Christian McPhate | Observer
Kiss Destroyer, Texas’ premiere Kiss tribute band, has been performing across North Texas for more than a decade. When vocalist Robby Wayne (Paul Stanley), guitarist Bob Thomas (Ace Frehley), bassist Steve Cleere (Gene Simmons) and drummer Dave Bower (Peter Criss), took the stage at Lola’s Trailer Park in Fort Worth Saturday night, they planned to ignite it with rock ‘n’ roll in the name of a good cause, raising money for Hurricane Harvey victims.
They just weren’t expecting the fire to literally ignite their bassist during Saturday’s Blizzfest when, during the song “Firehouse,” Cleere blew a mouthful of Rum 151 at a torch he held in his right hand. As he lifted the torch in the air, he went a little higher than the 45 degree angle he normally aims for and blew. Then a gust of wind hit as a cloud of fire ignited in front of him.
The flames exploded on Cleere’s right shoulder when he dropped the torch to hit the next note on his bass. It spread like wildfire over his chest and toward his black-and-white painted face and and black wig.
“I have caught my hand on fire a number of times,” he says. “But it was the first time that it got on my chest and hair.”
After he put the flames out, Cleere told the crowd, “That’s my first time ever to catch on fire in 14 years.”
Cleere wasn’t injured.
“He wasn’t burned,” Thomas says, “but we could smell burning hair for a couple of songs.”
Thomas says their fan base has been waiting for something like this to happen. It’s happened to Simmons on several occasions over the years. The first time occurred on Dec. 31, 1973, when he debuted his fire-breathing antics. A roadie with a wet towel saved him.
Cleere has been blowing fire onstage since the tribute band first formed in the early 2000s. According to Cleere, when the band got together its members, who are now in their 40s, were lifelong Kiss fans who simply wanted to recreate some of the Kiss magic onstage. He figured playing what he calls “Champagne gigs” would be a way to earn more money.
