End Of The Road Interview with Tommy Thayer
It’s the ‘End of the Road’ for iconic rock band KISS
Kelly Simms, USA TODAY NETWORK
Sioux Falls wants the best, and it’ll get the best, when veteran rockers KISS say goodbye after four-plus decades of bombastic entertainment with its “End of the Road” tour.
KISS’s farewell tour, which will most likely last for two-plus years, will be pulling into Denny Sanford Premier Center on Wednesday night. Although this will be KISS’s first show in the brand-new venue, the band has played numerous times at the old Sioux Falls Arena throughout its career.
KISS’s last appearance in Sioux Falls was in 2016 at Badlands for a special unmasked acoustic show.
“I remember Sioux Falls,” guitarist Tommy Thayer said during a recent phone interview with the Argus Leader. “Every time I’m there it’s freezing cold and snowing. But we’re looking forward to playing the arena this time. We played at the Badlands, and a couple of times we came and visited the Brennan Rock and Roll Academy, which is no longer open unfortunately.”
Formed in 1973 by bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons, guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley, drummer Peter Criss and lead guitarist Ace Frehley, KISS dominated the mid-’70s; producing comic books, pinball machines, KISS dolls and other merchandise, as well as countless TV appearances, thousands of concerts and even a movie in 1978, “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.”
There have been numerous other bands who have embarked on a farewell tour (Ozzy Osbourne and Scorpions immediately come to mind), and this is actually KISS’s second farewell go ‘round, as the original lineup tried it once before in 2000.
However, as Thayer explained, the band will be taking one last victory lap on this tour.
“It’s legitimately the End of the Road Tour,” Thayer said. “I know Paul and Gene plan on this being the last tour. They know that none of us are getting any younger and while we are still as good as we are - the band is sharp - we want to do the tour now on this level and not let a couple more years go by and then maybe something happens. While the band is firing on all cylinders, we want to go out and do this tour now.”
Replacing Frehley in 2002, Thayer was met with some backlash from KISS fans, and understandably so. However, Thayer has been in the band now even longer than Frehley’s combined years and has become more comfortable in the lead guitar role.
“I have to be honest, when I first came into the band, there was some pressure,” Thayer admitted. “It was kind of a no-win situation when you’re replacing somebody like that. There’s a lot of fans who are unhappy with this and I understand. They followed the band for a long time and it’s hard to see things like that change sometimes. After a few years went by, I got more confident and more comfortable in the situation, as time goes on it continues to be a growing experience and something that I get more used to.”
