Blabbermouth

Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley took part in a live interview event with BackStory on March 23 at AOL studios in New York City. The interview was conducted by Brad Tolinski. Best known as the editor in chief of Guitar World magazine for 25 years, Tolinski is a respected journalist and the author of “Light And Shade: Conversations With Jimmy Page”. You can now watch video footage of the question-and-answer session below. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

Ace: “When I listen to the first and second KISS record, they’re so dry… there’s no digital reverb. The production is just… Sometimes I cringe [when I hear it]. But, to me, the biggest advantage of what’s happening now when you record is digital. I mean, the flexibility you have with digital editing and digital recording… I mean, I come from the school in the ’70s, when we had to make an edit, we had to cut it with a razorblade. It was a two-inch piece of tape, and we had to cut it. And I remember, a lot of times, they took little slices of tape and put it off to the side and put it back together, and we’d play it and go, ‘Hey, it doesn’t sound right. Put that piece back in.’ And sometimes it took an hour just to do an edit. But with digital editing, it’s a click of the mouse.”

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ABC News

Former Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley has been hospitalized for exhaustion and forced to cancel a show in New York.

A post on his website and Facebook page says he was admitted to a hospital after Friday’s show at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre (WILKS’-ba-ree), Pennsylvania. The post says his symptoms are due to “exhaustion and dehydration.”

Frehley’s website says he “reluctantly” agreed to cancel Saturday night’s sold-out show at The Chance in Poughkeepsie (poh-KIHP’-see).

The site says he had to cancel a show April 9 in New Hope, Pennsylvania, after a band member was sick.

The 64-year-old Frehley has been touring all month.

Associated Press

Richard Shotwell

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Shoulder surgery has prevented Paul Stanley from performing an intimate show with KISS.

Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Carr donned their classic stage makeup and costumes to play a four-song set Friday to benefit multiple sclerosis research. KISS was the headlining act at the 23rd annual Race to Erase MS fundraising gala held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Former “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson introduced the band and explained Stanley’s absence. Jackson said the lead singer would be recovered in time to tour with KISS this summer.

Other performers at the fundraising dinner included Eric Benet, David Foster and “The Voice” winner Jordan Smith. The event raised more than $250,000 toward finding a cure for the nervous system disorder.

Podcast Rock City

KISSmuseum.com

The long awaited KISS Rock Iconz statues from Knucklebonz. These premium statues follow along in the tradition of this series past releases of such artists as Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Dimebag Darryl, Judas Priest, plus many more. Past figures of other bands editions were usually limited to 3,000 and sold out rather quickly. The KISS release is only set at a very low 1,000 and was already sold out from the manufacturer before the release. We were able to get a few dozen sets, but that is all we will ever have for sale. As you can see on eBay, the Knucklebonz figures tend to appreciate in value and the KISS figures should be no different.

Available HERE at KISSmuseum.com

Available HERE at KISSmuseum.com

Eddie Trunk Podcast

WENN | Contact Music

The beef between the KISS frontman and rapper was sparked by comments Gene made suggesting hip hop stars shouldn’t be considered for inclusion in the institution.

At N.w.a.’s induction ceremony on Friday (08Apr16) Cube slammed the rocker for his comments, saying rock and roll was a “spirit” rather than a particular musical style or genre.

After being called out, Gene stood by the comments, writing on Twitter, “let me know when Jimi Hendrix gets into the Hip Hop Hall Of Fame,” causing the hip hop star to issue a social media response citing black musicians as the inventors of rock music.

“Who stole the soul? Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Chubby Checkers help invent Rock n Roll. We invent it. Y’all (white rock musicians) reprint it,” he wrote.

Ice Cube, real name O’Shea Jackson, then posted lines from his Hall of Fame induction speech including its conclusion, “Rock & roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and in life. That is rock & roll, and that is us”.

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Luke Morgan Britton | NME

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons has responded to comments made by NWA at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

The hip-hop group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame on Friday night (April 8) alongside Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Chicago, Steve Miller and songwriter/producer Bert Berns at a ceremony in at the Barclay’s Centre in Brooklyn, New York.

NWA member MC Ren used the opportunity to hit back at Simmons, who criticised rap as a genre recently.

Simmons had told Rolling Stone: “I am looking forward to the death of rap. I’m looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking. A song, as far as I’m concerned, is by definition lyric and melody… or just melody.”

He added: “Rap will die. Next year, 10 years from now, at some point, and then something else will come along. And all that is good and healthy.”
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/gene-simmons/92877#If1aQL6ru22kSYtQ.99

KISSonline.com

SEE MORE INFO AT KISSONLINE.COM

Jason Herndon

sambo1974

Kory Grow | Rolling Stone

Paul Kane

For over a decade, Kiss‘ Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer have both worn makeup associated with the band’s founding guitarist and drummer, respectively. Although the move has sparked some controversy among Kiss fans, singer-bassist Gene Simmons tells Rolling Stone it doesn’t bother him.

“Why wouldn’t we use the classic makeup?” he says. “We own it.”

The subject came up during an interview regarding the 40th anniversary of Kiss’ Destroyer album, when Simmons bemoaned founding guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss’ acrimonious departures from the group within its first decade.

“The saddest thing of all is here we are, top of Mt. Olympus with all this cool stuff happening, really enjoying ourselves, the fans are thrilled, and nobody ever holds up a sign, ‘Where’s Ace and Peter?'” he says. “Anybody that’s in a band goes, ‘Oh, they can’t exist without me.’ They are sadly mistaken. Whether you’re AC/DC or Van Halen or anybody, they can actually not only exist without you. Even if you’re the lead singer, they can actually get twice as big.

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Loudwire

Podcast Rock City

KISSmuseum.com

See what an actual MINT condition KISS Phono Record Player looks like in this video review of the eBay auction ending Sunday night on April 3, 2016. Features the original box, box end protectors, original warranty card still attached to player and a power cord that has never been unravelled – as complete as can be! Just unbelievable.

See the entire description and dozens of high-res photos on the eBay auction page.

See the Auction HERE on eBay.

Daniel Kreps | Rolling Stone

Ace Frehley recently announced his all-star covers LP Origins Vol. 1, featuring his former Kiss bandmate Paul Stanley, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Lita Ford and more. Ahead of the album’s April 15th release date, Frehley has unveiled another Origins cut: a ferocious version of Thin Lizzy’s “Emerald” featuring Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Frehley said he and Slash played “Emerald” live together 15 times in order to get the performance right. “It took me three days to pick the best takes, and I think it came out great.” Frehley said.

Origins Vol. 1 also features covers like the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man,” Led Zeppelin’s “Bringing it Back Home,” Cream’s “White Room,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic,” the Kinks’ “‘Til the End of the Day,” Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride” and even three tracks by Frehley’s former group Kiss. On a cover of Free’s “Fire and Water,” Frehley reunites with Kiss’ Paul Stanley for the first time on a studio recording since Kiss’ classic lineup reunited for 1998’s Psycho Circus.

“I’m really thrilled with the whole thing,” Frehley told Rolling Stone of the album. “I’m excited about it, and probably somewhere down the road there’ll be a second volume.”