Kiss News

Will McGuirk
NewsDurahamRegion
Photo by Laura Stanley

Halloween came early to Oshawa this year, 35 years in the making.

Dressed as a mashup of Transformers meets Josie and The Pussycats, KISS transformed the ice shed of the General Motors Centre into a full-on rock 'n' roll bonanza Wednesday night. The concert that was, then wasn't, then was, is now done. Mel Lastman once called in the army to help his city. Our civic fathers and mothers went one further, calling in the KISS Army to help what Macleans magazine called a sad and desperate city.

Well, we know better. Oshawa is not down. It's not out. It's merely resting its eyes, waiting for the right reason to get up and get its party on. KISS provided the reason. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and the two new guys are custom-made for this town, SHWA Rock City Baby. Get up out of your rocking chair grandma, KISS is in the house.Will McGuirk
NewsDurahamRegion
Photo by Laura Stanley

Halloween came early to Oshawa this year, 35 years in the making.

Dressed as a mashup of Transformers meets Josie and The Pussycats, KISS transformed the ice shed of the General Motors Centre into a full-on rock 'n' roll bonanza Wednesday night. The concert that was, then wasn't, then was, is now done. Mel Lastman once called in the army to help his city. Our civic fathers and mothers went one further, calling in the KISS Army to help what Macleans magazine called a sad and desperate city.

Well, we know better. Oshawa is not down. It's not out. It's merely resting its eyes, waiting for the right reason to get up and get its party on. KISS provided the reason. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and the two new guys are custom-made for this town, SHWA Rock City Baby. Get up out of your rocking chair grandma, KISS is in the house.

Downtown was filled with men dressed as ladies dressed as men dressed as animals for the glittering glam-rock spectacle. The lineup to get in stretched around the back of the Bell building.

If you like the silver codpiece of a 60-year-old man dressed as a Samurai from the 7th circle of Hell, dangling in your face (and clearly you do Oshawa) then this was the ear-bursting, eye-burning rock extravaganza for you. A wall of screens, and a jumbotron stretched across the full width of the Centre and then some. Fireworks, confetti cannons, flames and interplanetary juggernaut rock riffage, a drum solo of strobe light intensity from Eric Singer, a guitar solo that shot explosions from its head by Tommy Thayer, plus a hit list of '70s classic rock was what you got for your ticket, was what you got for winning the contest, for being No. 1, Oshawa.

KISS is a band of individuals and each one got his spotlight. Apart from the new kids on the rock solos, we got Demon Gene Simmons in the rafters, like a manic cross between a pterodactyl and Marcel Marceau, and the pursed lips and butt-clenching strut of Starchild Paul Stanley, who rode a half unicyle/half weed-whacker high above the audience to a waiting platform at the back of the ice.

Now that, baby, is what you call rock 'n' roll. That's debauchery, that's excess, that's not giving a rodent's rear end about anything. This was Theatre of The Crotch, this was everything your mother warned you about and secretly yearned for. I saw no KISS Army recruiters, but if I had I'd have signed up on the spot and marched away from it all with them. That was SHWA-some!

By Nick Patch

TORONTO - Kiss delivered on its promise to Oshawa, Ont., on Wednesday with a supersized show that spared no flair, flames or facepaint.

Even playing to 6,134 fans within the relatively cozy confines of Oshawa's General Motors Centre, the classic rockers seemed to manage to pull off every extravagant stunt of their reliably over-the-top show.

And they didn't miss an opportunity to pay respect to Oshawa, the town that won the right to the concert by pouring votes into an online contest hosted by Kiss.

"We've been to Moncton, we've been to Sudbury, we've been to Saskatoon - we've never been to 'Shwa," singer-guitarist Paul Stanley bellowed from the stage, using a popular local nickname for the town that he would repeat again and again.

"Tonight, we change all that."By Nick Patch

TORONTO - Kiss delivered on its promise to Oshawa, Ont., on Wednesday with a supersized show that spared no flair, flames or facepaint.

Even playing to 6,134 fans within the relatively cozy confines of Oshawa's General Motors Centre, the classic rockers seemed to manage to pull off every extravagant stunt of their reliably over-the-top show.

And they didn't miss an opportunity to pay respect to Oshawa, the town that won the right to the concert by pouring votes into an online contest hosted by Kiss.

"We've been to Moncton, we've been to Sudbury, we've been to Saskatoon - we've never been to 'Shwa," singer-guitarist Paul Stanley bellowed from the stage, using a popular local nickname for the town that he would repeat again and again.

"Tonight, we change all that."

With a nearly two-hour performance, the Detroit rockers captivated a grateful crowd with a set drawn mostly from their 1970s output, with a specific focus on their 1974 double-LP breakthrough, "Alive!"

While the venue was significantly smaller than the arenas Kiss typically visits, the band showed no signs of having downscaled their show.

There were the rising, rotating stages, the confetti streaming from the sky and the relentless pyrotechnics, more plentiful here than the jet-black hair strewn across Stanley's chest.

Tongue-wagging bassist Gene Simmons dribbled blood from his mouth and performed menacingly from a platform high above the heads of the audience, while Stanley used pulleys to zip over to a round platform located in the middle of the crowd during "Love Gun."

The crowd roared appreciatively with each increasingly flamboyant stunt.

"Did you really believe we weren't going to come to see you?" Stanley asked the audience.

Oshawa has been a rare destination for major touring acts because it's only a 45-minute drive from Toronto, and because General Motors Centre is the city's largest venue.

Longtime fan Jan Pettersson said he could scarcely believe Kiss visited his hometown.

"I never thought I'd see a big act like that in Oshawa, so I was very impressed with that," said Pettersson, 40, who previously saw Kiss perform in Stockholm, Sweden in 1984.

"It's unbelievable, I'm incredibly happy they came here and that I got the chance to see them. It's definitely history having a band like that here. It'll stick out in my mind for a long time."

Stanley told The Canadian Press before the show that the band wasn't planning anything extra for the show - but only because they always give everything they have.

"We don't know the word 'extra,"' said the 57-year-old Stanley, who looked remarkably spry as he strutted across the stage (the habitually bare-chested rocker says he keeps in shape with aerobics, hiking and by doing 70 situps before every show).

"You know, how much extra can we give? We're Kiss!"

Yet, he did seem to make a special effort to pay respect to the fans and certainly relished every opportunity he had to say "'Shwa."

"We love all the big cities - we love Toronto, we love Montreal, we love Vancouver," Stanley said.

"But it's cities like you that make it all happen."

In fact, the show did seem a particular treat for a blue-collar auto town that has been hit hard by the global economic slump.

"When the fan contest was first announced, I mobilized the Kiss army in Oshawa and everyone came out, the spirit was unbelievable," said city councillor Robert Lutczyk, who spearheaded the campaign to bring Kiss to town.

"A lot of times, it wasn't so much about Kiss. It was about Oshawa winning a contest. So everybody came out."

Stanley made reference to economic hard times once during the show, lamenting the "bad news" that was ruling TV, radio and newspapers. But he didn't linger long on the topic.

"We are here tonight to escape the world," he said to a roar from the crowd.

"We came here tonight to have a good time."

After winning contest, recession-weary Oshawa finally feels rockers' love

After winning contest, recession-weary Oshawa finally feels rockers' love

It was the KISS of life Oshawa needed.

Thousands of music fans and regular folks revelling in the positive vibes turned out to welcome one of the biggest rock bands in the world to a city hungry for good news.

"There's bad news all over the country but this is terrific," beamed Joe Bosco, 76, outside the General Motors Centre where the concert took place Wednesday night.

As the show started, a giant Google map appeared on the screen and zoomed in on Oshawa.

After the second song, guitarist and singer Paul Stanley asked the crowd: "How ya doin', good people of 'shwa? So lemme ask you a question - did you really believe that we weren't coming to see you? No way!"
After winning contest, recession-weary Oshawa finally feels rockers' love

It was the KISS of life Oshawa needed.

Thousands of music fans and regular folks revelling in the positive vibes turned out to welcome one of the biggest rock bands in the world to a city hungry for good news.

"There's bad news all over the country but this is terrific," beamed Joe Bosco, 76, outside the General Motors Centre where the concert took place Wednesday night.

As the show started, a giant Google map appeared on the screen and zoomed in on Oshawa.

After the second song, guitarist and singer Paul Stanley asked the crowd: "How ya doin', good people of 'shwa? So lemme ask you a question - did you really believe that we weren't coming to see you? No way!"

The audience cheered wildly - because it was the concert that almost didn't happen.

Ubit McCoff, a 40-year-old engineer from Oshawa, said "Being born and raised in Oshawa, I never thought anything would happen to me and going to the KISS concert was a dream come true."

The chilly winds didn't stop fans from arriving hours before show time.

"I am going to be the favourite mom in Oshawa tonight!" shrieked Debbie Craig as she scored three last-minute released tickets at the box office. All 5,600 seats had sold out within minutes weeks ago but a block of 20 suddenly opened up as the stage was being set up.

"They're huge fans," Craig said of her sons, aged 13 and 15. "Woo hoo!"

"For KISS to come here - it's huge," a thrilled Janis Mullins said as her son Liam, 9, had his face painted in trademark black and white KISS makeup under a Dr. Pepper tent across from the GM Centre.

Councillor Robert Lutczyk, who spearheaded efforts months ago to get residents voting for a concert, showed up in the morning to bask all day in the glory.

"This will put our GM Centre on the map and on the radar screen of every concert promoter," he said.

"It's the biggest thing in entertainment since the Rolling Stones played Oshawa 30 years ago."

For Jenn Lynch, 13, the thrill factor hit "90 on a scale of 10." Introduced to KISS by her parents at age 6, she celebrated her first concert with a Gene Simmons' makeup job.

The occasion prompted Dan Smith, "46 going on 17," to take the day off work as a labourer with Ontario Hydro so he could go shopping at Value Village for a black three-piece suit and pointy-toed boots.The show was Smith's third and 14-year-old son Ozzy's second.

Mayor John Gray walked over from city hall in the blustery weather for a sneak preview of the preparations. "This puts us on a par with the big city venues."

With files from Jennifer Yang

'Gene Simmons Family Jewels," the A&E reality show starring the spidery, fire-breathing, tongue-dangling KISS bassist as a family man, is stuffed with slumber parties, home movies, teen girls saying, "Whatever," and (somewhat randomly) a depressed comedian Carrot Top at a bar. But it doesn't have Paul Stanley. "God knows, he's asked me enough times," says singer and guitarist Stanley, who co-founded the band with Simmons in 1972. "There's nothing that appeals to me less than creating a TV life, as opposed to living my private life. It's just not for me. I also don't like the idea of confusing what Gene does with what KISS does. It's better to keep 'em separate."

For a man who has spent the past 37 years wearing demonic black-and-white makeup and singing "Love Gun" wearing leather pants and no shirt, Stanley, 57, is pointedly serious on the phone. Asked about Casablanca Records, the '70s disco label that broke KISS and was known for its executives' copious cocaine use and excessive behavior, Stanley says he spent little time there. Asked about Ace Frehley, the fellow band founder who spends much of his newfound solo career bashing KISS as sellouts in the press, Stanley says he's just glad the guitarist is clean and sober. Asked what he wants for Christmas, Stanley delivers a mini-lecture about supporting the American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.'Gene Simmons Family Jewels," the A&E reality show starring the spidery, fire-breathing, tongue-dangling KISS bassist as a family man, is stuffed with slumber parties, home movies, teen girls saying, "Whatever," and (somewhat randomly) a depressed comedian Carrot Top at a bar. But it doesn't have Paul Stanley. "God knows, he's asked me enough times," says singer and guitarist Stanley, who co-founded the band with Simmons in 1972. "There's nothing that appeals to me less than creating a TV life, as opposed to living my private life. It's just not for me. I also don't like the idea of confusing what Gene does with what KISS does. It's better to keep 'em separate."

For a man who has spent the past 37 years wearing demonic black-and-white makeup and singing "Love Gun" wearing leather pants and no shirt, Stanley, 57, is pointedly serious on the phone. Asked about Casablanca Records, the '70s disco label that broke KISS and was known for its executives' copious cocaine use and excessive behavior, Stanley says he spent little time there. Asked about Ace Frehley, the fellow band founder who spends much of his newfound solo career bashing KISS as sellouts in the press, Stanley says he's just glad the guitarist is clean and sober. Asked what he wants for Christmas, Stanley delivers a mini-lecture about supporting the American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Stanley is especially serious about the band's first album in 11 years, "Sonic Boom," which he produced. Leaked tracks such as "Modern Day Delilah" don't have quite the same winking debauchery of such KISS classics as "Rock and Roll All Nite," "Black Diamond" or "Strutter," but the guitars are loud, the vocals are operatic and the backbeat is booming. "This couldn't be more KISS. It catches the fire, the urgency, the adrenaline and the firepower," Stanley says, from Detroit (Rock City), where he and Simmons just began a tour with guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer in lieu of founders Frehley and Peter Criss.

"The idea that perhaps 'Sonic Boom' could have been made by any other lineup is somebody's personal insanity, but it's not true. The first person I usually go to for feedback is Tommy, and Eric has been in and out of the band for 14 years."

Beginning in the early '80s, KISS tried to move beyond its trademark showmanship and toured for more than a decade without makeup or tall black space boots. They returned to the shtick in 1996, and have been making the big reunion-tour money with costumes and pyrotechnics ever since. Even the worldwide economic crisis hasn't dented the band's stage production, which hits Nassau Coliseum Friday and Madison Square Garden Saturday. "The last thing we've done is cut back," Stanley says. "You know, in a time of recession and a time where money is so tight, it's all the more reason for us to pack more in. People need to get more bang for the buck. Who better than us to do it?"

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KISS goes from studs to spuds


BY STEVE KNOPPER
Special to Newsday

Why would KISS sell its latest album exclusively through Wal-Mart? Four words: KISS Mr. Potato Heads. "They came to us with the idea of Mr. Potato Head," insists Paul Stanley, who, with the band, also authorized KISS M&Ms, as well as Halloween makeup and wigs. With CD sales plunging for more than a decade, it makes sense for KISS to follow The Eagles and AC/DC, who sold millions of their comeback discs using Wal-Mart's marketing power in recent years.

KISS' three-disc set includes the new "Sonic Boom," a CD of re-recorded classics and a DVD. "The world is always changing. If you don't adapt, you perish," Stanley says. "Some people will scratch their head and say, 'What does that have to do with rock and roll?' And I would say, 'KISS lives outside the rules and laws that are defined for rock and roll.' " It should be noted, however, that Wal-Mart will sell neither KISS Kondoms nor KISS Kaskets.

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'BLACK DIAMOND' AND 9 OTHER GEMS FROM KISS


BY STEVE KNOPPER
Special to Newsday


In the '70s, KISS bewildered critics with its one-dimensional, sludgy hard rock and ridiculously sexual lyrics like this one, from "Christine Sixteen": "I don't usually say things like this to girls your age, but when I saw you coming out of the school that day - that day I knew." But the hits have held up surprisingly well, and the sludge has influenced bands from the Replacements to M�tley Cr�e to Nirvana. Here's KISS' top 10:

1. Rock and Roll All Nite - KISS might play this one at the Coliseum. If you ask real nice.

2. Black Diamond - Starts with pretty acoustic guitars, then plunges directly into the headbanging - something Nirvana and a generation of grunge and emo bands have made a career out of.

3. Christine Sixteen - Kind of reprehensible and pervy, until you consider it's in the tradition of such lascivious blues classics as "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl."

4. Goin' Blind - Another in the continuing theme of older men desiring teenage girls: "I'm 93, you're 16 / Can't you see I'm goin' blind?" Rocks especially hard.

5. Shout It Out Loud - One of KISS' best-ever sing-along melodies, from 1976's "Destroyer." (Follow the instructions: "You got to have a party! Shout it out loud!")

6. Strutter - KISS' music grew directly from early glam-rock punks like the New York Dolls, who favored big guitar chords and elaborate costuming. "Strutter," from the band's 1974 eponymous debut, is of a piece with the Sweet's "The Ballroom Blitz."

7. Rocket Ride - Guitarist Ace Frehley's signature song, even though he no longer tours with the band. Simple, sexual. Not rocket science.

8. God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II - This swaying, 1992 rewrite of an Argent song is one of the few classic live sing-alongs from the makeup-less portion of KISS' career.

9. Two Timer - Written by Gene Simmons in 1975, this harmony-heavy rocker blames the woman, but at least Simmons doesn't spare himself - a "three-time loser."

10. Beth - After all that guitar bluster - a tender ballad. Contains one of the band's best lines: "Me and the boys are playin' / And we just can't find the sound."

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WHEN | WHERE KISS plays Nassau Coliseum Friday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $21.50-$125, available through Ticketmaster, 631-888-9000, ticketmaster.com. The band plays Madison Square Garden on Saturday; tickets, $25-$150, at Ticketmaster. "Sonic Boom" comes out Tuesday.

By Martin Howell

It's been a long time since KISS last released an album, the somewhat patchy "Psycho Circus," but they're finally ready to unleash the formidable "Sonic Boom" on the world. Martin Howell had a chat with the Starchild himself, Paul Stanley, to get the lowdown on the album.

I have to admit that I was a little unsure whether or not KISS would be able to return to their former glories. Their last album was a decade ago and whilst it had its moments, it certainly didn't recall their glory years. Then after a "farewell" tour that saw the end of the original line-up, two new guys were drafted in to wear the costumes and make-up. But a few years on the road and the new line-up was settled enough to hit the studio. The resulting "Sonic Boom" will hit an unsuspecting public shortly, and truth be told, it's a bit of a monster, a real return to the glory days of the late 70s.
By Martin Howell

It's been a long time since KISS last released an album, the somewhat patchy "Psycho Circus," but they're finally ready to unleash the formidable "Sonic Boom" on the world. Martin Howell had a chat with the Starchild himself, Paul Stanley, to get the lowdown on the album.

I have to admit that I was a little unsure whether or not KISS would be able to return to their former glories. Their last album was a decade ago and whilst it had its moments, it certainly didn't recall their glory years. Then after a "farewell" tour that saw the end of the original line-up, two new guys were drafted in to wear the costumes and make-up. But a few years on the road and the new line-up was settled enough to hit the studio. The resulting "Sonic Boom" will hit an unsuspecting public shortly, and truth be told, it's a bit of a monster, a real return to the glory days of the late 70s.

Paul Stanley, not surprisingly, agrees wholeheartedly. "This was something we felt we had to do; we were on a mission to state who this band is and remove any doubts about what we're capable of. We didn't want to make a retro album, something that would be confused with the 70s albums, but we wanted to capture the essence, the piss 'n' vinegar at the core of KISS. Over the last few years we've toured America, Europe, we've just come back from South America, and we've shown a lot of people what this band is capable of; we're like a finely sharpened knife.

"Initially I wasn't interested in making a new album, not unless I could do it on my own terms. I wanted to produce it, and there were to be no outside writers. In the past we've used people outside of the band and you end up with their interpretation of what KISS is, not your own. Also this needed to be everyone's priority, if not their sole work. And I have to say that being in the studio has never been more fun; we had a great time, we were clear and focused on what we were doing, and there were no egos. In fact there was a real sense of selflessness.

"Even Gene, I mean, if you see something about Gene being selfless, it's probably in Ripley's Believe it or Not. But we all pulled together and when we wrote together, the magic was there. In the past Gene and myself have written songs on our own or with outside writers, and really that was just ego, so this time we collaborated with each other, so some were written by Gene and me, or Gene, Tommy and me. It was a lot of fun, the healthiest time I've ever spent in a studio. And it all seemed so effortless; in fact Eric [Singer - drums and cat costume] got worried on one or two songs because we needed as many as 3 takes!"

It sounds like the band had a great time. Given the advances in technology over the last few years, I asked Paul if KISS had changed the way they recorded.

"No, we were more worried about capturing a feel. We recorded as a band, looking at each other, vintage amps, great guitars and no click track, but then who needs a click track when you have Eric?"

The lead track from the album, "Modern Day Delilah," has been out on the Web for some time. I asked Paul what the reaction had been so far.

"The reviews have been overwhelmingly good; everyone has been blown away. When we put the album together, we had a six-track teaser for it and we played it to people and they all thought that we'd cherry picked the best tracks, but they were just the first six. The others are just as good; there is no filler on this album."

One of my personal favourites is "Never Enough," an upbeat rocker about seizing the day and basically enjoying life. I wondered if this was a personal philosophy.

"Absolutely. I love life; I want to live everyday to the full. It's also kind of a statement against all the naysayers; here we are still kicking ass and loving it."

While we were on the subject of personal favourites, I had to mention "Stand."

"That's about camaraderie, the idea that unity and working together can get through anything. Some people might think that's corny, but I think that there might be a certain bitterness there. We're very proud of what we've done with this record; there was an opportunity to be seized and we did it, but it needed all four members to do it. On 'Psycho Circus' and some other records, they were gallant attempts to keep the band going, but not everyone in the band was on the same page."

As usual with a KISS album, the vocals are shared by Gene and Paul, but one song, "All For the Glory," features a vocal by Eric.

"Eric is someone I've known for a long time. When I did a solo tour back in 1988, he played drums for me, and then he joined KISS in 1992 and all that time I had no idea he could sing. We were doing the 'Revenge' album and he said to us 'what part do you want me to sing' and we all thought he was joking. But he has a great voice and 'All For the Glory" was written for him to sing. We didn't want to do the 'obligatory drummer' song you know? That's a great song and he sings it well."