HIT PARADER
In your minds, what sepaparates Revenge from other recent KISS albums?
PAUL STANLEY
On the last tour, when we were promoting Hot In The Shade, we were playing 23 songs from throughout our history. I think we realized what our lagacy is. After that show, we had to make sur that anything we did after had to live up to that legacy. We knew we had to make this a great record. In the past, at times we had wandered away from what our strenghts were. I don’t think we’ve ever made a bad record, but some of those records were just good, they weren’t great. This time we rolled up our sleeves and just went to work. This is a KISS album that defines everything a great KISS album should be.
GENE SIMMONS
Sometimes it’s hard to have the proper perspective on an album you’re working on. The smartest thing we did this time was sacrifice some of our control and bring in a producer, Bob Ezrin, who could crack the whip when it was needed. Paul and I need that, even though we do crack the whip on each other all the time. If people on the outside think we hate each other, that’s wrong, and if they think we sleep with one another and love everything the other does, that’s wrong as well. We have a give and take relationship--like brothers. We’ll support each other to the end, but we’re also honest enough to say «Hey, that song you just wrote sucks the big one!» That same attitude was just multiplied by having Ezrin around. He was very quick to tell me that a song I wrote wasen’t good. He just said «Gene, that really blows.» It hurt, but it made this a better record. That’s why we wrote almost 60 songs to make sure we had the best material we could on the album.
HIT PARADER
How do you manage to weed down from 60 songs to the ones that finally made it on to the album.
PAUL STANLEY
Gene always writes an adundance of material, but having ezrin with us helped in that he broke any ties about material that might have existed. Every song on this record could have been track one side one. My songs are some of the best I’ve done because I was pushed. Everyone contributed. Bruce is playing guitar like his life depends on it. He’s gone through some sort of transformation. Before thoughts went from his brain to his fingers. Now it seems those thoughts go from his brain, to his balls and then to his fingers! And Eric Singer really proved he belonged in the band. He did a phenomenal job under very difficult circumstances. The conviction and soul that’s in this band right now is the best it’s been since 1973!
GENE SIMMONS
We’ve all found who we are on this record. That’s especially true for me. Titles like «Tough Love» and «Heart Of Chrome» give an indication of what kind of record this is. This is a sweaty, hard, dirty rock’n’roll record. I went through a ten year period, ever since we took off the makeup, where my attentions wandered. For the last decade Paul has been carrying a lot more of th load than he should have been. It’s only in retrospect that I see that. It wasn’t on purpose, but I don’t know if I knew who I was since I stopped being that «Demon.» It took me a long while for me to realize that KISS is IT--it’s like air, the thing that keeps me going. It’s my time to pay Paul back for all the crap he had to take.
HIT PARADER
Paul, were there times you were angry at Gene because of all the other projects he seemed to be involved in?
PAUL STANLEY
No, I think Gene’s being a little over dramatic. The truth is that a lot of people weren’t focused in the band. Bruce was still finding his legs, and there wasn’t a unified commitment with Gene doing films and his record label. You just can’t juggle so many things and do it well. I never wanted this to be my band. We work best as a unit. It’s great that everyone’s so focused this time. You can hear it on every track. It’s like the old days, and as far I’m concerned that’s great.
HIT PARADER
Listening to the record, especially songs like «Spit» one can’t help but notice that KISS is a very sexist band. Is that a problem in this era of Anita Hill and political correctness?
PAUL STANLEY
I don’t agree with the premise that we’re a sexist band. Don’t confuse the appreciation of women with sexism. We pay homage to women in a lot of our songs. They may want us to appreciate their minds, but it’s still more fun to sing about their bodies. There have always been great women around, and they’ll still be around long after we’re gone. We’re just celebrating some of the ones we’ve known--or would like to know.
GENE SIMMONS
«Spit» has a sense of humor. It dosen’t say «look how big my cock is.» it says «I need a whole lot of women to keep me satisfied.» It’s in keeping with roc’n’roll traditions that go back to «Good Golly Miss Molly.» I hope people don’t lose sight of the humor that’s always been a big part of KISS. Even in the makeup days, or maybe especially in the makeup days, we had to laugh at ourselves. How could we take what we were doing seriously? But we have always taken music seriously, even if our lyrical topics do have humour in them.
HIT PARADER
Are there still thing you guys are learning about the rock’n’roll business after 20 years?
GENE SIMMONS
One of the things we learned on «Revenge» is that sometimes you have to brutalize a song. There was a very good song that Paul wrote with Snake if Skid Row, we recorded it, but it never made it onto the record. It was a very, very good song, but we had to decide in a very brutal way if it was great. The result speak for themselves.
PAUL STANLEY
And none of us take it personally. We had to accept the fact that not everything we did for this record was going to make it.
HIT PARADER
What about touring. Are you planning a «Classic» KISS tour this time.
GENE SIMMONS
Have we got something planned for you this time! It’s the biggest thing you’ve ever seen. It’s made all of steel, and it’s incredible. We wanted to go out this time with as you called it, a classic KISS tour, and this time is the most incredible stage we’ve ever had--and anyone who knows KISS knows that is saying a great deal. This is the kind of stage that should have been built by 10,000 slaves pulling huge blocks behind them. It has that king of massive feel to it.
This tour is gonna be everything this album is--awesome, heavy and something very special. Maybe we’ve been on a little vacation at times in the past. But KISS right now is the best it’s ever been. I haven’t been this excited about an album, or about the band since 1973! I think Gene feels the same way. He’s more involved than ever, and everyone, certainly Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer are ready to go. We’re out to prove something and with this album, and this tour, we’re gonna do it.