Gene Simmons changed rock ’n’ roll. With KISS, Simmons, aka “The Demon,” used makeup, fire-breathing stunts and arena-rock anthems to revolutionize the music industry. Not only was KISS dominating airwaves and sales; the band had tons of merchandise, from lunchboxes to action figures to coffins! KISS brought their long-running live show to an end recently, and now Gene Simmons is touring with his solo band. The Gene Simmons Band is set to perform at 8 p.m., Saturday, June 13, at Fantasy Springs. For tickets or more information, visit www.fantasyspringsresort.com.
What was the first concert you attended?
It wouldn’t even be qualified as a concert. I went to Hard Day’s Night as a kid in a movie theater, and I went alone, because I was piqued … Of course, I loved the music right away, but in those days, with just photos, other than Ed Sullivan, you didn’t see the Beatles. I remember sitting there, and it was unlike any concert or live experience I’d ever had as a 13- or 14-year-old kid. The entire audience was shrieking crazy, as if the Beatles were live onstage. You could barely hear the movie, because they were just screeching, standing up, and running up and down the aisles. It was insane.
What was the first album you owned?
Chubby Checker. I was thrown into “The Twist,” the dance craze. Chubby Checker made it famous, although he didn’t record the original one. The original version of “The Twist” was recorded by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and Chubby Checker covered that record, and it became a hit. It became a thing for me, because Wednesday evenings, right after school, we stayed in the gym, and there were dance routines to keep the kids occupied and stuff until their parents got off work. I won the twist contest with a girl named Shirley.
What bands are you listening to right now?
(Angine de Poitrine.) It’s tough to remember the name, but it kind of sounds like a bastardized or space-age French name. They come out in masks. I thought it’s the most refreshing new band. Yes, it’s gimmicky; they all come out in very bizarre headgear, and they tape-record live. There’s a drummer and a guitar player who sometimes plays bass, and they lay down the bass track or the drum track, and then play it again like they’re overdubbing their own song live, and they move very strangely, and the audience copies their stuff. Dave Grohl was hit the same way. It was like, “What is this?” I don’t know whether it’s going to stick or not, whether it’s novelty or not, but it struck me.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
Rap. I’ve gone to see opera more than once, and I’ve seen rap, and people are going nuts there, and I just look around, going, “I don’t get it.” That doesn’t speak to me. Likewise, Grateful Dead. There are deadheads and stuff, and I sit there, and I think it’s the snore of the century.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
The Beatles. I actually met a very bright producer or director, younger than I am, and we were talking about what a landmark it was. Here was a band that wrote their own songs, arranged them and sang them. It wasn’t like the Temptations weren’t great, but you’ve got five guys in the front doing steps who don’t play musical instruments and don’t write their own songs. It bears noting, no matter how iconic Elvis was, that he never wrote a song; he was a performer, not a creative writer or producer. The Beatles were all that, and this guy actually said, “Yeah, I don’t get it.” I said, “What?”
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
I’m a huge fan of the songwriting ability of people, and I’ll name you the bands that the cool kids would say, “Ah, that’s awful,” but they don’t understand how songs are written. So, Bob Gaudio, the guy who wrote almost all the Four Seasons songs—just undeniable. Barry Gibb, who was a friend of mine for a long time; all those Bee Gees songs were just devastatingly well-written. I’m not even mentioning Lennon/McCartney; that’s obvious.
What’s your favorite music venue?
Do you want the romantic answer or the true answer? You’re in a band, and you play your favorite gig, and you’re being paid $100. You play a gig that’s your worst; you hate it; it’s in the middle of nowhere, but they’re paying you a million dollars a minute. What’s your favorite? You fucking whore capitalist pig. The real answer is that we love our art, but we really appreciate it when somebody pays more for it. Nobody talks about that, and if you loved it so much, why don’t you do it for free? Every band, every hippie band or capitalist band, they all want to make a living, and some just want to make more and more money, but everybody needs to make money on their art. Otherwise, they disappear.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
It’s less that and more about the stunning kick-in-the-balls genius of the Beatles, and I’ll explain to you why there’s such a thing as a perfect song. “Satisfaction,” “Sunshine of Your Love” or “Smoke on the Water” take a long time to get to the chorus because the riff is great. McCartney walks in, says, “I just wrote a song. It’s called ‘Yesterday.’ How does it go? Yesterday.” The title of the song is the first word. There’s no introduction; there’s nothing. It’s unbelievable. The perfect song is “Yesterday,” because the last word is the title of the song, and it’s the first word. You can’t name another band that can do that over and over and over again.
What band or artist changed your life? How?
By far, Beatles. It’s become so ingrained, but I’ve also heard from Tom Morello and Dave Grohl, a lot of guys who went on to form their own huge bands, and so many fans—and they’re delusional, of course—who say, “No, KISS was our Beatles,” because they were too young to understand when the Beatles first came out. They never witnessed Beatlemania. The Beatles songs are just undeniable. That’s why everybody and their mother-in-law covered it. “Yesterday” has been covered by over a thousand different artists around the world, from Frank Sinatra to Aretha Franklin to everybody. It’s simply undeniable. No one in history has ever done that, and you’re just talking about one song.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
There’s no question in my mind that Lennon broke up the Beatles by bringing Yoko into the studio and bringing the bed in there, and she’s there torturing the rest of the guys. But I know what happened, because I’m a huge Lennon and McCartney fan for different reasons. Lennon was the lead singer, and Paul and George were together on another mic, and then shortly, within the first two years, Paul started writing these hits by himself. … Lennon saw that the girls were screaming for Paul, and I think that was the beginning of it. He didn’t appreciate, from me in the peanut gallery, what the Beatles were. I would ask Lennon: Why didn’t you realize what you had?
What song would you like played at your funeral?
I guess “Rock and Roll All Nite.” I don’t want anybody being sad for me. My God, I’m the luckiest thing that ever existed on two legs. I’d rather people have a party and celebrate life instead of mourn the death.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It’s the first concept record I ever remember, and the biggest band in the world pretending they’re a different band. That came from McCartney, and by that time, you could tell Lennon was in the background.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
Strangely, Charlie Chaplin, perhaps the greatest comic who ever exists, people don’t know he also wrote music. He co-wrote a song called “Smile,” and that is also a perfect song. It goes like this: “Smile, though your heart is aching,” and it ends with, “When you just smile.” Not only are “Yesterday” and “Smile” brother and sister songs; it’s the idea of the pregnant pause. You have the title “Yesterday,” then there’s a pause: “… all my troubles.”
