GENE SIMMONS tells us why an air guitar is next on Kiss’s merch list.
You didn’t hold back when we asked you to pitch Gene simmons your questions. And, obviously, neither did he
After WrAPPInG UP the European leg of their huge, globetrotting final tour, Hammer caught up with Kiss legend and metal’s most famous tongue, Gene Simmons. Is this really the end, though? How will Uncle Gene handle retirement?
What are your plans for after
Kiss retires?
@Vengenzinchains (Twitter)
“I have quite a few other businesses – we have a cannabis company that’s Invictus MD, we have restaurants called Rock & Brews, I am a partner in one of the largest automotive companies, International Automotive Components… We also have a Kiss Monster Mini Golf course in the Rio All-Suite Hotel in Las Vegas, a Kiss limo service, Kiss cruises, all kinds of stuff. That’s going to take up time but Kiss will never stop, it’s just the touring band that’s stopping. I think we’re doing the ethical thing which is getting off the stage before it gets too late; now is the right time. You and I have both seen bands that should have been off the stage 10 years ago. I strongly feel we’re putting on the best tour ever and it’s fair to say we’re the hardest-working band in showbusiness. We all love Mick Jagger and Bono but if those guys wore my seven-inch dragon boots and 20 pounds of armour, they would pass out in half an hour.” What’s the worst piece of merchandise you’ve put your name to?
Jerry Llyons (Email)
“Some people think it’s the worst and it’s cheap but the Kiss air guitar strings are a phenomenon. They come in a single packet by themselves and you can see through it, there’s nothing in it. It’s a conversation piece but nobody just buys one, they buy boxes and boxes full of them and they give them to their friends. Of course, the next step
“WE WANT TO DO A KISS AIR GUITAR”
is a Kiss air guitar so you’ll get a case and when you open it up, there’s nothing in it. You have to consider we also make Kiss condoms and Kiss caskets – we’ll get you coming and we’ll get you going!”
who’s been the most constant influence in your music career?
Chris McDonald (Facebook)
“I don’t want to get too corny but the biggest influence in my life is my mother, who just passed, sadly, at 93 years of age. Although my mother was never in a rock band, I’m sad to say, the first song I heard was my mother humming a very sweet lullaby to me as a child in Hungarian. It was, ‘There’s a bright light in the sky and the farthest star in the sky, I will reach up and bring that farthest star for you, my child.’ That was the first music I ever heard as a little amoeba warbling my first melodies. My mother was my biggest influence, she always has been and she continues to be the ethical and moral backbone I refer to every day.”
Do you have a response to the paul Stanley lip-syncing accusations? @ClubShark (Twitter)
“At the same time he’s worshipping Satan, of course… oh my god.”
when was the last time you were completely starstruck?
Jake Prohan (Email)
“I suppose this morning when I looked into the mirror! I was really starstruck when I met Sophia Loren a few years ago. We ran into each other in Germany and I’ve always worshipped at her feet. I must’ve scared the daylights out of her because I was in my demon outfit and towering above her at about seven foot tall when she must’ve been about five foot five. I held her tiny little hand in mine and told her I have been in love with her my entire life. She was numb, she didn’t know what to say but she kept looking at me. She probably had something to talk about when she left.”
Do you have any regrets about doing the no makeup years?
Chris Wild (Facebook)
“No, the important thing is doing the right thing in the right place at the right time. We had to go through that and we had a great time doing it. It’s been 46 years and every day has been a blessing, there’s no other word I can use to describe it. I am the luckiest guy that ever walked on the face of this planet.”
is rock’n’roll actually dead or are you just not listening to the right bands? Eden Rowans (Email)
“It is dead but I don’t mean that there isn’t an awful lot of talent out there because there is, but the fans have been downloading and file sharing for free for 30 years, that’s why you don’t have a new Beatles or Elvis. The last big rock band was Foo Fighters and they’re 20 years old. You cannot name a new big rock band because they cannot earn a living, they need day jobs. Who’s the villain? The fans. It doesn’t affect us because we’re doing the largest tour on earth but we’re old guys, the Rolling Stones are old, all the big bands are old, we all started before Napster and all that crap. In the same way that drugs have pervaded society, young people have got used to downloading music and sharing files for free. It kills new bands, it doesn’t give the next Kiss a fair chance, so they die.”
what’s the most ridiculous purchase you’ve ever made?
Zakk Wells (Facebook)
“I don’t buy many things at all. I bought a little plastic baby keyring the size of a sixpence with big cheeks and a big tummy holding its little schmeckle. Secretly, you fill it with a bit of water so when you squeeze the tummy, it squirts water out of its schmeckle so it’s as if the little baby is taking a pee. I thought it was silly but Shannon, the mother of my children, stole it and it’s now on her keychain. She does it to all her girlfriends now, all her friends get sprayed on by this little baby and of course they all squeal with delight and can’t stop laughing.”
How do you want people to remember you when you’re gone?
Paul Killen (Email)
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve never cared about this whole preoccupation with what people think. I’m one of the few people I know that likes the sound of my own voice. I like what I look like, I don’t shame my own body image, which a lot of women seem to do and it’s so self-destructive. Women especially have to stop picking on each other with the venom that comes out between them – guys don’t care! I’ve never had a guy come up to me saying, ‘That’s a nice outfit you’re wearing, that’s last year’s fashions.’ The fuck are you talking about? It’s not important.”
what’s the biggest misconception about Gene Simmons?
Bethany Pilton (Email)
“I don’t believe people really buy it when I say I’ve never been high or drunk in my life and never smoked cigarettes. If I have a headache, I’ll take aspirin and if I get a tooth pulled, they’ll knock me out. Apart from that, I’ve never smoked anything or put anything up my nose or in my veins – to thine own self be true. We control all sorts of things but we throw logic out of the window when we get peer group pressure; we go to the pub because everybody else goes to the pub. If all the chicks went to the library, all the guys would go to the library. Millennials – a library is a building and it used to be full of things called books that were made out of trees!”
“BONO WOULD PASS OUT IF HE DID WHAT I DO”
See WWW.KISSONLINe.COM FOR THe LATeST KISS NeWS