Desmond Child Talks About Writing Hits For KISS, Bon Jovi and More

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XS Rock

If you bought any records from KISS, Bon Jovi, or Aerosmith and read the songwriting credits the name Desmond Child always popped up. Desmond Child has been the man behind the scenes writing hit songs such as Aerosmith “Angel”, KISS “I was made for lovin’ you, Bon Jovi “Living on a prayer”. He has had a career now spanning 5 decades and numerous hits and number one songs. Desmond Child has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. Last October he released a live album Desmond Child Live he has finished writing his biography Livin’ on a prayer Big songs, Big Life to be released later this year and has plans on putting out new music and do live shows. It is good to be a Desmond Child fan these days with a lot of things to look forward to. I had an opportunity to talk to Desmond Child about everything from writing with Paul Stanley to details about his book and live album.

Angel Alamo: How did you come up with the idea to do the live album (Desmond Child Live) that you just released?

Desmond Child: Desmond Child Live. After many, many years of not performing, because the last time I was performing was with my group Desmond Child and Rouge back in the late 70’s. I decided to do a show of my own. Which was actually the first time I’ve ever done a show that was me, a solo show. It’s the first time I was ever performing and I wanted… I’m back in New York City where I started out and I found this gorgeous little club called Feinstein’s/54 Below. Which is underneath the original Studio 54 but I think down there that was kind of like orgy room or where everyone took drugs and stuff originally. But now it’s a very chic club and I brought together a lot of my friends and musicians that I had played with during the years and Desmond Child and Rouge with Maria Vidal, Miriam Valle and Diana Grasselli.

Desmond Child: I had a ball. We performed over three nights. Lena Hall sang her jazz song, “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and Justin Benlolo a young, new talent, he’s 22 years old, sang some of the songs that were too high for me to sing. Like, “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”, and “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “How Can We Be Lovers?”. He did the heavy lifting and I sang more like the ballady kind of songs and we just had a ball. I’m very proud of the record. Turned out great. And we also did a version of that show on PBS, a show called Live at the Kate so I had some different guest artists on that. Deborah Cox and Amanda Gonzalez from Hamilton came up and sang. I’ve just been getting out there with music. After this live album, I’m going to be releasing singles on BMG, which is my label, that are duets stars that I’ve worked with. My first ones with Alice Cooper.

Desmond Child: We’re going to be putting that out in April and I’m just going to keep dropping music. And the whole music business has had a system where it’s like, you make an album and then you release it, up-tempo songs, your first single. Hoping it’s catchy and then maybe leads people to buying the record. And I think all bets are off now because the way the Spotify space works, you can record a song that day and release it that night and it’s very egalitarian.

Desmond Child: I love that and it’s a very different world and you don’t have to worry about genres and this and that. You can just put out your music and make your own genre, make your own market. And so it’s been very exciting to be free of the way it used to be. That’s why I waited so long, it was so daunting to get a record deal then you wait a year for finally your record to come out and then if it doesn’t test well then you’re dropped from the label. All of that stuff. I think the way it is now, artists can just grab their careers into their own hands and make things happen.

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Gene Simmons Helps Wife Shannon Tweed With the Groceries After Visiting the Market

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Closer Weekly

Hey, a rockstar’s gotta eat too, right?! A few weeks into the new year, Gene Simmons was spotted going grocery shopping with his wife, Shannon TweedOpens in a new Window., in Bel Air on Monday, January 13. The couple picked up a few items from the store before the 70-year-old rocker helped his lady carry everything to the car.

Gene and Shannon, 62, have been married since 2011, but that doesn’t mean everything has been all peachy in their marriage. In fact, the “Detroit Rock City” singer previously told Us WeeklyOpens in a new Window. Shannon had to forgive him for a few mistakes he made in their relationship.

“In the interest of full disclosure, I have been married for more than five or six years. For 29 years … I was a jackass,” he admitted in May 2018. “And it’s a family show and I don’t wanna say anything that moved. I don’t wanna say that. And the astonishing thing about women is … I don’t know why, but you forgive our trespasses over and over, every single day. Guys wouldn’t do that.”

“I believe that women see the big picture,” he added. “For one thing, you give life. We just work here. We can’t do anything. We can’t ask for directions, we can’t do that … We don’t understand the emotional component. We’re just not designed that way.”

However, the two seems to have work things out for the sake of their kids — Nick Simmons, 30, and Sophie Simmons, 27.

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Neil Peart: Kiss Members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons Mourn Tragic Loss of Rush Drummer at 67

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Christian Long | Pop Culture

As the music world mourns the passing of Rush drummer Neil Peart, fans the world over have spoken out about the tragedy. This includes some rock legends in their own right who’ve weighed in on the void his death leaves. Among them, Kiss founding member Paul Stanley took to Twitter to express his condolences.

Joining Stanley was fellow Kiss founder Gene Simmons, who offered “prayers and condolences to the Peart family, fans and friends,” adding “Neil was a kind soul.” Guitarist Tommy Thayer, who joined the band in the mid-1990s, echoed Simmons’ sentiment, adding that he was “so sad to hear about Neil Peart passing.”

Peart died earlier this week after a three-year battle with brain cancer. After the news was made public, fellow Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson tweeted out an official statement, calling him a “friend, soul brother and bandmate of 45 years.” In addition to calling for the Peart family’s privacy, they encouraged everyone to donate to cancer research foundations.

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Oldest known footage of a KISS Concert has just been uncovered.

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Ultimate Classic Rock

The earliest known live performance footage of Kiss has emerged, almost exactly 46 years after its original recording.

Shot on Dec. 21, 1973 and found by Dangerous Minds, the concert took place at the Coventry, the same Queens, N.Y. music venue where Kiss made their live debut less than a year prior.

 

“We’re going to present a group to you that’s got an album coming out January 25th,” an announcer can be heard saying at the 1:39 mark of the below video, referring to the group’s self-titled debut album, which would actually come out Feb. 18. “Put your two lips together. Ladies and gentlemen, Kiss!”

Though the black and white video is low in quality, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley can be seen rocking through the songs “Deuce” and “Cold Gin,” both of which would appear on their eponymous LP. The footage cuts-off before the end of the latter tune.

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Alive! ’75: Beyond Alive! – and BACK!

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Anthony De Lucia, Jr. / www.alive75.com

In the five years since Alive! ’75 burst onto the scene, KISS fans have had the pleasure of experiencing a new and different kind of KISS tribute.  Not content to simply dress-up and play KISS songs, Alive! ’75 has been entertaining fans in and around the northeastern United States with their “ultimate classic KISS tribute” experience.  Their shows focus on period-specific recreations of performances and classic concert moments of the original 1970s era, and the fan response to their efforts has been huge.

Each year they’ve challenged themselves to bring more to the table and 2020 is looking to be no exception.  We spent some time with Anthony De Lucia, Jr., (the band’s  manager and “Demon”), fresh from their year-end show at the Sherman Theater to discuss a few highlights from the past year, as well as their plans for 2020.

“This may be the most personally satisfying year we’ve had yet!” says Anthony.  “2019 has been a year of rebuilding and refocusing our efforts and we’re energized about what the coming year will bring – we’ve got BIG plans for 2020!”  Those plans include returning to their original Alive! album production, including their full-on 1975 “time-warp” experience – as well moving into Alive II territory, complete with new costumes (again!) by the end of the year.  “We’re working to keep it interesting for the fans.” Anthony continued, “We’re looking to take fans on a journey with us –  to re-live past KISS-toric moments as well as providing new experiences that no other tribute has.”
 
And what a journey it has been for Alive! ’75.  They followed-up their initial tour of the Alive! album / time-warp concept shows by moving systematically through KISS’ early touring schedule and catalog.  Alive! ’75 began to performed shows based on the actual Alive! tour, followed by the early ‘76 European tour, then the Destroyer tour and finally the Rock and Roll Over tour.  “We were essentially taking our fans – KISS fans – back through the same evolution that KISS followed in the mid-70s.” says Anthony.  “This included our moving to new costumes and a revised stage design.  Fans recognized what we were doing, and they absolutely loved it!”
Other KISS tribute acts were taking notice as well and Alive! ’75’s impact on the KISS tribute scene is undeniable.  “We surveyed the landscape when we started this whole thing,” says Anthony, “and we’ve clearly noticed other established KISS tributes upping their game.  And that’s a great thing – it’s especially great for KISS fans, as it provides more opportunities to enjoy this great music and get more from the shows that are out there.”

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The KISS Room – December 2019

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Matt Porter

KISS ARMY – meet meet me in THE KISS ROOM! Join Matt Porter and Bobby Dreher for the December issue of THE KISS ROOM, featuring: KISS talk and KISS tunes! A phone call from THE DEMON from ALIVE! ’75, Anthony DeLucia! All of the songs from THE KISS ROOM DEMOS PROJECT VOLUME 5! Matt’s exclusive interview with JR SMALLING! And MORE! Originally broadcast live on Friday, December 13, 2019 via Montco Radio.

40 Years ago today: Onstage sabotage by Peter Criss ends KISS” original lineup

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Ultimate Classic Rock

By his own account, Peter Criss deliberately sabotaged three of his final five shows with the original lineup of Kiss.

The first and most public of these acts kicked off a week of backstage arguments that ended with him trying to attack a bandmate with a broken champagne bottle.

Despite a half-decade run as one of rock’s most popular bands, Kiss were coming apart at the seams in December 1979 as a result of interpersonal issues. After drummer Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley expressed a desire to quit the previous year, the group members instead took an extended break and recorded solo albums before trying to reunite as a happy family for Dynasty, which was released in May 1979.

It didn’t work. Because of a car accident, a recovering Criss played drums on only one song. Even though the disco-influenced lead single “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” was a hit, Dynasty had a more scattered appeal than previous Kiss albums and didn’t sound like the work of a unified band. Plus, many of the band’s original fans disapproved of the mass-appeal nature of the new sound, resulting in less-than-stellar attendance and even canceled shows on the tour in support of the album.

None of this helped improve relationships. On Dec. 8, 1979, during the fifth-to-last show of the tour, Criss took strong exception to frontman Paul Stanley gesturing for him to slow down the tempo mid-song. “What that says to everybody in the arena is that I’m the one fucking up the band,” Criss recalled in his 2012 memoir, Makeup to Breakup.

Even though Criss conceded Stanley “may have had a point,” seeing as how a pre-show visit from his cocaine dealer had the drummer feeling “a little edgy and probably playing a little too fast,” he still considered the public upbraiding “a slap in the face.”

Angered, Criss intentionally “slowed the song down to a crawl,” prompting Stanley to gesture “wildly” for him to bring the tempo back up again. “I’m like, ‘Make up your motherfucking mind!'” he said. “People in the audience could hear me screaming that at him. I just stopped playing; I didn’t care anymore.”

“That crossed a line,” Stanley noted in his own memoir, 2014’s Face the Music. “It’s one thing to sabotage things offstage — and God knows he’d done plenty of that. But this was different. This was in front of people who paid to see us.” By Stanley’s account, Frehley and Gene Simmons were also “stunned” by this “betrayal,” and voted to kick Criss out of the band immediately.

“I shouldn’t have sabotaged that song,” Criss noted. “But Paul could have easily waited, finished the show and talked to me about it in the dressing room. I would have taken that fine. But the way he did it was so girly. He had to have everyone looking at him admonishing me.”

The band was convinced to play the final week of shows, but things continued to deteriorate. At a concert two nights later in Jackson, Miss., Criss stopped playing without explanation during a performance of Stanley’s solo song “Move On.” “I was just so fed up with them,” Criss recalled. “Later that same show, after I finished singing ‘Beth,’ I threw the mike on the floor and stormed offstage again.”

Two nights later in Biloxi, Miss., “on a whim,” Criss decided to hit Simmons on the back of his head as he was throwing drum sticks to the crowd near the end of the main set. “I didn’t mean to hit him hard,” he insisted. “But the thick end of the stick whacked him.”

During the band’s pre-encore break, Simmons repaid Criss with a swift kick to the shin. The two traded some words before returning for the first encore. Rushing backstage afterward, Criss prepared his revenge. “I found one of Ace’s empty champagne bottles and broke it against the table,” he explained. “As soon as Gene walked into that room, I went after him with the broken bottle, but some of the crew intervened and dragged me away.”

After the band  somehow regrouped for a second, final encore, Criss said he and Simmons “begrudgingly shook each other’s hands, but I knew that was it … there was no turning back. We finished the final two shows of the Dynasty tour without incident. But Kiss, as the world knew it, was over.” The last show took place on Dec. 16, 1979, in Toledo.

Simmons, Stanley and Frehley soon fired Criss, replacing him with Eric Carr for the tour in support of 1980’s Unmasked. Criss returned to the group for the successful 1996 original-lineup reunion tour, 1998’s Psycho Circus LP and a “farewell” tour in 1999 and 2000. Criss’ last show of that tour ended with him angrily destroying his drum kit after he found out he wasn’t making as much money as Frehley.

The drummer returned for a third and final stint with Kiss in late 2002, departing when his contract wasn’t renewed in 2004. He retired from music after a brief series of solo farewell shows in 2017.

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Gene’s one-word apology to Desmond Child

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Ultimate Classic Rock

Desmond Child, the award-winning songwriter who co-wrote the Kiss hit “I Was Made for Lovin’ You,” recalled how the band offended him with comments about the song, and how Gene Simmons eventually offered a one-word apology.

Despite being a chart success on release in 1979 – selling a million copies in the U.S. alone – and being co-written by Paul Stanley, some members of the band were unhappy with the song’s disco overtones.

“I was experimenting then with a drum machine, and the idea of having dance beats with rock had occurred to me,” Child told the Talk Is Jericho podcast. “So I kind of hoodwinked [Stanley] into this idea of four-on-the-floor dance beat with these heavy guitars. Gene never bought it – he never liked it. He [still] doesn’t.”

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