Mike McCready | Rolling Stone

I remember being on a school bus in sixth grade in 1976 with my friend Rick Friel, who eventually played in my high school band Shadow. He had a lunch box that had Kiss on it. “What is that?” Then he played me some music and I was hooked immediately. Then I had a Kiss room and I started playing guitar. They were the Beatles to me. They are the reason I started playing music.

Kiss Forever: 40 Years of Feuds and Fury

They were larger than life, with this intangible thing that I basically think about all the time. I was Peter Criss for Halloween in 1976 (pictured, left). I loved Alive!. “Black Diamond” blew my mind. Ace Frehley came onstage and did it with us at Madison Square Garden a few years ago, which was a total high watermark in my life. When I was 13, I never thought in a million years that I would even talk to him; I’d probably pass out. And here I am playing with him!

Pearl Jam sit down and have conversations about Kiss all the time on tour. My band used to do “C’Mon and Love Me.” Matt Cameron played in a Kiss tribute band when he was 14. They got so big around San Diego that they got a cease and desist order from Casablanca Records. Jeff Ament used to play “She” in his band Deranged Diction. There’s a Kiss through-line to a lot of the music that came out of Seattle, and it hasn’t been talked about a lot.

I got mocked for it a lot. When you’re really young, dating girls and trying to explain Kiss, they just look at you like you’re kind of crazy. I think they got so big in the Seventies and were such a phenomenon – they did the Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park movie, the solo records – some people only know the merchandising stuff. But if you listen to the music, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were really into the Beatles and you can hear weird Beatles harmonies going on. I’ve talked to Paul a few times, which is always a trip, and he talks about how he likes Humble Pie and Steve Marriott. So they’re drawing from pretty cool influences. And there is a power pop thing to some of their stuff that’s immediately catchy.

Ace was their firecracker, their dynamite. He’s what took them over the top with the feel he put into his leads. I really gravitated towards his vibrato. My lead for “Alive” is based on “She,” and that’s based on “Five to One” by the Doors. I remember we were in Surrey, England. I thought about it like, “I’m going to approach this like Ace did on ‘She.'” And I remember the chord pattern that Stone [Gossard] wrote lent it to that kind of a descending pattern. So I kind for went with it. And then I improvised from there.

18 Things You Learn Hanging Out With Kiss

I’ve been watching the Hall of Fame situation play out. My thoughts are: I saw Heart play with their original lineup, and I went and jammed with them when they got inducted in the Hall of Fame. And then they got up with their new lineup, and everybody loved it. And it can be done, and I wish they would do it. It just makes the fans happy. And that’s the point, in my mind.

Mitch Lafon

John Jeffrey created and ran the KISS fanzine, KISS Underground, from 1987-2007. He sat down One On One with rock journalist, Mitch Lafon, to discuss making of and inspiration for a fan generated magazine in the pre-Internet days (when information was, at times, difficult to come by). He walks the listener through stories of how content was generated, how he was fed information from the band, and comments on his interviews with every band member to ever have been in KISS (including Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, Tommy Thayer, Eric Singer, Eric Carr, Bruce Kulick, Mark St. John and Vinnie Vincent).

David Ashdown | KISStorian

KISStorian takes a 70′s deep dive with renown rock & roll radio dj & musician BOB RICE: >>>> How did you end up going to the KISS show in Spokane in May of ’74?  I’m glad you asked this question as I love telling the story. I was 14 years of age and playing bass in my first rock band, Angel Painted Lady. Boasting two guitarists, with one of them doubling on trombone, we also had a trumpet player and a flutist. Our drummer doubled on vibraphone, and I doubled on percussion. This was my first dream band. We performed a mixture of rock, fusion, funk, and jazz, covering the music of David Bowie, Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, The James Gang, Chicago Transit Authority, Maynard Ferguson, and Chase, as well as playing our own original music. Our lead guitarist/vocalist often wore make up, when we performed. We always played to packed rooms, which I thought was odd at the time, not that I complained. I am pinching myself, as I write this, as all of the members of Angel Painted Lady went on to create professional, if not satisfying musical careers. It was the lead guitarist, the one who wore the make up, that told me that I NEEDED to see this band, KISS, because he believed that they were going to be “the next big thing”.

What are your most enduring impressions from the night?  I arrived at the concert early, which was normal for me, as I always liked to scope out all of the gear on the stage and possibly catch the eye of one of the musicians who might still be on or near the stage. There were very few people in the venue, with the majority being employees and stage and sound crew, and hardly any concert goers. While I was eyeballing how the venue was set up, one of the crew struck up a conversation with me. After inviting me to check out the house mix, we made our way to the stage … talk about an instant high!

Did you have any pre-show expectations? Yes, it was their first appearance in Spokane and their first official tour. Going into the concert I knew very little about the band aside for the fact that they wore make up and dressed in costume portraying individual characters. In fact I have to admit that I had not heard any of their music before seeing them. In respect to their show, I did have very high expectations based on my guitarist’s adamant recommendation that I see them. They did not disappoint me … they fucking blew me away! When they hit the stage it was like a bomb dropping. I looked around me and everyone was wide eyed and picking their jaws up from off of the floor. Within 20 min. of their set I realized that Ace was the true glue in the band. His ability to create bedrock guitar riffs while seamlessly lacing his lead lines around the other player’s parts, and his riffs, found me standing stupefied, laughing and shaking my head in awe.

Was there already a KISS Army to speak or did the band have to win the crowd over?  There was not a KISS Army, in fact it was very apparent that most of those who were there had come to see Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. By the end of KISS’s set they had won over everyone who was in The Kennedy Pavilion. I heard later that The Earth Band was a little reluctant to take the stage after KISS’s set. The last time this had happened was when Led Zepplin opened for The Vanilla Fudge 4-1/2 years earlier in the same venue. I feel as though I personally witnessed history being made in Spokane that night.

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Steve Blevins

Strange Ways

Episode 18 finds Jody Havenot, Rachel Ann, and Slade Frehley chatting about all things KISS!!! We cover many topics, including our thoughts on the KISS/Def Lep tour, a Phantom of the Park remake, The forthcoming Ace Frehley record, KISS 2.0, to name a few..Check it out KISS ARMY!!! And as always, thanks for listening, and keep on rockin’!

Brian Hiatt | Rolling Stone

Dave Hogan

Current Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer aren’t going to be inducted with the band at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, and they won’t perform, either – but they’re showing up, nevertheless.

Kiss Forever: read our full Kiss cover story now

Gene Simmons confirmed to Rolling Stone via e-mail that he and Paul Stanley have invited Singer and Thayer to sit at their table during the April 10th ceremony, along with guitarist Bruce Kulick, who played in Kiss during its make-up-free period, from 1984 to 1996. “The fact that they want me at their table means the world,” says Kulick.

With founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss also on hand, that means all surviving Kiss members will be at Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Center, except for hard-to-track-down guitarist Vinnie Vincent. “He’s kind of the Howard Hughes of Kiss,” says Kulick.

Simmons and Stanley are upset with the Hall of Fame’s decision to induct only the four original members. “Tommy has been in the band 10 years,” Stanley told Rolling Stone in interviews for our current Kiss cover story. “Eric’s been in the band 20 years.” (Minus a five-year interlude when the original band reunited.) “The idea of no one being even a candidate for induction into the Hall of Fame other than the four original guys is hogwash.”

Not surprisingly, Kulick, Thayer and Singer all endorse that sentiment. “Even if I was an outsider,” says Thayer, “I would say that all of the guys that have been in Kiss over 40 years, all of the members, should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

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Rolling Stone

Fin Costello

Paul Stanley is the last member of the original Kiss lineup to pen a memoir, but his upcoming book Face The Music: A Life Exposed is still an essential read for all fans of the pioneering hard rock band. For the first time ever, the Starchild reveals that he was born with one ear, causing horrendous emotional pain. He also gets into great detail about the wild early days of Kiss, his battles with all three original members of the band and how he carried the group all through the 1980s while longtime partner Gene Simmons was largely engaged with other projects. In this exclusive excerpt — which comes alongside the band’s first-ever appearance on Rolling Stone‘s cover — Stanley gives his side of the tumultuous Kiss “Farewell Tour” in 2000. 

Peter posted a sign every day counting down the number of days left on the Farewell Tour. He started painting a teardrop below his eye. I thought it made him look like Emmett Kelly’s famous Weary Willie character, the tragic clown who toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. And as for the rest of his makeup, it was as if he had forgotten how to do it. He started to look like a panda bear, with big rectangles around his eyes.

The tour was horrible. Constant drudgery and misery. We spent all of our energy trying to coax Peter and Ace out of their hotel rooms. Ace sucker-punched Tommy at one of the shows. Peter had his usual handbook detailing how hotel staff had to treat him and which windows had to be covered with tinfoil and all that. There was no reasoning with either of them. We never knew if we’d make it to a show on time, and once we got onstage we never knew whether we’d get through the show. I mean, if a guy has trouble putting on his makeup, how is he going to play? Not surprisingly, the shows could be pretty awful.

I was angry at Peter and Ace for being disrespectful toward everything we had accomplished and everything the fans were giving us. I bought into the idea that this really was it. The end of Kiss. There was no place to go. it was unbearable.

We were stuck in a rut musically as well – basically playing the same 17 songs we’d taught them for the initial reunion. This was the third tour with the same set list. Peter and Ace just couldn’t master any more. The needle was already into the red. I had to come up with nonsensical interview responses to questions about why we were playing the same songs. I couldn’t just say, “because Peter and Ace can’t learn any others.”

One night during a show Doc McGhee tried to get my attention from the side of the stage, gesturing up at me and holding his nose.

Huh?

“You stink!” he yelled. I walked over to him during a break between songs. “What did you say?”

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Mathew Wilkening | Ultimate Classic Rock

Kiss founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley examine their personal relationship, compare sexual conquests and agree on their band’s biggest mistake in a brand new interview.

Simmons gets the ball rolling by using semi-anatomical metaphors to explain what role he and his bandmate of over 40 years play in the ongoing success of Kiss. If you were somehow expecting subtlety from the author of lyrics such as “For goodness sakes / My snake’s alive and it’s ready to bite,” you’re in for a surprise.

‘Paul is the soul of Kiss and I’m… the cock.’ Simmons tells Classic Rock magazine. ‘Paul is much more emotional, and I’m drier. Paul will go see romantic movies, I’ll throw up at them.” Drummer Eric Singer adds outside perspective to the dynamic: ‘Gene loves the sound of his own voice, we all know that. But nothing happens in Kiss unless Paul Stanley says it does.”

When asked the most burning question anyone can be presented with — who’s slept with more women, him or Gene — Stanley replies, “I think I had more that would qualify as women. With him you were also throwing in cattle. But we both did very well. Gene likes to stand up and say: ‘Look at me, and look at what I’ve done.’ And that’s okay. But who had more? I don’t know. He certainly had ones that I didn’t want.”

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Mitch Lafon

Former KISS manager Bill Aucoin’s longtime partner, Roman Fernandez, goes one on one with Mitch Lafon (rock journalist). The pair discuss Bill Aucoin’s legacy and managing of KISS as well as the material in the “KISS Vault’. Moreover, the two talked about Lyn Christopher, music sampling, bands Roman currently manages including the Spider Rockets and the Super Fuzz, what it takes to make it in the business today including the importance of college radio and much more.

For more visit:

Roman: http://www.facebook.com/roman.fernandez.58

Bill Aucoin’s page: http://www.facebook.com/bill.aucoin1

Lyn Christopher: http://www.lynchristopher.com

Spider Rockets: http://www.spiderrockets.com

Super Fuzz: http://www.thesuperfuzz.com

This interview was recorded the evening of March 29th 2014 using SKYPE.

Mitch Lafon

Steve Blevins

70s Kiss Podcast | Lydia Criss, talks about how she met Peter Criss, early Kiss, The Rock and Roll hall of fame and her new book.

Mitch Lafon

Slaughter’s Mark Slaughter checked in with Mitch Lafon (rock journalist) to discuss his first ever solo single, Never Givin’ Up (available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Amazon and more). The single comes in aid of the Red Circle Foundation – www.redcirclefoundation.org

Mark also went on to describe his guitar work on the ‘A World With Heroes’ (KISS tribute album – available on iTunes) as well as his upcoming recording plans, his 2014 touring plans with Slaughter, remembering guitarist TIM KELLY and, of course, the conversation bled into the Vinnie Vincent Invasion & working with Vinnie. Mark also answers the million dollar question – ‘Did Vinnie save KISS?’

COTN

Entertainment One

(New York, NY) – 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee  ACE FREHLEY will release SPACE INVADER, his first new solo album in five years, via Entertainment One Music (eOne Music) on June 24th, 2014. The album will include at least nine brand new original songs as well as a cover of Steve Miller’s “The Joker.”  This album is the first release under Frehley’s new universal deal on eOne Music.Frehley has released an official statement surrounding the exciting news: “Life on Earth has been very good to me, and the body of work I’ve created over the years has withstood the test of time.  Today I see no obstacles before me and my creativity has never been more fine tuned. Growing up in an Alien world has enhanced my senses and allowed me to succeed where others would have failed. The best is yet to come!”  Widely known as the original “Space Ace” and founding guitarist for 16 cumulative years (over 2 tenures) of the multi platinum selling rock band KISS, Frehley is demonstrably the most popular original member.  In addition to having the best selling solo album career (vintage or current) among the original foursome, Frehley’s self titled Ace Frehley, released in 1978, went on to sell over one million copies, producing the only Top 40 single, “New York Groove,” from any of the legendary KISS solo albums; (peaking at #13).   The massive hit was most recently featured in an episode of cult show “Entourage” and was also KISS’ second bestselling download in 2012, besting such KISS Army anthems as “I Was Made For Lovin’ You,” “Beth” and “Calling Dr. Love” even after 36 years. Continue reading →

Krazy Knights

Dan Epstein | Rolling Stone

There are two sides to every story. Unless, of course, you’re talking about Kiss, in which there are now four. With the April 8th publication of Paul Stanley’s Face the Music: A Life Exposed, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees will have seen each of its original members publish a tell-all memoir. Paul’s book follows in the platformed footsteps of Gene Simmons’ Kiss and Make-Up (2001), Ace Frehley’s No Regrets: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir(2011) and Peter Criss’s Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of Kiss (2012). But in certain instances, the bandmembers appear to have some diverging memories of key moments in the group’s history. We hit the books to try and figure what happened.

Kiss Forever: read our full Kiss cover story now

DESIGNING THE KISS LOGO

Ace
“Being excited about my new band, I roughed out a sketch of the original Kiss logo in no time at all. It wasn’t a whole lot different than the logo as it appears today. My original concept featured the twin S’s in jagged detail, like lightning bolts, and a small dot in the shape of a diamond over the letter ‘i.’ I then transferred the logo to a button using a felt-tip pen and presented it to the group . . . Everyone loved it. Paul was a trained artist, so when things got really serious he polished my design, making everything nice and neat.” 

Paul
“[Ace] was a pretty decent artist. I took his sketch and used it as the basis for a series of Kiss logos I designed, ultimately arriving at the one that has adorned all things Kiss for the past forty years. I vividly remember sitting on my parents’ sofa while they were out of town and drawing up the final version on thick white stock using a straightedge and a drafting pen . . . Ace’s concept was closer to the Nazi SS. I certainly suspected that was his inspiration, and the fact that a few years later he bought Nazi memorabilia on our first tour confirmed this in my mind.”

Gene
“I remember very clearly when our picture went up on the outside of the club [the band was playing], Ace took a marker and wrote our new name right on the picture. The way he drew it was pretty crude, but it resembled our logo, with the two S’s like lightning bolts at the end of the word.”

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Mike Brandvold

Mitch Lafon

Mitch Weissman once played the role of ‘Paul McCartney’ in the original Broadway production of Beatlemania, but it’s his association with Gene Simmons and KISS that fans keep asking him about. Mitch Weissman goes one-on-one in this interview with rock journalist, Mitch Lafon. During the conversation, we find out about Mitch’s involvement in Gene Simmons’ 1978 solo album, writing and submitting songs for the KISS album Creatures Of The Night, Lick It Up, Animalize and Crazy Nights (as well as the heavily KISS connected Wendy O’ Williams album, WOW.) Weissman even lifts the veil of mystery surrounding ghost musicians on those KISS albums and comes clean as to what he did and did not play on. Also, hear Mitch tell stories about Cher, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Jimmy Crespo, former Aerosmith managers Steve Leber and David Krebs as well as Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen.

Talking Metal

On this episode of the podcast former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick announces that his 3 solo albums will soon be released on iTunes for the first time.  He also mentions that the iTunes release of the BK3 album will have 2 new bonus tracks.  Other interview topics include Grand Funk Railroad, Michael Bolton, Judas Priest, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer, Mark St. John, Paul Stanley, Vinnie Vincent, Eric Carr, Ace Frehley and his recent marriage.

Hear the Bruce Kulick interview HERE

Joe Polo