It starts getting real around the 8:24 mark….
Category Archives: KISS News
Decibel Geek episode 119 – Gary Corbett part 1
Chris
Gary Corbett may not be a household name along the lines of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tom Keifer of Cinderella, or Cyndi Lauper but he’s worked closely with all of them. In part 1 of this long-form discussion, Gary shares his experiences in the music business working with Cinderella and KISS.
The discussion opens with Chris telling Gary about seeing, or more appropriately hearing, him perform with KISS in Nashville on the Hot in the Shade tour. Gary goes on to share how he wound up relocating to Nashville from New York years ago and also talks about the Scrap Metal project that he’s been part of with also-Nashville-resident Mark Slaughter, Scrap Metal.
We then discuss the announcement of KISS’ upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Gary’s thoughts on who still deserves to be in the museum.
Gary shares the story of how he was brought into the KISS fold during pre-production for the ‘Crazy Nights’ album. He was then brought in to tour for the ‘Crazy Nights’ tour and he recounts the struggles the band went through on the road due to low ticket sales in the face of dismal returns on the album.
Soundcheck for KISS is a time when the band members can cut loose away from the audience while still being on stage. Unfortunately for Gary, his first tour with the band didn’t provide a fun atmosphere in which to soundcheck due to Gene Simmons razzing the keyboard player in a particular way.
Podcast Rock City – Who should induct KISS into the RRHOF?
Joe Polo
KISS for John Varvatos
LA KISS Arena Football team plans Saturday open tryouts at Santa Ana College
SANTA ANA – LA KISS will hold open tryouts Saturday at Santa Ana College, with the Arena Football League team hoping to sign five players for its inaugural training camp, coach Bob McMillen said.
The tryout will include the 40-yard dash, a short shuttle run, long jump, medicine ball toss, the “L drill,” where players run around cones shaped like an L, and positional drills, McMillen said.
The registration fee for the tryouts is $75 in advance and $100 on Saturday. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. and tryouts at 9 a.m. More information about the tryouts is available by calling (714) 462-KISS.
During his three seasons as coach of the AFL’s Chicago Rush, McMillen conducted open tryouts he said attracted players who “hadn’t played in a few years that were still hungry to try to get an opportunity to play professional football.”
“We were able to find a few players that helped our football team,” McMillen said.
Gene on Good Day LA
Paul and Gene talk Football and Hockey on Fox Sports
Unreleased Psycho Circus songs surface – I Wanna Rule the World and Body and Soul
Alan Mooney
Krazy Knights vid cast – You Wanted the Best part 2
‘I spent £25,000 on my Kiss obsession – after they helped me come to terms with life as a dwarf’
A Kiss fan has spent £25,000 on the band’s merchandise and following his favourite band all over the world – and admits his obsession has cost him a few girlfriends.
But devotee Dan Griffiths, who is a dwarf, said the band “who look like freaks” helped him come to terms with who he is.
Having battled with negative feelings about his height, Dan from Aberystwyth credits the American rock band with giving him confidence during his teens.
Now aged 45, Dan, who has been to 48 of the band’s gigs, and met his heroes on numerous occasions, has a tattoo which covers his entire back with the faces of each band member, and the Kiss logo complete with lightning bolt in the middle.
“I have tried to get their autographs tattooed as well but, even signed with permanent marker, they have never lasted long enough for me to have a tattoo session,” he said.
KISS Hall of Fame show won’t include original members
KISS frontman Paul Stanley has wrecked fans’ dreams of watching the original members of the group performing together when they are inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in April, insisting a reunion “seems unlikely”.
The colorful rockers will join Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens and Nirvana, among others, in the museum’s class of 2014 and Stanley insists they will perform at the ceremony – but it won’t be an original line-up reunion.
The singer made his feelings clear after a fan asked him about the possibility of including Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in his and bassist Gene Simmons Hall of Fame plans.
Stanley initially wrote, “No way”, and then added, “Seems unlikely”.
And that paves the way for another Hall of Fame feud – because guitarist Frehley is keen to perform and replace current KISS star Tommy Thayer onstage.
Frehley has said, “You can’t have me and Tommy both in makeup… I don’t have a problem with Tommy and (current drummer) Eric (Singer) being there out of make-up if I’m in make-up, because they’re a big part of KISS today. (But) they had nothing to do with the beginning of KISS, or the designs or the costumes or the make-up… This is about the celebration of KISS and how it all began and started, and it should be honoring the four original members.”
Bruce Kulick marries!
Ex-KISS Guitarist Bruce Kulick Gets Married
Image courtesy of Courtesy of Bruce Kulick (via ABC News Radio)
Congratulations to former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick , who married his fiancée, Lisa Lane , in Los Angeles on Friday. In a message posted Sunday on the 60-year-old rocker’s official Facebook page, Kulick wrote, “It was a magical day, with many wonderful memories to share. Off for my Honeymoon, and some great photos I will be sharing soon.”
Attached to the note was a photo of Bruce’s and his new bride’s hands — sporting their wedding rings, of course. Kulick also posted another pic showing his wife and him at the reception, raising a glass of wine sitting at their “sweetheart table.”
Kulick’s ex-KISS band mates Paul Stanley , Gene Simmons and Eric Singer all attended the nuptials, and each musician commented on the event in separate online posts.
Stanley took to his Twitter account on Friday to tweet , “My congrats to you and wishing you a beautiful life together!” along with an apparent snapshot of the wedding program. Paul alsoposted a “selfie” of him and his wife, Erin , at the reception.
Simmons also sent out some Twitter messages on Bruce’s wedding day, including one that read , “All the very best to Bruce Kulick and his lovely bride Lisa on their wedding day. A great party.”
Lastly, Singer uploaded a photo to his official website that shows him signing Bruce and Lisa’s marriage certificate as the happy couple look on.
Kulick was a member of KISS from 1984 to 1996. He joined Grand Funk Railroad in 2001.
KISS fan at Polar Bear Dip for charity
Joel Eastwood | The Star
Tom Linhares, in makeup as the Gene Simmons’ ‘Demon’ persona from the band KISS, takes to the waters of Lake Ontario for the 29th anniversary of the Courage Polar Bear Dip for World Vision at Coronation Park in Oakville.
KISS is playing Dodger Stadium NHL game because Gene Simmons invented ice
Greg Wyshynski | Yahoo Sports
When NHL COO John Collins told me about the Dodger Stadium ticket sales for the Los Angeles Kings andAnaheim Ducks – or lack thereof – he said this was going to be a big week in terms of marketing the game. Not only would the Winter Classic put the spotlight on outdoor NHL games, but “the musical act” for the game would be revealed as well.
Yes, the face-painted senior citizens have been revealed as the musical act for the Jan. 25 game, and it’s awesome. You know it’s awesome. You’re going to watch 20 minutes of the Ducks and Kings trying to puck-handle on soft ice, and then you’re going to watch the soft belly of Gene Simmons behind a giant bass as Paul Stanley screeches “Rock and Roll All Night” for the 100,000th time and flames shoot off and everybody parties ev-uh-ree-day.
“Los Angeles is the premier hub for sports and entertainment in this country and we are honored to be part of an event that fuses both by rocking the first-ever outdoor NHL game in LA,” said Gene Simmons. “Fans can expect a spectacle at Dodger Stadium, similar to the one we will be creating at the Honda Center this season with our new Arena Football team, LA KISS.”
“Our goal with the NHL Stadium Series games is to give our fans an unforgettable experience,” said NHL Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer Brian Jennings. “Having KISS headline our entertainment lineup is the perfect way to make our celebration of hockey in Southern California even bigger and more memorable.”
Gene Simmons is a puckhead, having attended Kings games for years. He also completely blew this surprise on Twitter six days ago, before deleting it.
I love Gene Simmons, by the way, because no man has ever been this shameless in inventing new ways to market his product – see KISS Coffin, KISS condoms and KISS checkers set. The NHL wishes it had an ounce of this man’s hubris; they’d be selling “Winter Classic Snow” in little logo-covered vials if it did.
‘We couldn’t be here today with them’: Paul Stanley brushes aside larger Kiss reunion
Kiss appears set for some sort of appearance featuring its original lineup as part of this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. But Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons aren’t considering any larger-scale reunion.
“It’s like you have great memories of former girlfriends, or whatever,” Stanley says in this Artisan News clip, “but it doesn’t mean you want to spend time with them.”
Stanley and Simmons formed Kiss in 1973 with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Frehley was in the group through 1982, and then again from 1996–2002. Criss only lasted through 1980, but has made two returns — from 1996–2001 and then from 2002–04.
“The trouble with getting together with certain people is that you remember why you got separated,” Stanley adds. “We wouldn’t be here today without them, and we couldn’t be here today with them.”
Kiss has moved on with current members Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. Together, the group issued its 20th studio album in 2012, called Monster.
“That was then, this is now,” Simmons adds. “I would not be up on stage with anybody else except these three guys.”
Krazy Knights – Year in review
Krazy Knights
Bruce Kulick wishes everyone a happy New Year
“Everyone have a wonderful New Year! Be well, be happy, enjoy! Here’s to an amazing 2014!!!”
Paul Stanley Discusses His Struggle With Deafness In Memoir
Dave Lifton | Ultimate Classic Rock
Paul Kane
Given the rock n’ roll lifestyle he’s led, we can expect a lot of juicy gossip in Paul Stanley’s upcomingautobiography. But in a new interview, the Kiss singer says that, in the book, he also discusses something a lot more serious, his lifelong struggle with microtia and partial deafness.
“Y’know, my book is about my life starting from the very beginning and certainly a certain amount of adversity and having a birth defect and being deaf on one side and the family that I came from,” he toldPulse of Radio. “Certainly people have had more adversity in their lives — and some less — but I, I would think some people would get a certain amount of inspiration and a sense that positivity and belief in yourself will ultimately lead you to a great place.”
Microtia is a congenital disease where the external ear is underdeveloped. Stanley suffers from Grade III microtia, which has rendered him deaf in the right ear. It is believed to occur in one out of every 8,000 – 10,000 births.
Although it’s not something he discusses often, Stanley hasn’t kept this a secret. He is an honorary director of AboutFace, a Canadian organization devoted to people with facial differences, and has appeared at many of their fundraising efforts over the years.
Stanley’s memoir, ‘Face the Music: A Life Exposed,’ will be published April 22, 2014.
Kiss Plot Major Vinyl Reissue Series
Matthew Wilkening | Ultimate Classic Rock
Kiss will re-issue nine of their old albums on vinyl in March of 2014, and also release their 1998 effort ‘Psycho Circus‘ on the format for the very first time.
Among the nine titles returning to record store shelves on March 18 are the band’s self-titled debut and sophomore ‘Hotter Than Hell’ albums (both from 1974) as well as their double-live 1975 breakthrough album ‘Alive!‘ — which was already reissued back in 2008. Also arriving are 1976′s ‘Destroyer,’ 1979′s ‘Dynasty,’ 1980′s ‘Unmasked,’ 1983′s ‘Lick it Up,’ 1984′s ‘Animalize’ and 1992′s ‘Revenge.’ No further details about bonus tracks or packaging features have been released so far, although the albums are available for pre-order on Amazon.
you can find a pattern somewhere in those choices, be sure and let us know; to our eyes this looks like a roughly equal blend of properly recognized classics and acknowledged misfires. There’s also some very curious omissions — hopefully there’s a second wave to follow, with ‘Dressed to Kill, ‘Love Gun,’ ‘Creatures of the Night‘ and so on. And are we the only ones who’d like a non-bootleg copy of ‘Carnival of Souls‘ for our collections?
One thing you can’t question is the timing of this reissue campaign. These records will be out about a month before the group is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. Which is also the same month frontman Paul Stanley‘s autobiography is released.
Boy, it’s almost like they knew it was gonna happen…