve never checked it out, go to PeterCrissDrums.com for an in-depth amazing journey through Peter Criss’s entire library of drum kits from childhood to the present! An unbelievable resource of photos and info about Peter and his hardware, definitely worth a look!

Blabbermouth

Original KISS drummer Peter Criss is continuing work on a new rock solo album, which he promises will be “heavier” than the stuff he has done in the past.

Criss‘s last solo CD, titled “One for All”, came out in 2007. Peter produced the album himself for the first time, and was joined by guest musicians that included keyboardist Paul Shaffer and bassist Will Lee of “Late Night with David Letterman“. The album featured a range of styles, from rock and jazz to blues and Broadway, and included covers of “What a Difference a Day Makes” and “Send in the Clowns”.

Speaking to an audience of fans at a question-and-answer session hosted by VH1 Classic “That Metal Show” co-host Eddie Trunk on November 28 at the “All Things That Rock” festival in Oaks, Pennsylvania, Criss stated about the progress of the recording sessions for the follow-up to “One for All” (see video below): “I’ve been sitting on a record … I’d done this thing, like, five years ago and I’m still messing with it. I’m not done, because I don’t wanna rush it.”

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Richard Johnson | Page Six

Gene Simmons — the long-tongued KISS bassist and author of “Me, Inc.” — didn’t suffer from shyness as a kid in Forest Hills, Queens.

Alan Stuart Graf recounts in the book “I Inhaled: Rantings, Ramblings and Ravings of a Hippie Lawyer,” how he and Gene Klein, as he was known then, were in a band together called the Long Island Sounds.

“We were about 14 at the time, and this other guitar player and I were playing Ventures [surf-rock] music with a cool cat drummer named Stan,” Graf wrote.

“But we needed a bass player. So I talked Gene into getting a bass. We went down to Manny’s Music Store in downtown Manhattan and picked him out a Paul McCartney imitation white bass. He was in love with it and kept on fantasizing that he was Paul and all the girls loved him because of his fine bass.”

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Nick DeRiso | Ultimate Classic Rock
 

Ace Frehley‘s upcoming album of cover songs will hold a special treat for his long-time fans — new takes on classic Kiss songs.

“Absolutely, I’m re-recording some Kiss tracks,” Frehley tells 100% Rock Magazine. “I believe I’m going to be doing ‘Parasite’; I’m not sure which other ones, you know, and some covers that I’ve always wanted to do that I haven’t done.”

‘Parasite’ was one of three songs written or co-written by Frehley for 1974′s ‘Hotter Than Hell,’ though he didn’t take his first lead vocal until ‘Shock Me‘ from 1977′s ‘Love Gun.’ Frehley also wrote ‘Cold Gin,’ ‘Getaway’ and ‘Strange Ways’ for Kiss, among others.

This new project, which follows Frehley’s well-received ‘Space Invader,’ is said to include a number of featured performers, including Slash, Lita Ford and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam.

“I’m going to get a lot of different guest stars to play with me on these tracks,” Frehley adds. “And it’s going to be a much easier record than this last one, because I don’t have to write solos, and I don’t have to write lyrics because they’re already set. So, that’s going to be another fun record for me, and I’m looking forward to that, you know, start tracking it out in between tours and whatnot.”

‘Space Invader,’ Frehley’s first new album in five years, rose to the Billboard Top 10. Frehley’s current tour is in Texas this week, with future dates planned in California.