story by Melanie Falina
photo by Soren McCarty / www.musicimagery.com
Few people conjure such extreme ambivalence in others as Gene Simmons.
He's an icon of both sex and wealth, as if he's the love child of
Donald Trump and Ron Jeremy - but cooler due to that whole face-painting
rock and roll gig. He's a marketing genius, an axe-slinging, tongue-wagging,
eloquently spoken musical hero. And aside from the millions of worldwide
fans known as the Kiss Army, who have amassed for more than three
decades, there are others as vehemently cynical of Simmons' wide-ranging
capitalistic endeavors. One must admit though, saying that Gene Simmons
has got staying power is the understatement of the century, and for
those who do like and do purchase the Kiss shirts, Kiss toys, Kiss
wine, and Kiss condoms - they wouldn't have it any other way.
While currently on tour with Kiss, the legendary rock band that has
bypassed the 80 million mark in album sales, co-founder Simmons also
has, as always, a few new tricks up his sleeve - one of which is the
recent release of his second solo album, Asshole. A surprisingly diverse
effort that includes collaborations with artists like Bob Dylan, Dave
Navarro and Frank Zappa, it spans musical genres, flirting with not
only rock music but also thrash, pop, country, and neo-psychedelia.
"That's what a solo record is for," explains Simmons in
an earnest conversation with Chicago Innerview. "You know when
you're in a band - or when you're marching in a marching band, for
instance, you have to have the cadence and rhythm of a group of people
because you're dealing with other people, it's this sort of group
philosophy, group identity. And then on your own, you can march to
the beat of your own drummer, if you get my inference."
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SIMMONS' INNER VIEW
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"Aerosmith and Kiss toured together
last year and the one thing that Steven [Tyler] kept telling
me, almost every night, is, 'Your fans are out of their
minds!' And it's not the first time I've heard it."
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The joint projects with Zappa and Dylan prove to be just as exciting
to Simmons as they are to his listeners. "The idea of writing
with Frank [Zappa] happened because Frank invited me over to his house
before he passed away. We got along well."
"Black Tongue," the end product of Simmons and Zappa's
association, was created around some vocals and guitar riffs recorded
by Zappa before his death, and features the whole Zappa clan chiming
in on backing vocals. "It's the first time the entire Zappa family
appears on a song together anywhere," Simmons emphasizes.
"And the Bob Dylan [co-penned song, 'Waiting For The Morning
Light'] was just a dream. You know I grew up being influenced by perhaps
the best lyricist of modern pop music, and we all have our heroes.
Who doesn't want to hang out with Superman?"
Simmons' first solo record was a self-titled album released back in
1978, when each of the original members of Kiss put out their own
solo albums. The lengthy gap between solo projects, however, is due
to the fact that Simmons is probably one of the most enterprising
human beings of modern times.
"I have a job, in fact, I have a few jobs. I had Simmons Records,
which is now back in business again, produced 10 or more other bands
and other recording artists including Liza Minnelli. Acted in movies,
wrote books, lectured, all kinds of wacky stuff, and continue to be
in Kiss and tour all the time and make records. When the planets align
you just sort of wake up one day and say, 'You know, it's time to
do a solo record.'
"I have an awful lot of material that has never seen the light
of day and I intend to bring it out. Within a year there will be a
Gene Simmons box set called 100 and it's 100 Gene songs. Over the
years when I write for Kiss, I write three or four times as what winds
up on the record and the songs that don't [get chosen for the album]
used to sit in a vault."
In fact, a couple of the songs that did make it onto Asshole were
written as long ago as the late '70s, but once the dust was blown
off and the songs were newly recorded, there were no questions as
to their newfangled freshness.
"That's a good sign, that's a sign that maybe the stuff works
because when you really think about it, not all material stands the
test of time. You know the doo-wop songs don't work today. It's not
true that all things come back - the idea about cycles. The high end
stuff keeps moving."
An example of which is the ballad "Now That You're Gone,"
where the fire-breathing Simmons shows a rare tender side written
about an emotional time in his past.
"That was written back in the '70s but I added a bridge: 'You
left us when I was much too young and I was your only son.' That was
written specifically about my father. [It's] difficult to really peel
back the armor and show the soft white underbelly. When I was about
seven years old, my father left us. But it's no different than most
people, most people have dysfunctional families and that's life. You
pick yourself up and you move on, but it doesn't mean the scars aren't
there."
And moving on is what Simmons does best. However, the release of
Asshole and the onset of Kiss' 2004 Rock The Nation tour has shaken
the hornet's nest of fans who have been long awaiting a new Kiss studio
album. The band's last studio album was Psycho Circus, released in
1998.
"Well, [singer/guitarist] Paul [Stanley] is going to be doing
his solo album right after the tour. And I'm sure we'll look at getting
into the studio together. You know, being 'America's gold record champions
of all time', there's nothing we have to prove to anybody. So we'll
do it when it feels right. In the meantime, playing live is an awful
lot of fun. We have more firepower up on that stage than most third
world countries - it doesn't get better."
The present tour, which consists of Simmons and other founding member
Stanley, also features guitarist Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer on drums.
"We're having a ball, it's just a bang-up hoot. It's Kiss reborn.
This is back again to being what a band should be, which is a straight
band. There's no complaining, there's no moaning, everybody shows
up on time and there's no drugs or alcohol. And that's the best way
to be," says Simmons, who has never taken a drink of alcohol
or any drugs in his life.
"You know it's important to tip the hat to [founding members]
Ace [Frehley] and Peter [Criss] for helping to give the band life.
They were there at the onset and that's very important. But not every
member of the team should continue to play. Sometimes people have
to get off the court and sit on the sidelines, because the team is
there to win."
Though Frehley and Criss' careers in Kiss have been on revolving
door status for quite some time now, their replacement continues to
infuriate certain fans.
"If mom and dad have problems, the kids never understand. If
dad is a drunk and mom kicks him out of the house, mom sometimes gets
beaten up by the kids. 'How could you do that to dad?' And the fans,
you know there's a core five-percent, eight-percent, whatever the
number is, who feel the pain and can't understand why Ace and Peter
aren't in the band. But that's because they're not in the thick of
it. And you give people chances and more chances because you try to
hold the family together, and past a certain point it's better to
be apart. And it's better for Ace and Peter's health. They shouldn't
die on the road, they should be healthy and happy back home."
Another gripe among some fans is Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer's use
of the "Spaceman" and "Catman," the characters
that Frehley and Criss created for the makeup and costume onstage
theatrics.
"The fans who are negative about that still come to the shows.
Everybody's got something to say and that's what makes our relationship
with our fans the best anywhere. Aerosmith and Kiss toured together
last year and the one thing that Steven [Tyler] kept telling me, almost
every night, is, 'Your fans are out of their minds!' And it's not
the first time I've heard it. Every band knows that the judge and
jury are Kiss fans. They are not pushovers, you have to go out there
and work for them. And they let you know if they think you're doing
a good job. So part of being in Kiss is you actually have the best
fans in the world, but it also means that they're brutally honest.
And they'll tell you exactly how they feel. And I wouldn't have it
any other way."
The addition of Thayer and Singer has given Kiss the ability to perform
several songs on this new tour that haven't been done live for quite
some time.
"This band can do that material. This band has a lot more musical
muscle and that's one of the other advantages. We can just break into
- cold - any kind of material that we want. And everybody sings, everybody
plays in key, in pitch, in time. And the original line up almost never
did. We got by on adrenalin, a lot of material we simply couldn't
pull off on stage. And this is an awful lot of fun."
Kiss will play with Poison at the Tweeter Center July 9.