The Gibson Marauder is back – well, kind of, but not really. The cult classic singlecut electric guitar, played by the likes of KISS’s Paul Stanley and Adam Jones of Tool, has been given a thorough remix to be reborn anew as the Les Paul Music City Special – a limited edition model celebrating 50 years of Gibson in Nashville.

Yeah, that shape is familiar. It’s a single-cut that’s far removed from the Les Paul template, with contouring on the body’s top, a double (or extended) pickguard which, like Fender, mounts the controls on the pickguard. We have the Flying V-style 3-x-3 headstock, too.

But unlike the Marauder, which was something of a ‘70s mayfly, produced between ’74 and ’79, and diverted from the Gibson script to offer players a bolt-on build, the Les Paul Music City Special feels more on-brand, offering players a glued-in SlimTaper neck, and a more familiar dual-humbucker electric guitar pickup configuration.

Mat Koehler, Gibson’s vice president of product, described the Les Paul Music City Special is a love-letter to Nashville, “a tribute to the spirit of creativity and individuality that defines this city”.

“It draws on everything we’ve learned since opening our Gibson USA craftory and channels it into something new and inspiring to play,” says Koehler.

Read more!

It seems like quotes from Kiss‘ Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons that put Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in a positive light are few and far between nowadays. Perhaps the greatest example of his was when Stanley said during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, “If you saw people on stage who looked like Kiss but sounded like that, maybe we should be called Piss.”

However, there is no denying the significant contributions from Frehley and Criss in the ’70s, which many would agree was Kiss’ peak period. After all, it was the Criss-sung hit “Beth” that was a massive hit, and Frehley’s 1978 solo album is widely considered the best of all four members.

But by the close of 1982, both Frehley and Criss had exited the group, resulting in Simmons and Stanely being the only constant original members spotted in the group from their formation to what was billed as their last-ever performance in 2023.

During an interview with Billy Corgan on The Magnificent Others, Stanley offered rare praise for his former band mates’ early contributions and even admitted being recently impressed by vintage footage.

Read more!

The next evolution in collectible figures has begun – Mego Minix Figures!  These ultra-cool, collectible vinyl figures stand 5 inches tall and are packed with hyper stylized character specific detail and sculpting!  Mego Minx Figures will bring all your favorite Pop Culture characters and Sports personalities to life!  “They’ll drive us wild, we’ll drive you crazy …” The hottest band in the world are now available as Minix figures! – Collect them all – build your KISS Mego Minix Figures collection!  “They’re lookin’ fancy and you’ll like their style!”

• Highly collectible
• Hyper stylized caricature
• Character specific detail and sculpting
• Vinyl figure approximately 5-inches tall

Order now at KISSArmyWarehouse.com!

Ace Frehley didn’t rock and roll all night on Friday, with the former Kiss guitarist’s show at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille in Warrendale ending shortly before 11 p.m.

But “The Spaceman” showed why countless guitar players derived inspiration from his Kiss heyday, as he and his band took a dive into Kiss classics as well as a few from his solo career.

Frehley played in Kiss from 1973-1982 and rejoined from 1996-2002, with the band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

The 74-year-old hit the stage decked out in sunglasses, which stayed on all night, and a black T-shirt and coat — he’d have several wardrobe changes including Hello Kitty shirt and leopard print shirts, while the rest of the band wore matching bedazzled shirts with all four last names on the front.

Frehley opened with the first Kiss song he sang himself, “Shock Me,” as he flicked guitar picks and strummed his Les Paul guitar. The 1974 classic “Deuce” gave Frehley the chance to solo twice before he, bassist Ryan Cook and rhythm guitarist Jeremy Asbrock convened closely at center stage for the conclusion.

For all the shows Frehley’s done in his career, forgive him if he wasn’t 100% sure of where he thought the show was supposed to be.

“I thought we were in Philly. I don’t know,” Frehley said. “Wherever we are, we’re happy to be here. You guys ready to rock?”

Read more!

Kiss‘ Gene Simmons has never been ashamed to voice his love for green stuff—no, not marijuana, but cold, hard cash. In a 2017 interview with CNBC, he declared, “Money absolutely buys happiness” and “Money is the fuel of life. Without money, you’re going nowhere.”

However, the other long-time leader of the band, Paul Stanley, does not exactly seem to share his bandmates’ love of money. Or, at the very least, admits it was not what initially fueled his desire to rock and roll all night and party every day.

During an interview with The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan, Stanley recalled his early musical inspiration. And it was not money-based.

“We learned through mistakes and nobody has to take up a collection for us,” Stanley said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “Our rent is well paid. But you know, the idea of being like, money hungry, or anything like [that], it’s not the case. I’ve always done this, and we’ve always done this, ultimately, truly because of the joy it gives us.”

Kiss’ Starchild then listed several concerts he was lucky to have witnessed first-hand, which inspired him to write music and perform.

“I was so fortunate. I grew up in an era that took us into the next era, but I grew up seeing Jimi Hendrix play for a couple of thousand people, Led Zeppelin, The Who, with Buddy Guy opening in ’69, Humble Pie, Derek and the Dominoes, all these bands. That’s what I love, and that’s what I wanted to be.”

“I never started doing this with the intention, ‘I’m going to be a millionaire,'” Stanley continued. “Back then, a millionaire was like, the Monopoly man. Y’know, ‘Whoa! That’s incredible.’ But it was never about that. It was about — I want to be that guy, I want to be up there. Yeah, I want to be Steve Marriott. I want to preach. I want to be up there preaching rock and roll.”

Read more!

A GREAT ITEM FOR YOUNG AND THE YOUNG AT HEART: Nice design and sturdy construction is was you’ll get with this KISS tin storage box. Beefy handle and latches with a fully embossed front cover.

Order now at KISSArmyWarehouse.com!

Another sad loss. Take a look back when KISS met Hulk Hogan at WCW in 1999.

For an era of music that my parents’ friends are keen to tell me was the greatest of all time, I can’t help but wonder why there were so many theatrics. As good as the music was, classic rock in the 1970s and 1980s was littered with the sort of flamboyance that usually compensates for the lack of something. I mean, why else would Kiss feel the need to smear pancake makeup on their faces for every show?

Of course, this is a slightly reductive take that overlooks the simple idea of showmanship, and, during that era, bands and artists were stretching the realms of what was acceptable. So naturally, make-up-fuelled alter egos were a by-product of that.

In fairness to Kiss, while their music didn’t necessarily innovate, their shows did, being the first real band to introduce pyrotechnics to the stage. With music becoming an increasingly lucrative art form and the appetite for live shows at an all-time high, the band realised their budget could alter what was considered normal and deliver something that engaged beyond the music.

Naturally, as innovators in that field, they were the first to realise when it was taken too far. And during one fateful gig, they met their limit. “We had the candelabra on stage,” Gene Simmons tentatively explained, before descending into quite a frightening story.

“Now, somebody thought to get flash paper and fill it with gunpowder and just kind of scrunch it up. I would sort of light it while Paul sang, ‘Do you feel alright’, and throw it over the heads of the audience, and it would explode over their heads and scare them. In those days, fire marshals didn’t know anything. It’s like you could do all kinds of wild and unsafe stuff.”

Rock and roll, eh? Thriving in the days before health and safety had a department and relishing in the mischievous madness of fire. But with all people who play with fire, it’s only a matter of time before something, or someone, gets burned. Luckily, but rather worryingly for Kiss, it wasn’t any of the band.

“I didn’t throw it well. Instead of throwing it above the heads of the audience, this poor guy must’ve been standing on his seat, so he was taller than the other guys standing on the ground. I remember hitting this guy straight in the face. You ever see in those freak houses where you hit the duck and it goes right back down? That’s what it looked like. The thing exploded in front of the guy, and he went down.”

Read more!

Ozzy Osbourne, who was born John Michael Osbourne on Dec. 3, 1948, and later earned the nickname “The Prince of Darkness” from his shadowy heavy metal persona, died Tuesday, July 22, after battling a number of health issues over the years. He was 76.

The Black Sabbath frontman was known as much for his indelible mark on the music industry as he was for his larger-than-life personality, be it on stage or in front of a camera while filming the massively successful reality show, “The Osbournes.”

Two weeks before his death, Ozzy reunited with Black Sabbath to perform at a star-studded farewell show in England, an appropriately dark and electric send-off for one of rock’s greatest legends.

Read more!

Kiss has never featured an aquatic figure, a dolphin or shark or whatever. But there is still time.

Some pre-voyage additions have been announced for “Kiss Kruise: Landlocked in Vegas” at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas from Nov. 14 to 16.

Former Kiss band member Bruce Kulick, Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini will perform the best of Ratt. New to the lineup are Sebastian Bach (who is a tireless vocalist, I tell ya) Quiet Riot, Black ‘N Blue, Kuarantine, Kiss tribute bands Mr. Speed and Kiss Nation, School of Rock, comedian Craig Gass and DJ Noiz.

An acoustic Kiss “Kick-Off” set opens the music on Nov. 14. Q&A sessions with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer and the band’s longtime manager Doc McGhee, are set. Other panelists include legendary Kiss producer Bob Ezrin; Lynn Goldsmith, famed KISS photographer; and Kiss Army founders Bill Starkey and Jay Evans.

There is also a panel dubbed “The Future of Kiss,” in which fans get a sneak peek on all that is ahead for the band. I’ll host that one. The future of Kiss, fan events, merch and remastered music. Panel adjourned, rock on.

Read more!

“You can go and see Kiss, and you can rock ‘n’ roll all the way down to the pit!” That was Bob Dylan’s declaration in 1979 when he was in the tightest grip of his spiritual phase. The artist had found God, or was claiming God found him and turned him against Gene Simmons.

“Jesus did appear to me as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,” Dylan said of this shift in himself, “There was a presence in the room that couldn’t have been anybody but Jesus”.

This was the start of his late 1970s spiritual phase. For an artist who has been through many eras and iterations, a new chapter came as a surprise to no one. But for Dylan to become so staunchly Christian, it was a peculiar new moment in his life, and then for him to start turning on rock acts? That seemed downright odd.

As his own albums began pivoting towards Christian or worship music, his thoughts on the whole industry became stricter and stricter. “If you want rock ‘n’ roll, you go down and rock ‘n’ roll,” he said, basically declaring the form sinful and dooming its fans to hell with Kiss standing in as the ultimate devils in disguise.

But the connection between Dylan and Simmons is way more complex than that. In the years before this godly phase, the folk star had been openly inspired by Kiss. In the mid-1970s, Dylan’s touring violinist Scarlet Rivera was dating Simmons, so he caught one of the band’s shows with her. After that, he was so transfixed by the band’s makeup that it seemed to directly inspire his own white face paint during the Rolling Thunder Revue tour.

Simmons, too, had a deep respect and admiration for Dylan, enduring even when the musician basically called him Lucifer. “Next to Zappa, one of the other pivotal people for me is Bob Dylan,” the rocker said in 2010. He bestowed high praise on him, stating, “There’s certainly no greater lyricist in pop culture. But Dylan is classic poetry to me”.

Read more!

Ghost’s Tobias Forge has hit back at Gene Simmons’ assertion that “rock is dead”, arguing that new bands will continue to rise to the top.

The KISS bassist and singer has spoken multiple times in recent years about his belief that the genre is no longer producing major new artists, dating back to comments in 2014 in which he accused record labels of failing to adequately support rock musicians.

In 2021, he returned to the topic, saying that contemporary artists may be popular, but that does not mean they are “iconic”, saying new bands “haven’t taken the time to create glamour, excitement and epic stuff”.

Simmons also pointed his finger at the younger generation of music fans, accusing them of “killing the thing that you love”, despite appearing to be more critical of the streaming model and its low pay for artists.

Read more!

Signed by Dale Torborg at the Square Circle Expo 2023 in Indianapolis, IN.  Signed on the clamshell in yellow paint pen.  This is special because he signed his name and “The Demon”.  He usually only signs The Demon.  Includes a piece of ring worn costume that is also signed.  The ring worn costume is part of the pants that were recovered by the Demon in his match versus Norman Smiley in 2000 on WCW Thunder and Dale wore in several WCW matches.  Dale signed this in his hotel room.  See photo of him signing another item from the same signing.  Dale was the Demon wrestler in WCW. Includes or Certificate of Authenticity.  Includes FREE bonus Dale Torborg Burnt guitar pick!

Order now at KISSArmyWarehouse.com!