YOU CAN GET ALL YOUR KISS CD & MORE RIGHT HERE
KISS ARTICLE & INTERVIEW IN HOUR NOVEMBER 1998 BY MITCH JOEL
KISS AND MAKEUP
REUNITED KISS IS OUT OF THE FLASHPOT, INTO THE FIRE
Talk-show host Larry King was quick to call on « experts » like Dr Laura Schlessinger, Jesse Jackson, Dr Joyce Brothers and even Sharon Stone when the White House was rockin’ and starr came a knockin’ .» However, throughout the entire media circus in Washington, the real experts were busy in Los Angels rehearsing a far differant, and vastly more entertaining, kind of sideshow. KISS bassist and singer Gene Simmons, better known for spitting through his teeth than lying through them, knowswhat’s it’s like to be confronted by a mountain of damning evidence, particulary as it relates to adventures in groupiedom (unlike the president, however, Simmons’ extensive trangressions are committed to polaroid and not available on the net-yet). On the other hand Gene « I Really and Truly Had a Num Once-Really » Simmons isn’t likely to be found kneeling his way around the Capitol, begging forgiveness from anyone who’ll listen.
« It’s a simple concept, » explains Simmons during a two-hight stay in Boston. « We finally got a rock’n’roll president. A president who fucks. And the rest of it doesn’t matter. « I’d be worried if he didn’t, » he continues matter-of-factly. « So whether he does it with his wife, or somebody else, that’s his business…at least he’s not breaking into the loyal opposition’s headquaters to find out information, or just breaking the law, acting like an autocrat. »
A party (almost) every day
Simmons and Co have kept lighters aloft since the first Bic was flicked in 1972. Their journey from the Big Apple to the Big Top was swift with 1975’s Dressed To Kill and Alive! really laying the groundwork for an avalanche of albums and tours that continues as we approach the end of the 90s and
Their much-hyper Psycho-Circus Tour. The recently released Psycho-Cricus (complete with 3-D artwork to compliment the 3-D presentation of the live show, CD-ROM and obligatory mini merchandise catalogue) represents Kiss’s first studio album in nearly two decades with all four original members (Simmons, singer/bass guitarist Paul Stanley, signer/gutarist Ace Frehley, guitarist Peter Criss,drummer.) And all in makeup.
Since the last time they recorded as a unit-just before Criss’s exit in 1980 prior to the release of Unmasked- Simmons and Stanley have continued to provide the Kiss Army (as their fans are know) with ammunition, to the tune of 15 albums during the plain-face, revolving door lineup years throughout the 80s and early 90s. Not always adept at knowing which way the wind was blowing (a 1982 concept album co-written Lou Reed, The Elder, is ample evidence of that, and also their first album not to go gold), they nonetheless hit the jackpot with their 1996-97 reunion tour. With 31 albums under their studded belts, and with more than 80 million copies sold worlwide, Kiss are edging into their golden years in typically literal fashion.
« Our worst years would be any band’s dream years, » says Simmons of the pre-reunion days. « During the 80s, we took off the makeup. I looked like Phyllis Diller. But the big test is the test of time. In the 80s, I had clearly lost my way. It was a time when everybody wanted to be Jon Bon Jovi. It’s like the guy who keeps banging his head against the wall. Another man comes over and asks, ‘Sir, why do you keep banging your head?’ the other guy says, ‘Well, it feels so good when I stop.’ I’ve got a better idea : Be who you are. There’s nobody like me. I make the best Gene Simmons there ever was, or will be…
« I don’t want to pretend that power, fame and girls aren’t fun, » he adds. « It’s a lot of fun. I’d love to be able to send postcard to everybody on the face of the planet : ‘Having a good time, wish you were here.’ Life is great. »
Freudian Kissology
At this point it might be useful to note that Simmons is conducting this interview on a cell phone…while getting a massage. While the 49-year-old body has its knots worked out, the mind is busy working on more conceptual tangles, like the Febuary cover of Playboy Magazine (which will feature 20 models in nothing but KISS make-up), a bigbudget Hollywood film (title Detroit Rock City, named after their time-tested rock anthem) and hundreds of other appearances (Pre-Super Bowl) and merchandising ventures
(including a Kiss automobile and « Kiss My ass » toilet paper).
This is the same well-oiled body that’s been spitting blood (358 pints of it during the reunion tour alone) and menacing crowds as the made-up Demon and God of Thunder. Simmons spends close to two hours, nightly, putting on the Japanese theatre-style Kabuki Makeup.
« It really lifts your spirits, » says Simmons of what would seem to be a tiresome chore after all these years.
« You can be Clark Kent all day long, but if youput on that suit and cape with the big « S » on your chest, you’ll feel like Superman.
« We were the fans who became the band, » he says with emphasis, picking up steam. « Kiss is the band we always wanted to see on stage. Then, if you have the gumption-which is a big word that does not revolve around Wrigley’s-to step up and try something important. We don’t need some pseudo-intellectual sitting there who’s read and reread Neitzschian philosophies and the academic contemplations of one’s naval. Who wants to have a guy near you, looking up at a fireworks show, going ‘Ah yes, but what does it mean?’ Get out of here. It means what it means.
« I think KISS satiates a certain hunger that people have for what we do, « Simmons says, now undeniably on a roll. « We stand guilty as a charged for making a complete spectacle out of ourselves. If you belive in the magic, it’s magic. It becomes a religion. Therein lies the greatness of it. I Would rather be loved or hated-don’t give me apathy « What do you think of that band? » « They’re OK. » Fuck that. Hate me with all your might, or love me with all your heart…
« Gee, that’s good. I have to use that in the next interview. »
Tongue Tripper
Gene Simmons Turns Us « ON »
KISS’s Gene Simmons has one of the most memorable mouths in rock’n’roll, noted as much for streams of vile verbiage as bogus blood. The following is Simmons, both solicited and not, as he waxes philosophical…
On Christmas stocking stuffers (and, somehow, minding the credibility gap)…
« It depends on how big your stocking is. And it depends how much you want to stuff it. All of which brings up the point of credibility. I’m just thinking about that because people are going to be reading this and thinking, « Don’t these guys worry about credibility? » Credibility is for cowards. We never had any credibility. Fuck credibility, I wanna have a good time. We’re having a great time. If you love Christmas, fuck Scrooge if he doesn’t get it. »
On Some Band Called the Beatles…
« We were shown in Billboard Magazine that there’s this other band called The Beatles that has two or three more gold records than we do. And we have every intention of catching up…You should check them out. They’ve got a great gimmick : they all look alike and have the same haircut. It’s kind of gimmicky, but…you know. »
On Forbes listing the Make-Up Reunion Tour as the #1 grossing concert of 1996…
« Those are all warped numbers – thay don’t know that. That’s just a quarter of it. The fact that Forbes put us on the cover is cool, but, really, they don’t know the half of it. »
On Self Image…
« You can’t take yourself seriously because then you actually wind up believing your own press. While you’re doing it, feel committed to it and don’t think about it as tongue-in-cheek unless it’s my tongue in your cheek. It’s important not to take things too seriously when somebody walks up and says « You’re God. » My problem is that I’m delusionsl and I might actually believe it. »
On The Songwriting piece Process…
« I’ve been writing my ass off. So the next time if you don’t see me with an ass, you’ll know why. But that’s all semantics and I’m not anti-semantic. »
On 50-Years-Old Rockers…
« You go, and you do it. You don’t call a press conference and say, « Ladies and gentleman, I’m in pain. » Who gives a shit? The fans want the show. They paid for their ticket. »
THE END
