Blabbermouth

KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer recently spoke with Australia’s Heavy magazine. The full conversation can be streamed below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the band’s ongoing “End Of The Road” farewell tour:

Tommy: “We feel good. I’m still getting used to this being the last tour. In North America and Europe, we’ve done 95 shows this year already, with about 20 more to go. I’m still loving being out there. Most all shows are sold-out. We’ve been packing them in, and the response has been incredible… It’s something else. It’s over the top. It’s definitely the biggest show we’ve done, and I know that sounds very cliché — you’ve heard it before — but literally, it’s the biggest and best show we’ve ever done. There’s no doubt about it.”

Tommy: “It is emotional. Every night, we go out there and see the smiles, and actually the tears in a lot of people’s eyes. It kind of surprises me sometimes, because I’m not ready for that. You see people with tears, but also tears of joy, loving this band for as long as it’s been around. It means a lot to us, and to be on stage each night is just phenomenal. Seeing the response, we just couldn’t feel better about it.”

On the band’s wide demographic:

Tommy: “The multi-generational thing, it’s very bizarre, actually. Sometimes I ask kids, ‘How did you get into KISS nowadays, and what makes you want to come see this band?’ A lot of times, it’s because their parents were into it, and they kind of pass the torch. Maybe it’s just because the world’s a smaller place, interconnected with the Internet. People have been seeing the show on YouTube and online, and I think that’s really helped us, even though a lot of times in the YouTube era, bands don’t like that because they feel like it gives away the surprise or the secret about what we’re doing. It’s really spread the word. I think we do a lot of things outside the box. We did a KISS/‘Scooby-Doo!’ movie a couple years ago. I know a lot of kids got turned on to KISS seeing that movie. There’s a lot of things like that. It’s a strange phenomenon, but it blows me away.”
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