KISS Four Faces Blacklight Poster – 23″ x 35″ Brand new!
Order now at KISSArmyWarehouse.com!
Category Archives: KISS News
KISS’ Gene Simmons reveals moment “Rock and Roll All Nite” was born and reflects on being a “chameleon”
For more than half a century, KISS’ Gene Simmons has been one of the most recognizable figures of rock and roll. Simmons rose to stardom as the “demonic” bassist and co-lead singer of the rock band formed in New York City in 1973.
“All my life I’ve been a chameleon. Everything is a costume,” Simmons said in an interview for “CBS Mornings” that aired on Wednesday.
But his devilish make-up and theatrical persona are a stark contrast to his very humble upbringing as the son of an immigrant single mother. Long before he became a KISS icon, he was known simply as Chaim Witz, meaning “life” in Hebrew.
You want to be in a rock band?” Simmons recalled his mother asking. “That’s not going to fly, babe.”
Before moving to New York at age 8, Simmons was born in Israel – a child of Jewish refugees from Hungary. His mother, Flora Klein, survived the Holocaust.
“After the horrific unimaginable life my mother went through where she saw her entire family, our family, wiped out in front of her face, every decision I was going to make I thought about my mother first,” Simmons said.
Simmons vowed to be there for his mother every step of the way, reminding himself, “Don’t break your mother’s heart. Don’t do it.”
He said it was an observation his mother made that inspired him to be a musician. While watching The Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” one night, Simmons recalled his mother coming in and commenting in Hungarian.
“I’ll never forget this…she said something like, in Hungarian, ‘They’re really weird people.’ And at that point, I thought they’re cool,” Simmons said.
The birth of “Rock and Roll All Nite”
After making some money from singing background for other artists at New York City’s Electric Lady Studios, Simmons and his pal Paul Stanley went on to form the legendary band KISS in their early 20s.
Eddie Kramer, who worked with The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, agreed to produce and engineer their first demo. But they struggled in obscurity until a challenge from their label’s president led to one of the most famous lines in rock history.
While buying frozen hot dogs and a can of beans in San Francisco, Simmons recalls Stanley turning to him and humming some of the lyrics to the song that would later become the iconic 1975 hit “Rock and Roll All Nite.”
“We were in San Francisco, we went downstairs to buy frozen hotdogs and a can of beans. And Paul said, what do you think of this?”
“That’s really good. What do you got? He goes, ‘That’s all I’ve got,'” said Simmons after Stanley sang the chorus. They eventually put more verses together.
Kiss plays on the Italian TV show Discoring 1982
KISS M&Ms Display Case with Original Box and Bags of M&Ms
Very hard to find M&Ms Walmart display in original box with candy still inside! Will be boxed in another box with shipping cold packs. Don’t miss out on this hard to find item. See photos for condition looks close to mint condition.
KISS fan who paid $12,495 to be Gene Simmons’ roadie: ‘I’m going to die happy’
A KISS fan who paid a whopping $12,495 (£9,500) to be Gene Simmons’ roadie for the day insists he has zero regrets and he’ll “die happy”.
Back in March, The Demon hit international headlines when he offered fans the ‘Ultimate Gene Simmons Experience’ of being his personal assistant and roadie for the day on his North American tour.
As well as helping Simmons load in and set up at the venue, the $12,495 package also includes a plus one, a KISS rehearsal used bass guitar personally signed by Simmons, a signed setlist, an exclusive crew member T-shirt, hat and VIP laminate, plus a meal with Simmons.
Retired corrections sergeant Dwayne Rosado paid for the experience at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey on Monday 5th May, and he also brought along his son Zach.
Rosado, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 18 months ago, believes the roadie experience was “absolutely” worth the hefty price tag.
“You only live once, and I want to experience life,” he enthused to the New York Times. “I’m not going to die with a lot of money. I’m going to die happy.”
KISS – Destroyer Tour | Munich, DE (June 3rd, 1976) – 3 Szene Musik
KISS EXPO Promotion 2013 on FOX59 in Indianapolis Interview with Gene Simmons and Eric Singer
The Kiss song Gene Simmons regrets: “Do we really wanna play that?”
With their makeup and outfits, Kiss have always been a theatrical rock band. When they began in the early 1970s, they were something new and bold. They were leading the way for heavier rock, setting themselves apart from the classic rock and roll crowd. But as time went on, and as is always the case for pioneers, the rest of the world caught up, and soon, the band had regrets.
Regret is a harsh word, though. For a band like Kiss, you’d hope that they don’t have many, given the scale of success they’ve hit. They were a group that levelled everything up, daring other acts to be bolder, be more maximalist and be more out there, both in terms of their live shows and staging.
But a pioneer can’t be a pioneer for long. As is always the case for artists forging a new path, others will soon start walking it, and people will soon walk steps ahead. Kiss definitely felt that, not so much in terms of their unrivalled showmanship but simply in the fact that while they opened the door to heavier rock, more modern acts absolutely kicked it down.
All of this comes back to one song, and one of the band’s biggest hits – ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’. Gene Simmons can still recall the exact moment when Paul Stanley first brought the track to the band, so much so that he gave Howard Stern a playback of the exact conversation.
“So he walks in, ‘got an idea for you’, ‘what’s it called?’, ‘I Was Made For Loving You’, ‘Ah that’s great’”, Simmons remembered. For the next part, for a truly immersive effect, let’s lay this out like a script as the bassist gave a line-by-line rundown of the moment the track was introduced.
“‘What’s the first line?’” Simmons began, and the rest went like this:
“‘Tonight’
‘What’s the second line?’
‘I wanna give it all to you.’
‘Yeah, I know what it is, that’s cool.’
‘In the darkness.’
‘In the darkness? Yeah, that rocks’
‘Something I wanna do’
‘That’s really cool! What’s my part?’”
Bruce Kulick Opens Up on Recording First Full Album With Kiss, Reveals What Gene and Paul Were Like
1984 and 1985 must have been an utter whirlwind for Bruce Kulick. From getting an invite to provide some “ghost guitar” on Kiss‘ “Animalize” album, to being asked to temporarily fill in for Mark St. John, and ultimately being invited to join the band full-time, is the stuff fairy tales are made of. But perhaps most memorable of all was his first full album recording experience with the band, which resulted in 1985’s “Asylum”.
During an interview with Chaoszine, Kulick looked back on this memorable time in his and Kiss’ careers and recalls the excitement he experienced, both professionally and personally.
“‘Asylum’, I thought I won the lottery when I was a temporary member,” Kulick admitted (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “So now, I’m a full-time member. And obviously starting an actual record from the ground up, meaning songwriting and recording, not coming in as a ghost guitar player was obviously very exciting.”
I Was Made for Lovin´ You (metal cover by Leo Moracchioli)
Gene Simmons From “KISS” Interview With Bill Wills – 5-8-25
KISS Reunion Tour Standup at KISSArmyWarehouse.com!
Very hard to find Reunion Tour Standup featuring original KISS lineup. Standup is six feet tall when setup. These are close to mint condition. Comes folded into thirds like they originally came in 1999.
Kiss does a photo session and plays on the Dutch TV show Top Pop
KISS and tell, 50 years later
Ohio Northern University isn’t exactly known for loud, raucous mayhem—but on May 9, 1975, things were different.
On that night, the now legendary rock band KISS performed for a packed, frenzied crowd in the newly-opened King Horn Sports Center. KISS debuted what would be become their anthem—“Rock ’n Roll All Nite”—and their pyrotechnics scorched the ceiling.
It was wild. It was unforgettable. And for Dr. Jimmy Wilson, associate professor of management & geographic information systems—and a lifelong rock ’n roll devotee—it became a passion project.
“KISS has this huge following and there’s a mystique that surrounds the band,” he said. “To think they played on campus for $5 a ticket right before they gained worldwide fame— it’s just incredible to consider.”
For more than a decade, Wilson has conducted research, gathered first-hand accounts, and worked on a video documentary about this sensational night in ONU history. Travis Yammine, BSBA ’19, a KISS fan since middle school, assisted Wilson when he was an ONU student. The two co-authored a paper on the concert that Wilson recently presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Detroit.
“Some may wonder why undertake a whole project surrounding a single concert—what’s the point?” said Yammine. “But it’s actually a very interesting story to tell, and this little pocket of Midwest rock ’n roll culture that would otherwise get lost if it wasn’t for someone like Dr. J. keeping it alive.”
How did KISS end up in Ada?
It’s the question Wilson hears a lot: How did a band like KISS land in the quiet village of Ada?
Wilson explains that Ada, though rural, sits near what was known in the ‘70s as the “Iron Triangle”—a circuit between Detroit, Cleveland, and Toledo, where up and coming bands toured. The ONU students charged with bringing entertainment to campus likely had access to the circuit booking agents, and in KISS’s case, may have caught a lucky break.
“Believe it or not, the Midwest was rock ’n roll central in that decade,” said Wilson. “It was the place where many bands got their start.”
ONU administrators likely had no idea who KISS was at the time—and likely regretted it later.
“After the show, ONU President Samuel Meyer openly vowed something like this would never happen again,” Wilson laughs.
KISS was relatively unknown in May 1975. According to Wilson, most people came to the concert expecting to see Rush (a no-show, replaced last minute by The Flock) or The James Gang, a popular garage band.
It wasn’t until a few months after their ONU performance that KISS exploded onto the international music scene.
“I am not really a fan of their music,” Wilson admits, “but you can’t talk about rock ’n roll in America without talking about KISS. There’s no denying that what they did was innovative and very, very lucrative.”
KISS wasn’t just known for their music—they became famous for their over-the-top stage presence: face paint, pyrotechnics, and blood-spitting theatrics.
“They appealed to a specific demographic—young men, usually rebellious,” said Wilson.
Campus Legends
KISS’s appearance on ONU’s campus, not surprisingly, caused quite a stir at the time.
In his research, Wilson uncovered some legendary stories.
Band members, dressed down in street clothes before the concert, were mistaken for broke students and handed free meal tickets by a faculty member. They stayed in a dorm room—because the student budget didn’t cover hotel accommodations. (Peter Criss shared this in his memoir, “Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of KISS”).
And, according to Wilson’s research, strong evidence suggests this was the band’s first public performance ever of the now-iconic chorus: “I wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day.”
Gene Simmons brings out Tommy Jones 5/6/25
@akadlj @KISS @GeneSimmons on his solo tour surpised the @The Wellmont Theater crowd with a rendition of “Mony Mony” by the original singer/writer @tommyjamesofficial #kiss #genesimmons #monymony #tommyjames #concerts #livemusic #musictok
“I don’t even know if the entire band’s gonna be there”: Gene Simmons says Kiss’s upcoming Vegas event “ain’t a concert”
“This is more of a fan gathering,” Simmons says of the Kiss Army Storms Vegas event, which takes place between 14-16 November this year.
Fans heading to Kiss’s upcoming Vegas event would do well to know that it “ain’t a concert,” according to Gene Simmons, who recently admitted that he isn’t even sure if the full band will be there.
Speaking to Rob Rush of New York’s 94.3 The Shark radio station, the bassist – who recently postponed 17 dates of his upcoming solo tour – discusses the three-day Kiss Army Storms Vegas event set to take over Virgin Hotels Las Vegas from 14 to 16 November.
While the name may conjure images of pyrotechnics, platform boots, and makeup-clad rock theatrics, Simmons says this event is something entirely different.
This is much more a fan gathering,” he explains [via Blabbermouth]. “The Kiss Army… are taking over the Virgin Hotel and we will show up, but I don’t even know if the entire band’s gonna be there.”
“I know Paul [Stanley] and I are gonna be there, and Tommy [Thayer]. [Former Kiss guitarist] Bruce Kulick probably will show up, and we’ll jam, answer questions and stuff. It ain’t a concert – we’re gonna do none of that stuff.”