KISS’ Stage Manager Steve Roman to Share Backstage Stories at Benefit
Story from ultimateclassicrock.com
Visit www.sixstringsalute.com for full details & info on where to watch Six String Salute, the virtual concert to benefit Crew Nation
KISS' longtime stage manager is getting ready to share his best backstage stories for a good cause.
Steve Roman - who has overseen the band's flame-, blood- and stunt-filled concerts for more than a decade - will take part in the Six String Salute online benefit Thursday at 8PM ET on Live Nation's "Live From Home" YouTube channel. (An encore screening will take place at the same time the next day on the Six String Salute Facebook page.)
The event will also feature live performances by Steve Vai, Tommy Shaw of Styx, the Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson, Joe Satriani and former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, among others.
Roman tells UCR that Kiss are a "great bunch of guys" who hold themselves and their crew to a high standard. "They are the consummate professionals," he says. "They've been doing it so long. Basically, when you're working with Kiss, you've got to be on top of your game because they're on top of their game. If there's a mistake, they wanna know what's going on and why it happened. Doing a show as big as Kiss, there's a lot of gags - people flying across the stage in the air, pyrotechnics going off, they're spitting up blood, they're shooting up rockets in the air at things. There's a lot of stuff to do during the show."
At a February 2019 show in Sacramento, a member of the lighting crew temporarily ran afoul of Gene Simmons' perfectionist streak, which resulted in an onstage “Give me a white spotlight, motherfucker" rant that went viral.
"That's typical Gene," Roman laughs. "When he goes into a show, he wants to be seen. And, of course, they know what's up. They've been doing it for so long, they can tell when a spotlight's not where it's supposed to be. He's quite a character, that's for sure."
