This is a full in bloom interview with KISS Expo promoter, producer, Shameless bassist Alexx Michael.
YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on our main YouTube Channel.
DESCRIPTION:
Alexx talks about what it was like dealing with Vinnie Vincent on the road, Vinnie’s wives, Vinnie’s arrest, Mark St. John, Bruce Kulick, and more.
More BONUS interview clips on full in bloom Patreon
VIDEO SOURCES
This is a full in bloom interview with House of Lords vocalist James Christian.
YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on OTHER YouTube Channel full in bloom Plus.
DESCRIPTION:
James talks about the early days of House of Lords, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Gregg Giuffria, Ken Mary, Chuck Wright, Quiet Riot, Vince Neil, and more.
January 30, 1973 🎸✨ The night it all began at the Popcorn Club in Queens! 51 years of rockin’ and rollin’, and the journey ain’t over yet. What a wild ride! Hahah! 🚀🤟 Thanks to every fan who’s been part of this crazy adventure. Here’s to the next chapter in my story! Stay tuned, we’re just getting started. (no, this photo isn’t from that night, I just like it – hahaha!)
The first Kiss performance took place on January 30, 1973, for an audience of fewer than ten people at the Popcorn Pub (renamed Coventry shortly afterward) in Queens. The band were paid $50 for performing two sets that evening, following a cold-call Simmons had made to the venue, convincing them to hire the new band for a three-night stand.
Paul Stanley:
Our first show ever was at Coventry. Coventry was a study in contrasts. The first time we played there was nobody there. The last time we played there, you could barely get in the door.
WOW! 50 YEARS AGO TODAY! #KISSTORY Jan 30, 1973: We performed our very first concert at Popcorn (The Coventry) in Queens, NY. We did 2 sets at the club that night for a crowd of around 10. That was the beginning! #KISS50 https://t.co/eci8Hfr0D6
What was your 1st KISS show? pic.twitter.com/RfQqvAr1zC
— KISS (@kiss) January 30, 2023
… It all began 48 years ago today…
That time on January 30, 1973, when
KISS played their first gig at the Popcorn Club/The Coventry. #70sKISS pic.twitter.com/4F8BorsoNA— Bob Nash (@bob_robertnash) January 30, 2021
Gene Simmsons:
Hey everybody, thanks for the good wishes. I’m fine. Yesterday at Manaus Stadium in Brazil, experienced weakness because of dehydration. We stopped for about five minutes, I drank some water, and then all was well. Nothing serious. Tomorrow, Bogota Stadium. See you there!
The Rock Experience with Mike Brunn:
🚨KISS STOPS SHOW-GENE ILL🚨
**UPDATE**
I’m hearing this was possibly a heat related incident. Some reports are saying that they will cut the pyro and dim some lights to reduce the heat on stage. I’m not sure if that is speculation or fact. It’s also unclear if they have resumed playing at this time.
*Original post*
Tonight KISS resumed their End Of The Road tour in Manaus, Brazil which is the start of their “final 50 shows”. Early in the show, while performing “Say Yeah” Gene Simmons was not feeling well and had to sit in a chair for the song. He looked out of it IMO. They then stopped the concert, and Paul said, “We are going to have to stop to take care of him because we love him.”
Paul said they would try to see the crowd again “a little bit later.” Hopefully, Gene is okay. More info as I get it.
Hey everybody, thanks for the good wishes. I’m fine. Yesterday at Manaus Stadium in Brazil, experienced weakness because of dehydration. We stopped for about five minutes, I drank some water, and then all was well. Nothing serious. Tomorrow, Bogota Stadium. See you there!
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) April 13, 2023
Artist Jim (Batman, and my Dominatrix Comic) Balent, sent me this funny illo about last night. 🤟😎 pic.twitter.com/UI8iYm6YeK
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) April 13, 2023
BTW… The onstage temperature during the show in Manaus last night was 116 DEGREES. Try doing 2 plus hours in THAT! pic.twitter.com/LKAJZt2cHr
— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) April 13, 2023
Gene Simmons:
July 10th, Abbey Road Studios, London, England…Record with me at the home of The Beatles. This amazing event is only open to a select number of you. Be there.
Gene Simmons:
OK, kids. I don’t usually go out of my way to tug on your shirt sleeves and urge you to see a movie. But really, do yourself a favor and go see Ant-man. A great film. Fantastic special effects. Lots of action. You will love it.
In spirit of Ant-Man this weekend, a reminder that this is still the greatest piece of marketing for a film ever released
pic.twitter.com/Pxg4fruszs— Andrew✨ (@StarlightAndrew) February 19, 2023
Official publicity pic shoot that we did at the mall at one of those family photo kiosks. Mick Brown‘s mom made our outfits; our singer played flute and blew fire 🔥 out of it during his flute solo.
Kim Fowley was supposed to manage us, but we wouldn’t agree to pretend we were from outer space and speak in a made-up alien language 24/7.
Gene Simmons met with us a couple times and suggested we all change our names. He named me Jon Lynx because I would never be famous with a name like George 😎
Can’t believe you found this pic @scarygroove!! Thank you ⚡️
George Lynch Talks About The Boyz (VIDEO)
Gene Simmons:
May 6th and May 7th: Join me for a two-day limited seating event at the Rio Hotel, Las Vegas. For details, go to this location. The Gene Simmons Band will play w/ unannounced special guests -both days. Yes, everything is from my own private collection. I’ll be hosting the dinner for all of you attending at the Rio, overlooking the Vegas skyline w/Celebrity Chef. Can’t wait.
Guitar World: Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons talk classic Kiss tracks, including the lick they ripped off from the Rolling Stones, and the song they nearly gave to Rod Stewart.
On the song “Deuce”:
Gene Simmons:
“That was the first song I ever wrote for Kiss; it was thrown together in about half an hour. I ripped off the lick from Bitch by The Rolling Stones and changed it, so it starts in A and goes to a C.
“I purposely set out to create a repetitive lick – like in Satisfaction or Bitch. Lyrically, I had the slight thread of a story line, but I was more concerned with conveying attitude than making sense of the word ‘deuce’. I’m not quite sure what the line, ‘You know your man is working hard, he’s worth a deuce!’ means, but it sounded right.”
On the song “Hotter Than Hell”:
Paul Stanley:
“I was always a big fan of Free, and All Right Now really meant a lot to me – it was a perfect song. Hotter than Hell was basically me rewriting that song. There’s nothing wrong with stealing, as long as you do it right – and make sure that you’re stealing a diamond, not a piece of glass.
“All bands start off being fairly derivative, and copying others is the first step toward developing your own style. At that point I had gotten my first real custom guitar. A guy in New York named Charles Lobue built me something similar to a ’58 Flying V with two humbuckers – pretty similar to what Albert King was playing, but with one wing shorter than the other. Randy Rhoads’ Jackson V had a similar design.”
On the song “God of Thunder”:
Simmons:
“By the end of our third record [Dressed to Kill], we had gotten very used to each other’s songwriting styles. Paul’s songs were always a little snappier and happier, and mine were always darker and gloomier. So we’d poke fun at each other sometimes, and Paul once said to me, ‘Anybody can write a Gene Simmons song.’ To prove his point, he came back the next day with God of Thunder. I changed some of the lyrics and sang it.
“When I first heard the song, I immediately had visions of the scene in Fantasia where the mountain top opens and this big, winged thing is standing there – something from the dark shadows. But Paul’s God of Thunder lyrics totally missed the point – they were all about Aphrodite and love.
“The sound effect of the little kid was actually done by Bob Ezrin’s two sons, who ran into the studio wearing toy helmets and carrying walkie-talkies and ray guns. The weird voice on the song is one of the kid’s voices coming through a helmet, which we miked. It wasn’t planned, and we had no idea what it all meant, but it seemed right. It’s real Twilight Zone stuff – very weird.”
Stanley:
“I won’t say that Gene is lying about God of Thunder, but maybe he was trying to entertain you. It’s in Gene’s nature to glamorize a story and make it more interesting than it really is.
“Here’s the real story: I wrote that song about myself, and the original lyrics were almost identical to what was recorded. ‘Hear my word and take heed’ was originally ‘We make love ’til we bleed,’ but that was the only thing that was changed.
“When I wrote it, I had every intention of singing it, but Bob Ezrin thought that it would be more appropriate for Gene to sing. Although it became known as a Gene Simmons song, it certainly wasn’t written for him or as a joke.”
On the song “Christine Sixteen”:
Simmons:
“That song started as another great conversation with Paul: ‘You write dumb songs!’ ‘No, you write dumb songs!’ Paul had stolen some of my titles, like Black Diamond, and when he came up with the title Christine Sixteen, I stole it. I had just discovered Van Halen, so I had Eddie and Alex play on the demo. They also played on the original demo of Got Love for Sale.
“For the spoken part in the middle that goes ‘When I saw you coming out of school that day, I knew I’ve got to have you – got to have you!’ I always pictured myself in a black car across the street from a school, watching a young girl.”
You can read the entire feature @ this location.
Roth Army: David Lee Roth appears on Pasadena radio station KROQ with Rodney Bingenheimer to debut “Runnin’ With The Devil” #OTD in 1976.
David Lee Roth:
We were playing one night and some of the fellas from KISS came down to see the band, who you brought along. A couple of days later we were in New York City doing a tape recording down at Electric Ladyland Studios. What we have here is one helluva demo tape and this is something that we’re showing people around and people are being exposed to it. This is the first radio play that we’ve ever gotten. It’s just a tape here, but we’re proud to be on ‘The ROQ of Los Angeles.’ This is called “Runnin’ with the Devil.”
DLR masterclass on spin & optimism. REMEMBER: VH had just been rejected in NY by Aucoin, KISS’s mgr. Gene Simmons had failed to get VH a record deal. DLR, back in LA, gets Gene produced VH demo played on KROQ, trumpeting fact they’d been in studio w/a superstar, GENE. BRILLIANT.
Wishing a very happy birthday to Rodney Bingenheimer! We hope the day rocks like you! #LSUG pic.twitter.com/6nGQ0oj90j
— Little Steven's Underground Garage (@littlesteven_ug) December 15, 2022
Gene Simmons:
Calling all KISS Fans! Gene Simmons will be at Wine and Beyond Windermere today from 2-4pm for his launch of his MoneyBag Vodka.
KISS:
Paul Stanley Revisits ‘Creatures Of The Night’ with uDiscover Music!
How would you describe the place the band was at during the creation of Creatures of the Night?
Paul Stanley:
We were coming out of a coma. I think we suddenly realized how much we had veered away from what the band started as and what we believed in. We had really become complacent and more concerned with enjoying some vapid rewards of success than making great music and staying true to our roots. We were stumbling around, and suddenly, I think we just found ourselves going, “What the hell are we doing here? And look what we’re on the verge of losing.”
We had forsaken our fans, and we had, in a sense, betrayed the people who made us what we were. That’s a shock to wake up from. I think we had to go, “Hey, we f__ed up. We got lost.” We had this great [new] drummer, Eric Carr, and we thought, “For God’s sake, let’s make an album that’s rooted in the music we love and really make a declaration of rebirth.”
Eric was still new at the time, and now there was a new guitarist, Vinnie Vincent. How did they affect the sound of the band?
Clearly, Eric was a drummer in the tradition of a lot of British rock drummers, much more so than any American counterparts. It gave us the opportunity to tap into the roots of what inspired us. He was disheartened by what we had done. He thought he was joining a rock band, and we wound up doing The Elder. So, he was thrilled to be doing Creatures.
Vinnie wasn’t a member of the band when we did Creatures, so we were literally auditioning guitar players in the studio and having them play on different tracks. We had Robben Ford, who’s a phenomenal guitar player, play on “I Still Love You,” and Steve Farris played the solo on “Creatures of the Night,” which is one of the great solos. Vinnie co-wrote some of the songs and was a great person to co-write with, but he was never considered a band member until we were faced with a tour and had no choice but to grab somebody.
For Creatures, you wrote a bunch of songs with Adam Mitchell from The Paupers, among other things. A guy who was best known at the time for writing songs for Olivia Newton-John might have seemed like a surprising choice for your collaborator. How did that partnership come about, and what was your working dynamic like?
We’ve always had the philosophy that doing things the normal way isn’t how we operate. We’ve broken those rules so often I could give you a shopping list. [Creatures producer] Michael James Jackson was so left field that most people just scratched their heads at the idea of us being involved with somebody who had done the Canadian band Red Rider and also Jesse Colin Young from The Youngbloods, things that didn’t have any real clear relationship to what we were doing. But Michael felt right. [KISS’S manager] Bill Aucoin had no experience as a band manager; he’d never done anything like that. So, we’ve always trusted our instincts.
And Michael suggested Adam. Adam was just a terrific songwriter. I’m not one of those people who believes that as a writer, you stay in your lane. If you’re a good writer, you can write anything. Adam and I got together and knocked out a bunch of really good songs. I’ve always believed that there had to be a signature song for each album. Most of the time, it was a song that I would come up with. “Love Gun,” for example. “Detroit Rock City.” We needed a song that encapsulated, and kind of gave a preview as to what the whole album was, both in terms of attitude and sonics. Adam and I wrote “Creatures” quickly. From “Creatures” we did “Danger,” and we just had a ball writing.
You can read the entire interview @ this location
Paul Stanley is currently promoting KISS’s Creatures of the Night boxset. Check our previous post for more info @ this location.
In a brand new interview with Guitar World, Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons talked about the band’s 1982 album, Creatures of the Night.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
“By the time Creatures happened, Ace was already gone,” recalls Simmons. “Ace doesn’t appear on a single song on Creatures of the Night. His only appearance was in the promotional shots, and he did us a favor by appearing in the I Love it Loud music video. But even that was a mistake because he clearly didn’t know the song and had to fake his way through the entire thing. So, not only were we feeling very unsure of what we were doing, we didn’t even have a lead guitarist.”
“We had to find a workaround for the Ace issue,” recalls Simmons. “And that wasn’t easy because, for all his issues, Ace was a unique player. We held open auditions out in L.A., and everyone from Richie Sambora to Slash to Doug Aldrich to Punky Meadows came down. None of them were a fit, but we couldn’t wait around for the right person.
“So, we went ahead and recorded Creatures with session players. Guys like Steve Farris, Robben Ford, and a guitarist who at the time was called Vincent Cusano.”
On if he thought Vinnie Vincent’s contributions on Creatures of the Night were overstated:
“I do feel Vinnie’s contributions are overstated,” asserts Simmons. “I feel they’re overstated, and I’ll tell you why: to begin with, that’s not even Vinnie playing on the entire record. He played on a few tracks in total. And Vinnie will often talk about his songwriting on Creatures, and yes, he helped with several, but the contributions of Adam Mitchell are there, too. But even that was an issue because we were writing at Adam’s house, and Vinnie cornered me and said, ‘Hey, forget about this Adam guy. I should be writing the songs. We don’t need him.’”
“One of the first things we came up with was I Love It Loud. I was living with Diana Ross, and I was at her Beverly Hills house one day, and I remembered coming up an early version of that song.”
“It was a simple thing – I was referencing the melody of The Who’s My Generation, and I came up with the chords and the melody. And I remember calling Vinnie, getting him involved, and he actually wrote most of the lyrics.”
“I remember that Vinnie brought in Killer.” recounts Simmons. “We liked it, but he fought tooth and nail over the solo. Vinnie wanted to make every solo this massive thing. But Paul and I would bring him specific solos; we gave them to him and asked him to play them verbatim, but he refused.
“He didn’t want to do that, but honestly, everything that Vinnie did sounded like Yngwie Malmsteen on crack. You know, the kind of stuff that the rest of us normal human beings hate. It was ridiculous, and it certainly wasn’t Kiss.”
“It got to the point where we had to put our foot down,” Simmons continues. “We said, ‘Look, you’re going to play the notes exactly as we tell you to.’ And that’s how the solo for I Love It Loud came together. We didn’t need to be ripping apart the puzzle pieces of his solos and trying to splice them together, and that’s what was happening.
“We didn’t feel we needed to be in a situation where we were fighting with Vinnie Vincent over how the songs should sound. He wasn’t a member of Kiss – to remind everyone, Vinnie Vincent was never an official, legal member of Kiss. To this day, Vinnie Vincent has never signed a contract with Kiss.”
Reflecting on the time period, Simmons said:
“When I look back, despite his demons, in some ways, Ace was right,” admits Simmons. “We did need to make a rock record. And he had said that all along; Ace had said that The Elder was not the record that Kiss should make, and he was right. But the thing is, we had people around us telling us it was a good idea, and things didn’t go according to plan. We got off track. That happens in bands, and Kiss is no exception. So, where Ace was wrong was, he didn’t stick with the band.”
You can read the entire interview @ this location.
Gene Simmons is currently promoting KISS’s Creatures of the Night boxset. Check our previous post for more info @ this location.
Paul Stanley:
Just got to Japan yesterday and checked out our stage in the Tokyo Dome this evening. We ROCK tomorrow night and then fly home! Tired?? Sure, but WHAT A LIFE!!!
What a trip to Tokyo! See you tomorrow night Tokyo Dome!! #kissendoftheroadtour pic.twitter.com/BBHR4YBUjG
— Tommy Thayer (@tommy_thayer) November 28, 2022
Japanese fans. The best! pic.twitter.com/WXkK0LpZvA
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) November 29, 2022
Japan.. pic.twitter.com/w1X4Sr7ht3
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) November 29, 2022
FIVE MINUTES Tokyo Dome!!! pic.twitter.com/7pgTERpHda
— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) November 30, 2022
Eric singing Beth in front of huge Tokyo Stadium concert last night. Thank you, Tokyo. 🤟😎 pic.twitter.com/fRy2H6NZVo
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) December 1, 2022
Gene Simmons:
Berlin, Germany has the largest park in all of Europe. And I’m proud to have my name added to the other luminaries on their legendary Bridge Of Hearts. Thank you.
