Kiss News

05/21/2016

GENE SIMMONS HELPS SUPPORTS A GREAT CAUSE

Note from Gene Simmons:

The Los Angeles police memorial fund raises money to help the families of fallen police officers. Pay off their mortgages...send their kids to college.
 A noble cause.

05/20/2016

'Wicked Lester' (1972) among Rolling Stone's 15 Legendary Unreleased Albums

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, 'Wicked Lester' (1972)

By   / Rolling Stone

Before donning their makeup as Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in Kiss, Gene Klein and Stanley Eisen cut their teeth as members of Wicked Lester. Though they had only a few gigs under their belt, Epic Records agreed to fund their debut album. A disorganized recording schedule stretched for over six months, during which time they laid down an eclectic mix of pop covers and self-penned songs.

While historic, the session is an aimless mishmash of musical styles struggling to coexist on a single piece of wax. The 11-track album was promptly rejected by Epic. Even Simmons agrees it was for the best. "Wicked Lester may be an interesting collection of songs, but I don't get a backbone or an identity from it," he reflected.

Simmons and Stanley decided to start anew, joining forces with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley and forming the band that made them famous. The Wicked Lester tapes lay dormant until 1976, when the label saw an opportunity to capitalize on Kiss' worldwide popularity. Embarrassed by the lightweight material and fearful of confusing their audience, the band bought the tapes back for $137,500, and locked them away.

Wicked Lester-era songs "She" and "Love Her All I Can" were reworked and released on 1975's Dressed To Kill, and "Keep Me Waiting" was issued on Kiss' 2001 box set. But the rest remain in the vault.

Read the full article at www.RollingStone.com

05/20/2016

Gene Simmons: �I still fly up to the top of the rafters and spit fire�

Descending to the stage on a flying-saucer is a dangerous business, says the Keane-loving KISS frontman

By Peter Robinson / Guardian

Hi Gene!

Hello! I am Gene Simmons.

Great. Your summer tour is called the Freedom to Rock tour. Is freedom to rock a right or a privilege?

You�d like to think it�s a right, but it really is a privilege. We can say here in western culture that it�s a right, but that doesn�t mean anything in North Korea, Iran or other places. So, do I think it�s an inalienable human right? Of course. Does it exist like that as a fait accompli? No. You�ve got to fight for it.

When we last spoke, 10 years ago, you told me you were a fan of Keane because they were bringing melody back to music. Do you still like Keane?

I really liked Keane, I thought the guy�s voice was really great. You have to remember Keane came before Coldplay, as far as I understand it. (1) Good songs are good songs, whether it�s Abba, Keane or Motörhead. So, yes, I really liked Keane, but the masses didn�t grab on to them, did they?

They were quite big in the UK.

No, I think you�re misunderstanding. The word �big� has some value: you can�t apply it to �big in Leicester� or �big in Sheffield�. You�re either big worldwide or you�re not big. Otherwise you devalue the word �big�. U2 are big.

I would have said �huge� is a possible next step up from �big�. U2 are huge, Keane were big.

You know, you�re right. These are semantics. But I�m not anti-semantic.

You used that exact same joke when we spoke 10 years ago.

I only know five things, and I repeat them.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story

05/19/2016

KISS frontman Gene Simmons says he was teased for being a 'geek' as a child as he visits new DC Comics exhibit

From Irish Examiner

He is known as the frontman of one of the world�s most elaborate rock bands, but Gene Simmons says he was branded a �comic book geek� growing up.

The Kiss singer said people made fun of his love of superheroes as a child because it was considered �kid stuff�, as he toured a new DC Comics exhibit at Warner Bros Studios in Los Angeles.

Gene, 66, said he felt �justice� as superhero movies dominate today�s box office and compared characters such as Superman and Green Lantern to Greek mythological figures.

He told the Press Association: �Superheroes, when you think about it, espouse the American notion that you can come from any country � even from another planet � and still scale the heights. I think it�s a phenomenal, inspiring self-motivating idea.

�The Greeks had their gods, we have ours. There is very little difference between Superman and Green Lantern and so on, and Hercules and Zeus and all the other mythological Greek gods.

�It also has this psychological Jungian theme of having an alter ego. The great pathos of Superman is he�s always going to feel like an outsider, and I love that.�

Gene, who was forced to apologise last week after branding Prince�s death �pathetic�, said that nowadays the �biggest movies of all time are superhero movies�.

He added: �It is justice because when I was a kid, we used to be made fun of. We were called comic book geeks for reading all that kid stuff, except the kid stuff is now the stuff that rules the planet.�

Meanwhile, Gene � who describes himself as an �Anglophile� � believes �no country touches� Britain�s record of producing �iconic� musicians.

He said: �This little island that is surrounded by water, that doesn�t consider itself part of Europe, still gave the world the iconic modern performers from the Beatles all the way to modern Adele. Really no country touches it.

�Even though America invented rock �n� roll and blues and jazz and hip hop, it�s England that�s taken it to the heights.�

The new DC Comics exhibit includes costumes and props from Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and the upcoming blockbuster Suicide Squad.

05/18/2016

NOTE FROM GENE SIMMONS

 Proud to have been asked by Warner Bros. and DC comics to cut the ribbon and wax poetic at the DC Comics Museum on the Warner Bros. lot.
 Sophie attended with me.
 As a comic book geek, I was particularly excited to reconnect with my 8year old self and the sense of wonder I had when I first laid eyes on Superman.

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