Kiss: Gene Simmons discusses playing live in 2012
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Kiss are currently gearing up to restart their world tour. The End of the Road World Tour was interrupted by the global pandemic and is ostensibly the band’s last hurrah. In his typically modest manner, Simmons said in his latest interview: “The pandemic is almost over. Stay safe, get vaccinated, come to the shows. You’ll see the finest show on the face of the planet that allows human beings to have – that’s us.”
During the chat with local US TV show Better Connecticut, he was asked about the origin of the band’s name, after they had gone through various incarnations like Links, Missing Links, The Long Island Sounds, Bullfrog Bheer, and Wicked Lester.
Simmons says it happened during a chat with founder member Paul Stanley and original members Ace Frehley (who left in 1982) and Peter Criss (who left in 1980). Both of whom, incidentally, are still rumoured to be making guest appearances on the final legs of the tour.
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Simmons said: “I couldn’t drive in my early 20s – I didn’t start driving until I was 34 because in New York, you just took cabs.
“Paul was driving myself in his beat-up Mustang or something – myself and I think it may have been Peter or maybe Ace in the back of the car.
“And we were trying to think of a name. And I said, ‘Why don’t we call the band the word ‘F’?’, which you can’t say on stage.
“And the first album could be called ‘It,’ like, ‘F It.’
“The second record could be called ‘You,’ like, ‘F You’. And the third record could be called ‘Us,’ like ‘F Us.’ ‘Yeah, kind of cool. How about that?’ And we started laughing.”
WATCH THE INTERVIEW NEXT:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/82zKTZVgMSI
It was at that moment, Simmons says, that the final iconic name of the band suddenly appeared.
He said: “And I don’t know if he was half-serious or not, but Paul said, ‘Yeah, let’s call ourselves KISS.’ And we went, ‘Woah, woah, woah! What did you say?’ And we just got it right away.
“Whatever happened, happened naturally. There were no marketing companies. We didn’t even know what that was. (We thought) ‘Kiss, yeah, everybody on earth knows what that is. It’s universal – the kiss of death, the kiss of life, and all that stuff.’ And so it just felt right.”
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Simmons added that once they had the name, one last iconic component of the band needed to slot into place.
He said: “And then the other thing we had to get clear with was that we would wear more make-up and higher heels than your mommy ever wore. Once we got over that hump, it was easy.”
Over 75 million records later (and various break-ups and make-ups) the band is finally ready to hang up those high heels.
Paul Stanley himself opened up about why earlier this month.
Stanley said: “If we were just another band in t-shirts and trainers, we could do this into our eighties.
“But we’re running around on stage with 40 or 50 pounds of gear and boots with eight-inch heels, and we do it well, but I also know that we can’t do it forever.
“So before it reaches that point, I think it’s better that we stop. I take it real seriously, so the idea of being able to do this without end, it’s just not possible.”
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