KISS’s Gene Simmons on Peter Criss: “His health isn’t what it should be. I don’t want to get too specific because it’s part of his private life.” – 2022 Interview – The End of the Road Tour

Posted by On June 29, 2022 2 Comments

Chaoszine had the chance to catch up with KISS’s iconic bassist-vocalist Gene Simmons on June 25th and discussed the End of The Road farewell tour as well as several other topics. During the interview, Simmons revealed that the band has booked at least 100 new shows for their farewell tour, and he shared his honest opinion on whether Ace Frehley or Peter Criss are capable of joining the band on their final shows. You can read the entire interview @ this location.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT:

There has been endless speculation about if you will have the former members with you on stage on the last show.

Gene Simmons:

We’ve tried. I keep trying. Paul (Stanley) and I met with Ace (Frehley). Tried to convince him to come back. He said, “I want this, I want that.” Well, we can’t do that. I asked Ace and Peter (Criss) to be in the documentary. They said no. They might do it if they have complete control of the edit. Well, I said: “You can’t do that because even we don’t have that. But I won’t control what you say. You can say whatever you want.” The answer is no, both of them.

I asked Ace and Peter, “Come out on tour. We’ll get you your own room and everything. Come out on the encores.” Ace said, “No, the only way I’d come out is if I’m the Spaceman and you ask Tommy (Thayer) to leave.” I go, “Well, that’s not going to happen.” First of all, I care about Ace, but he’s not in shape. He can’t play that way and doesn’t have the physical stamina to do that.

I was going to ask you about that. Do you actually follow what the former members do on their music careers?

Of course.

So, did you watch the footage from the Creatures Fest?

Somebody showed me about 30 seconds. It was very sad. I felt sad for Peter.

You feel he wasn’t in shape anymore?

No. When I called to invite Peter to be in the documentary, his health isn’t what it should be. I don’t want to get too specific because it’s part of his private life. But no, physically, he wouldn’t be able to do it. Neither would Ace.

You can read the entire interview @ this location.