Gene Simmons says he keeps touring with his solo band because he can’t stay away from the stage.
Gene Simmons has explained why he has spent the years since Kiss finished touring playing casinos and cruise ships with a four-piece band and no crew. Speaking to Detroit classic rock station “94.7 WCSX“, the bassist and singer put it down to a straightforward inability to stay away — and to a contractual reality that means Kiss itself is no longer his to book.
Simmons traced the decision back to the sale of the band’s assets.
“I had this kind of epiphany. You know, Kiss was actually sold — the makeup and the tunes and the publishing and all that — for a [a lot of money]. And a great company called Pophouse is our partner. We’re involved together in the future, so there’s gonna be a motion picture, which is being cast now, and there’s gonna be — I don’t know — cartoon shows, theme park, you name it, it’s all coming up. So it’s gonna be bigger and better than you’ve ever heard, including the avatar show. But that also means that Kiss can’t play live without Pophouse‘s permission, ’cause they own the makeup and everything. But I didn’t wanna stay away from the stage. It’s the most fun. Being up on that stage and rocking out is the most fun I can imagine with my pants on. And there’s a magic that happens there,” he explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
He worked through a series of comparisons to make the point about why performing matters to him.
“We can sit here and kind of glibly talk about it, but imagine being a painter, and you paint something, and you’re really proud of it, and it just stays in your living room, and nobody sees it,” he continued. “Or if you write a song, and you really like it, you go, ‘Whoa, this thing rocks,’ but you’re the only one who hears it. No, no, no. Whether you write a book, you don’t wanna be the only one that reads your own book. No, you wanna share it with people. Or if you’re gonna throw a party, and you’re the only one in the room eating potato chips and drinking Coca-Cola, that’s not much of a party. I need you to be in the party. What’s a party without you?
He added: “So I can’t stay off the stage. I love it too much.”
The Gene Simmons Band is Simmons on bass and vocals, Jason Walker on guitar and vocals, Brian Tichy on drums and vocals and Brent Woods on guitar. Woods has played with Sebastian Bach and Vince Neil, Tichy with Whitesnake, Billy Idol and Foreigner.
Sets lean almost entirely on Kiss material, running through “Deuce“, “Cold Gin“, “Parasite“, “Shout It Out Loud“, “I Love It Loud“, “Calling Dr. Love“, “Christine Sixteen” and “Rock And Roll All Nite“. The band spent February on “Rock Legends Cruise XIII” and played a run of California and Nevada dates in July with Sebastian Bach, Lita Ford and Quiet Riot rotating as support.
Kiss played their last concert on 2 December 2023 at Madison Square Garden, closing the “End Of The Road” tour that had run since 2019. Six months later the band sold their catalogue, name, image and likeness to Pophouse Entertainment, the Swedish company behind the ABBA Voyage avatar residency, co-founded by Björn Ulvaeus, in a deal reported at more than $300 million.
The avatar show was teased at that final concert, when digital versions of Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer appeared on the screens after the last song. It is expected in 2027, built using motion capture work from George Lucas‘s effects studios. Alongside it, Pophouse and the band have discussed a Netflix film, a documentary, an animated series and a touring Kiss exhibition.
Simmons turns 77 this week.
