On the eve of his band’s first New Zealand gig in seven years, Gene Simmons doesn’t want to talk about music. Not really. He’d rather focus on his two favourite subjects: himself and money. Really, rock’n’roll was merely a way to make a star of the former and a mountain of the latter.
Not that I’m complaining. What better way to spend a fine spring afternoon than getting an economics lesson from this self-styled “God Of Thunder”, best known as the blood-spitting, tongue-waggling bass player from Kiss.
“Hey, what can I say?” drawls Simmons, his accent as New York as a lox bagel, the voice deep as the Mariana Trench.
“I’m rich, and it’s great! People say I’m a ruthless businessman, but in reality, capitalism is very good for the world. Even the most selfish rich asshole still creates jobs when he buys the private jet or builds a million square foot house. Capitalism benefits everybody, because that money gets spread around.