...BUT GENE WANTS BAND TO KEEP GOING
KISS might be in the middle of their farewell tour, but it probably isn’t the end.
The masked rockers would like four completely different guys to don the legendary Demon and Starchild make-up and hit the road as KISS again.
Bassist Gene Simmons told me: “I see it outlasting us guys. I can see people replacing us, yes why not? I would love it!
“Whatever (rock ‘n’ roll) laws there are, are created by unqualified people. That’s why we march to the beat of our own drums.”
Asked if they would consider holograms replacing them, he laughed: “I like toys and games. I think they’re cool.
“If somebody else doesn’t like it, you go and form Radiohead – who, by the way, are one of my favourite bands. But I don’t want to see Thom Yorke in a cape.”
KISS with Gene and Paul Stanley are currently fire-breathing across UK arenas for the last time. They believe KISS will outlive them because there’s nobody else taking over their mantle.
He told me: “New bands can’t survive. They have to live in their mother’s basement and get day jobs. We love Adele but it’s a singularity. I like Bruno but there’s no gravitas.
“It’s not the British invasion or San Francisco sound.
“That’s why I said rock ‘n’ roll is dead, not for effect.
“From 1958 to 1988 for 30 years we had great things – Elvis, The Beatles, Hendrix, Bowie, U2, disco, Madonna.
“But from 1988 until today who is the new Beatles?”
And although live music thriving, he fears for the future.
“That’s where it started with Little Richard and Chuck Berry, records were promotional items for live shows.
“But the Catch-22 is that people won’t come unless they know who they are.”
Touring the UK is joy for KISS as it’s where all their heroes come from.
Gene added: “It’s in the DNA here. What the British did with rock ‘n’ roll is incredible.
“If you just had The Stones, Queen, Sweet, what other country does that or comes close?
“America gave the world The Grateful Dead, you gave us The Beatles.”
KISS play Newcastle on Sunday and Glasgow on Tuesday. Mars is