Jody Havenot

Jason Herndon

Scott Monro | Team Rock

You can’t make this shit up…

Ronnie James Dio’s widow Wendy has slammed Gene Simmons for attempting to trademark the famous devil horns hand sign which is used by rock and metal fans all over the world.

It was revealed earlier this week that the Kiss bassist and vocalist had filed an application at the US Patent and Trademark Office to register a gesture “with the index and small fingers extended upward and the thumb extended perpendicular.”

The late Ronnie James Dio is widely credited with popularising a different version devil horns sign which he learned from his grandmother as a way to ward off evil – and when asked what she thinks of Simmons’ plan, Wendy says it’s “disgusting.”

She tells The Wrap: “To try to make money off of something like this is disgusting. It belongs to everyone – it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s a public domain, it shouldn’t be trademarked.”

Wendy compares Simmons’ plan to trying to trademark the peace sign and adds: “It’s laughable, I think, quite honestly. I think he’s made a complete fool of himself.”

The cover of Coven’s 1969 album Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls also featured members of the band making a similar hand gesture – and vocalist Esther “Jinx” Dawson has also called out the Kiss star.

She says: “I did the sign of the horns when Coven started in late 1967. I never trademarked my sign because it was meant for all to do, although it is legally ‘grandfathered in’ to me for use in music by all the history.

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Damian Fanelli | Guitar World

EDM (electronic dance music) duo Snaked recently released a new track titled “Paul Stanley.”

The only “vocals” included on the EDM track are various bits of stage banter by Paul Stanley of Kiss. “Paul Stanley”—which was produced by New Jersey-based DJ Depressed Teenager—perfectly merges the age-old experience of a Kiss concert with the new sound of EDM, complete with some appropriately larger-than-life guitar leads from video game composer Hugh Myrone.

Robyn Beck – CBS News

KISS front-man Gene Simmons is looking to claim the “devil horns” hand gesture for his own.

Simmons filed an application Friday with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark on the hand gesture he regularly uses during concerts and public appearances — thumb, index and pinky fingers extended, with the middle and ring fingers folded down.

According to Simmons, this hand gesture was first used in commerce — by him — on Nov. 14, 1974. He is claiming the hand gesture should be trademarked for “entertainment, namely live performances by a musical artist [and] personal appearances by a musical artist.”

While Simmons’ application didn’t define the meaning of the gesture, it is often referred to as “devil horns,” the “sign of the devil” or simply “rock on.” It is also the American Sing Language symbol for “I love you.”

Jody Havenot

Paul Davies | Express

Pantomime season started early, as metal gods Kiss made their grand entrance at the O2 London Arena.

Self-parody being a market that Kiss maximised and monetised a long time ago, the visuals are what most came to see.

Their stage production of hydraulics, zip wires and pyrotechnics would give Alton Towers a run for its money.

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Kiss My Podcasts

Jody Havenot

Matt Porter

Jim Powers

The Guardian

Pretty much any band who plod on well into their fifth decade will have long ago passed the point of self-parody. This rule of thumb does not apply to Kiss, who splendidly sidestepped the problem by being a masterclass in self-parody from day one.

It’s been 44 years and more than 100m record sales since the face-painted, self-proclaimed “Hottest band in the world” formed in New York City. Yet new music plays little part in their strategy nowadays. They have released two new studio albums since the millennium, preferring to tip out endless greatest hits compilations and milk the world’s nostalgia arena-rock circuit.

That cynicism has blighted the band’s image, with their co-founder, bassist and leader, Gene Simmons, widely perceived as one of the most mercenary figures in rock. Kiss’s marketing philosophy can be best summarized as “If it moves, monetize it”: they may no longer be flogging band condoms or coffins, but you can still pick up a nifty Swarovski Kiss-logo coffee tumbler for a mere £335.

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Jody Havenot | Podcast Rock City

Blabbermouth

Gene Simmons says that KISS has “a few more years” left before it calls it quits. He told Glasgow Live ahead of the band’s sold-out May 27 concert at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland (see video below): “We’re the hardest-working band in show business. I wear over forty pounds of studs and armor and all that stuff, seven-inch platform heels, spit fire and have to fly through the air and do all that stuff.

“If Bono or [Mick] Jagger, who we all love, had to dress up and do what I do, they couldn’t last an hour — they just couldn’t.”

He continued: “In hindsight, it would have been smarter to be a U2 or THE [ROLLING] STONES, to wear some sneakers and a t-shirt and you’re comfortable. No, we had to do it the hard way.

“So we’re not gonna be able to do it into our 70s, and I’m 67 now. We’ll do it for a few more years, and then when we think it’s time to go, we’ll go, and we’ll do it the right way, with a big party. I’d like to think that we would do something that rocks the planet — something big and worldwide and maybe free.”

KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley has repeatedly said that the band could one day continue without him and Gene, explaining in an interview: “Once the original [KISS lineup] was no more, it just became clear to us that, in some ways, we’re much more a sports team. We don’t fall into the limitations of other bands, because we’re not other bands. So, yeah, at some point, I’d love to see somebody in the band in my place, and it’s because I love the band.”

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Jason Herndon

Jody Havenot | Podcast Rock City