Kiss News

By Chris Macias

The musical trends have popped and fizzled over the past four decades, be it disco, grunge or nu-metal. But one thing�s basically remained the same: KISS comes to town with a slew of arena-rocking songs, and a whole lot of pyrotechnics get blown up in the process.

KISS is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its self-titled debut with a tour that includes Def Leppard, another band known for its multimillion-selling albums and epic choruses, as the opening act. The show brings its mix of stage blood and sing-alongs to �Rock and Roll All Nite� to the Sleep Train Amphitheatre on Thursday.

The story of KISS really begins 41 years ago, with the barely known band taking the stage at a Queens, N.Y., club called Popcorn, later known as Coventry. They didn�t have much in the way of fans or fire-breathing razzle-dazzle, but KISS was still on a mission.
By Chris Macias

The musical trends have popped and fizzled over the past four decades, be it disco, grunge or nu-metal. But one thing�s basically remained the same: KISS comes to town with a slew of arena-rocking songs, and a whole lot of pyrotechnics get blown up in the process.

KISS is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its self-titled debut with a tour that includes Def Leppard, another band known for its multimillion-selling albums and epic choruses, as the opening act. The show brings its mix of stage blood and sing-alongs to �Rock and Roll All Nite� to the Sleep Train Amphitheatre on Thursday.

The story of KISS really begins 41 years ago, with the barely known band taking the stage at a Queens, N.Y., club called Popcorn, later known as Coventry. They didn�t have much in the way of fans or fire-breathing razzle-dazzle, but KISS was still on a mission.

�What I remember about that first gig was that the commitment and conviction that the band had to itself,� said Paul Stanley, a co-founder of KISS, in a conference call to reporters. �The focus and the sense of what we are and what we represent has never changed. It didn�t matter whether we were playing for 20 people or 20,000 people, or almost 200,000 people. We are KISS, and we started building a legacy at that very first show.�

Fast forward those 40 years, and KISS can claim more than two dozen gold albums and tens of millions of albums sold in the United States. The band built a venerable KISS Army of fans that�s stuck with the group through its personnel shifts. Along with Stanley, KISS circa 2014 features fellow co-founder and resident blood-spitter Gene Simmons, plus Tommy Thayer playing the role of Ace Frehley on lead guitar. Eric Singer has held the drum chair since 2004, when he replaced Peter Criss.

But the big news coming out of the KISS camp this year was its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Leading up to the April ceremonies, the honor was bogged down with bad vibes, including infighting among the original KISS members that prevented a musical reunion from happening. Stanley had also criticized the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for inducting only its original members, not other musicians who later played with the band.

The ceremonies ended up being civil, with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine inducting KISS with an impassioned speech praising the band. The truth was, for all its record sales and Hall of Fame status, KISS was typically a punchline for music critics. KISS didn�t even get its first Rolling Stone cover until March of this year.

�KISS was never a critic�s band. KISS was a people�s band,� said Morello, in his induction speech.

Stanley says he�s left the Hall of Fame drama behind him.

�The Rock Hall was really not much more than a mosquito buzzing around my ear,� said Stanley. �Ultimately it was, and always will be, about the band, the music, and our fans. And no small organization with a big name can call the shots or decide what is or isn�t valid, or does or doesn�t belong.�

That means, it�s time to rock the platform boots and �Shout It Out Loud,� as their song goes. KISS will perform on a stage where the lighting rigs take the shape of a giant spider. The set list will span the band�s career, from such early classics as �Cold Gin� and �Black Diamond,� to select tracks from the 2000s. While KISS� bombastic stage show has been synonymous with the band, Stanley says all of that eye candy wouldn�t mean much without good songs.

�We are a rock band and have always been a rock band,� said Stanley. �Our roots are in bands that we loved and I saw growing up. We enhanced it with a great show. With the amount of albums we�ve sold, there were no smoke bombs or lasers inside those albums. The songs have stood the test of time.�

KISS will meanwhile continue with its various business enterprises. After all, Simmons is fond of saying, �KISS is a brand, not a band� � hence, the band�s merchandising empire that includes Pez dispensers in the members� likeness, action figures, Christmas ornaments and much more. Stanley and Simmons are also part owners of the Los Angeles Kiss, an arena football team.

But for now, the focus is on the concert trail and celebrating 40 years of rock �n� roll.

�The band is firing on all cylinders,� said Stanley. �Between that and the fact that we�re psyched up for this, and we�re celebrating our 40th year, we are out there to do a victory lap � although the race isn�t over yet. There will be more races. This is a celebration of everything we�ve done to today.�

By Alan Sculley for The Columbian

Earlier this year, Kiss received a big dose of vindication when the original edition of the band � singer/guitarist Paul Stanley, bassist/singer Gene Simmons, guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss � was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Today's edition of Kiss � with guitarist Tommy Thayer having replaced Frehley, and Eric Singer on drums � is following up that event with a tour that marks the 40th anniversary of the group.

Obviously, Kiss has had a major impact on rock and roll � in terms of albums sold (more than 100 million worldwide), with the group's ground-breaking pyrotechnic-filled stage shows, and with the makeup the original band members wore that gave a blueprint for any number of acts (Slipknot, Daft Punk, the Residents) to don masks or other costumes to create stage characters for their bands.

The makeup � with Stanley as the starchild, Simmons as the demon, Frehley as the space ace and Criss as the catman � remains perhaps Kiss' greatest signature, and it helped create a mystique that was a big part of the band's appeal during the 1970s and very early '80s � the group's peak years as hit-makers. Looking at the world today with pervasive social media, camera phones and the public's hunger to know as much as possible about its celebrities, Stanley doubts that Kiss could have kept the secrecy that came with the makeup and helped create a larger-than-life image for Kiss.
By Alan Sculley for The Columbian

Earlier this year, Kiss received a big dose of vindication when the original edition of the band � singer/guitarist Paul Stanley, bassist/singer Gene Simmons, guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss � was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Today's edition of Kiss � with guitarist Tommy Thayer having replaced Frehley, and Eric Singer on drums � is following up that event with a tour that marks the 40th anniversary of the group.

Obviously, Kiss has had a major impact on rock and roll � in terms of albums sold (more than 100 million worldwide), with the group's ground-breaking pyrotechnic-filled stage shows, and with the makeup the original band members wore that gave a blueprint for any number of acts (Slipknot, Daft Punk, the Residents) to don masks or other costumes to create stage characters for their bands.

The makeup � with Stanley as the starchild, Simmons as the demon, Frehley as the space ace and Criss as the catman � remains perhaps Kiss' greatest signature, and it helped create a mystique that was a big part of the band's appeal during the 1970s and very early '80s � the group's peak years as hit-makers. Looking at the world today with pervasive social media, camera phones and the public's hunger to know as much as possible about its celebrities, Stanley doubts that Kiss could have kept the secrecy that came with the makeup and helped create a larger-than-life image for Kiss.

"I think that certainly in all walks of life in terms of public figures, there is a certain mystique that is gone because everything is known," Stanley observed during a mid-June teleconference interview with a group of reporters. "I think mystique is healthy. And I think to glamorize and fantasize is a good thing. I'm not sure that Kiss could have accomplished what we did initially in this time because (in the 1970s and 1980s) we could make sure that photos weren't available and the paparazzi didn't have photos of us out of makeup. We could create this mystique, which was not unlike the mystique of Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s, which really was a romanticized version of reality. I'm a fan of it."

When the band came on the scene in 1973, music fans hadn't seen anything quite like Kiss. The group's first three studio albums sold modestly, but the group managed to launch the early versions of what would become a continually more extravagant live show. The commercial breakthrough came with the 1975 concert release, the double LP, "Alive." Featuring the hit "Rock and Roll All Nite," it opened the door to a string of hit studio albums that continued through 1979's "Dynasty."

Since then there have been albums that bombed ("Music From 'The Elder'"), others that have been hits ("Crazy Nights"), lineup changes, an unmasking that lasted from 1983 to 1996, a reunion of the original lineup and a return of the makeup and several recent arena-filling tours with the current lineup.

This set the stage for the band's induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and this summer's American leg of the 40th anniversary tour. When it was announced in December that Kiss had been voted in, it came with controversy, though. The hall insisted that only the original band would be inducted. Stanley and Simmons argued forcefully that other members of the band � including Thayer and Singer � should also be enshrined.

But the Hall stood firm and Stanley and Simmons protested by declining to perform with any version of Kiss at the induction ceremony. The four original members, though, did attend and took the stage to receive their Hall of Fame trophies. Stanley said he and Simmons wanted to make their appearance on behalf of the group's fans, who had long lobbied for the band's induction.

"It was vindicating in the sense that it was vindicating for the fans," Stanley said of being inducted. "This has been very important for them, and I wanted to share that moment. I wanted to raise my statue up in the air and say 'Yeah! We did it,' in spite of the people who clearly didn't want us in."

So with induction event in the rear view mirror, Stanley, Simmons, Thayer and Singer are doing what they consider far more important � playing live. This summer's 40th anniversary tour (with Def Leppard as the opener), Stanley promised, will more than live up to past live extravaganzas.

"I believe that this is the greatest and really the best stage that we've ever had," Stanley said. "We call it the Spider stage because the lights are actually in the shape of a spider and the legs are actually dangling down onto the stage and move. "The band is firing on all cylinders, so between that and the fact that we're psyched up for this and we're celebrating our 40th year, we're out there to do a victory lap, although the race isn't over yet," he said. "There will be more races. But this is a celebration of everything we've done until today."