By Metal Dave
Got the go-ahead today to once again interview KISS, which is an honor only a Justin Bieber fan could fail to fathom. To this day, my home is plastered with KISS memorabilia, some of which dates back to the sixth grade.
If you would have told me as a kid that one day I would interview Gene (twice), Paul and Peter (call me, Ace!), I wouldn’t have believed it in 100,000 years and could have died happy at the ripe age of 12.
Perhaps Paul himself put it best when I asked him in 2004 why KISS endures.
“If I wrote (the Beatles’) ‘Let it Be,’ people would still want to hear ‘Love Gun.’ What happens over the course of time is songs become more than songs; they become a snapshot of your life. ‘Love Gun’ or ‘Detroit Rock City’ is not just a song, it’s a girl you were sleeping with or the guys you were out at the diner with.”
As for KISS’ superhero-like image, he said, “I saw a lot of bands that either looked great and sounded awful or looked awful and sounded great. Basically, I’m the kid in the audience who got on stage and said, ‘Let me show you how it should be done.’”
As loyal as I am to the original KISS lineup, I have to give credit to longstanding “newcomers” Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer for being amazing musicians. The KISS concert I saw in Austin last December was the best one yet, due in no small part to Thayer and Singer (who also knocked me dead in 2004). And yes, I saw — and loved! — the original 1996 reunion/makeup tour with Ace and Peter. I loved it so much, in fact, I saw it twice!
Stay tuned for more KISS and check tour dates here.
Interviewing Gene in December 2009
Awesome!