Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Gene Simmers

Fire, blood and makeup. For the casual observer, those are the hallmarks of Kiss, one of hard rock's most indefatigable outfits over the past 30 years.

But for the band's legion of staunch supporters known worldwide as the "Kiss Army" the quartet is about far more than stage theatrics. And Sunday night at Rain in the Desert at the Palms, Kiss will get a chance to prove its musical merit in a rare nightclub setting.

"The only reason to do this actually is to flex our musical muscle," bassist and founding member Gene Simmons said in a telephone interview from his hotel room before a recent show in Melbourne, Australia.

"It's a chance for us to get indoors and just show people who and what we are musically. It's the only show that size that we're going to do."

Sunday's concert will differ from the typical Kiss performance in another significant way: The band is expected to utilize few pyrotechnics in a scaled-down version of its normally extravagant stage show.

In the wake of last month's tragic Rhode Island nightclub fire, the Palms has announced restrictions on the use of pyro in its music venue, which is fine with the band.

"You've got to respect every club's right to keep a close eye on that, because we're talking about restricted space," Simmons said.

And, Simmons said, the band understands the difference between a 1,600-person club such as Rain in the Desert and the multithousand seat arenas and stadiums it typically fills.

"Nobody would say to a Fourth of July event that you can't have fireworks, because fireworks and the Fourth of July are synonymous. Likewise, fire and Kiss are synonymous. But you don't want to do a Fourth of July fireworks show in at Rain, and likewise it's not a good idea to have a monster truck rally inside of Rain. It's all about space limitations and sane logic."

Simmons is something of an expert on pyrotechnics, having breathed fire onstage for the past three decades. The band's "Demon" persona has even acidentally set his hair on fire on several occasions over the years, though he takes full responsibility for those incidents.

"That was my fault. That was not a safety issue," he said. "It was just me using too much hairspray."

Simmons and singer/guitarist Paul Stanley were recently interviewed by CNN's Connie Chung on the subject of pyrotechnics and club safety. But Simmons insists his band is not being targeted for its reliance on fire displays.

Rather, he says, people are realizing Kiss' members and road crew have knowledge about the subject others can learn from.

"People will look at Kiss as a shining example of how to do things right," Simmons said. "We are the basis, the yardstick by which you measure everything else. So whether you're the (Rolling) Stones or anybody else, if you're going out and doing pyro and we're not on tour, you're going to hire the Kiss crew, because you want the best."

Simmons also said not bringing the band's full pyrotechnics array will actually streamline the rehearsal procedure for Sunday's show.

"What we do is first rehearse musically. Then you rehearse the crew, sometimes two or three times more, because they have to go their cues," Simmons said. "So it's a lot harder to put on a Kiss show, as you can imagine. We've got to know where not to step; it's a land mine up there.

"So in a lot of ways, this will be a chance for us to roll up our leather sleeves and play."

Last week Kiss got an opportunity to participate in another memorable event. During its concert at Melbourne's Telstra Dome, the band was backed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, marking the first time Kiss has performed live with classical musicians.

"The symphony and Kiss, on the surface, have nothing to do with each other," Simmons said. "I mean, when you really think about it, rock 'n' roll is really the bastard stepchild of music, populated by people who can't read or write music and who wear leather pants. It's really the music of the poor, especially black slaves -- that's where it came from.

"And classical music comes from rich, white people, and nobody wears leather pants. But they both make a big, glorious sound."

The unusual pairing also required some extra makeup.

"They're doing it our way, which is to say that the entire Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is wearing Kiss war paint," Simmons said as the concert drew near.

Simmons confirmed that, although the Las Vegas show is currently the only U.S. date on Kiss' itinerary, a long-rumored co-headlining tour with Aerosmith will indeed transpire this summer.

Along with Simmons and Stanley, a third founding member -- drummer Peter Criss -- will perform on Sunday. Criss briefly left the band in 2001 and was replaced by former member Eric Singer before rejoining Kiss for a set of overseas dates in Australia and Japan.

However, Kiss' fourth original member, guitarist Ace Frehley, is not expected to be at Rain in the Desert this weekend. Frehley recently announced his intentions to pursue solo projects. His spot in the touring ensemble has been filled by Tommy Thayer, who will wear Frehley's customary "Spaceman" outfit and makeup.

"Ace Frehley, God bless him, is off trying to do a solo career," Simmons said. "But Kiss is a family. You're allowed to leave and come back and do all that stuff, and we wish him well."

In 2000, Kiss announced its intentions to conclude its touring career with a farewell tour featuring its four founding members. Three years later, however, Simmons expresses no disappointment that that plan fell through.

"Disappointment? No, because I don't ever want to stand in anybody's way," Simmons said.

"This tour has Peter Criss, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Tommy Thayer. The tour before that had Eric Singer, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. The tour before that? Bruce Kulick, Eric Singer, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. And the tour before that? It was Eric Carr, Ace Frehley and the rest.

"It's like Kiss is a team, and if one member either flakes or decides to take a vacation or do whatever, the door is always open. You can always go back home."

Besides, Simmons is quick to point out, it's still possible that whenever the band finally does call it quits, it could do so with its original lineup intact once again.

"We don't know when the end is. I'm afraid you'll have to drag us kicking and screaming off that stage," Simmons said. "This holding on to dignity and going willingly, that's (expletive). If somebody is going to take me to the firing squad, I'm fighting every step of the way."

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