Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
David Lee Roth in 1985
Artists “In his prime, he was the super frontman of all time”: The rock superstar hailed by Gene Simmons as the GOAT
Gene Simmons
Artists “We may jump up on stage and jam. It's very loose”: Gene Simmons tells Kiss fans to expect the unexpected in Las Vegas
The Beatles
Artists “It's The Beatles — but they're pretending to be another band? It breaks all the rules”: Gene Simmons on Sgt. Pepper
Van Halen
Artists “Eddie told me, ‘Roth is driving me nuts'": When Eddie Van Halen asked to join Kiss — and they turned him down!
Gene Simmons
Artists “You do have to pay premium numbers": Gene Simmons explains why he’s charging fans $12,000 to be a roadie
Gene Simmons
Gigs & Festivals "All I wanted to do is hug him”: Someone just paid $12,495 to be Gene Simmons' roadie for a day
Paul McCartney
Artists “When I'm listening to Dear Prudence, you’re aware of what the bass is doing”: Gene Simmons salutes Paul McCartney
  1. Artists

Interview: Gene Simmons talks Destroyer, Alive, Monster and more

News
By Rich Chamberlain published 12 October 2012

The God of Thunder delves into his KISStory

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Interview: Gene Simmons talks Destroyer, Alive, Monster and more

Interview: Gene Simmons talks Destroyer, Alive, Monster and more

“I’m deliriously happy,” retorts an unnervingly deadpan Gene Simmons around five seconds into our transatlantic chat.

Whether he really is in the midst of a good mood to end all good moods or not, the KISS founder has every right to be pretty darn pleased with life right about now. Fast approaching 40 years since they formed, the veteran classic rockers are enjoying a rich resurgence, with this week seeing the release of new album Monster, their second in three years, following the critically-acclaimed Sonic Boom.

As he geared up for the record’s release, Gene shared a few memories from some of the band’s career-defining efforts from down the years.

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
KISS (1974)

KISS (1974)

“For us it was Alice in Wonderland. Four knuckleheads off the streets of New York who didn’t have a clue what was going on or that they were about to scale the heights of Mount Olympus. Or that one would become the actual God of Thunder, you’re damn right I am.

“There was this spectacular innocence in the band, Ace and Peter were healthy, happy and couldn’t believe their luck. You find the Genie lamp, the Genie Simmons lamp of course, you rub it and out comes the Genie and says, ‘Whatever you’d like, you can have it.’ You say, ‘I like to be a rockstar with more fame and whatever than you could imagine.’ And you get it.

“We were hard task masters on ourselves. Everybody was equally important in the band and there was an us against the world feeling because everything we did, people laughed at. ‘You have a song called ‘Strutter’? What the f*** is that? What about love and broken hearts?’ We’d say, ‘F*** that!’ Black Diamond is about a prostitute, they’d say, ‘Sing something romantic’, that just isn’t cool.”

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Alive (1975)

Alive (1975)

“KISS never had the patience to be in the studio. Lots of bands will stay in the studio until it feels right, we don’t have the patience for that. It’s wham, bam, thank you mam.

"We can’t wait to get on stage. We’d rather rehearse the songs and set up the mics like the Beatles did on Get Back and just get on with it.

“Alive was the last ditch effort of a band that didn’t break through on the first three records, they just did OK. Our record company was going out of business. In American football it’s called the Hail Mary pass, you have nothing to lose, so f*** it, go for the crazy throw.

"We decided to put out not just a live album, but a double album. If this was going to be our last record, let’s go out in a blaze of glory. In 1976 the platinum record became a certified award and Alive was the second platinum record and the first double platinum album of all time."

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Destroyer (1976)

Destroyer (1976)

“We got big success - raw, mistakes, untuned guitars and all. Then we decided to do an arranged album with Bob Ezrin and do a ballad with a string quartet with kids singing on it.

"If you were a KISS fan I’d understand why you were angry. Yet, it all comes down to songs, either the songs connect with the DNA of a band, or they don’t.

“When it first came out some people were really happy with Detroit Rock City and some people were upset with Beth. They were released as the single, Detroit Rock City as the A-side, but the b-side, Beth, became the Number One record.

“Everything has been a gamble. When we first put on the make-up, that was a gamble. When we decided not to do la-di-dah music or wear tie dye t-shirts, not to sit on the stage with acoustic guitars and incense singing about birds and trees, it was all a gamble.”

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Gene Simmons (1978)

Gene Simmons (1978)

“A band should have the backbone of a wild animal and what they do is take risks, they pee on the ground and say, ‘This is my territory.’

"A band has to be like a wild animal and define for itself and everybody else what it is. You can’t be a slave to somebody else. We consistently kept doing risky moves.

“That album was a risk, but it was necessary. At that point, Ace and Peter, god love them, had succumbed to alcohol and drugs in a deep way. We had done a movie, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, and during the movie they would disappear and we’d have to have actors sit in for them in make-up, just pathetic behaviour.

“We had a meeting and Ace said he wanted to leave and have a solo career. We told him to have a solo career but stay in the band, have your cake and eat it too. ‘No, I’m going to have my own solo career and show you that I can sell ten million records.’

"Ace is now going through his third bankruptcy and poor Peter followed him. Our manager convinced everybody to go off and do our own solo records ands release them all at the same time. That appealed to everybody’s competitive nature. It was risky but necessary to keep the band together for a little while longer.”

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
Sonic Boom (2009)

Sonic Boom (2009)

“Before we decided to go back into the studio, the industry was in turmoil. Kids decided they didn’t want to pay for records.

"KISS is not a charity, I work and I want to get paid for it. I don’t want to give away my stuff for free. We refused to do new music, why should we? I refuse to give away our hard work for nothing.

“When Best Buy and Walmart stepped up and said they wanted to distribute our albums and they’d pay us for them we said, ‘Ok, now is a good time.’ It just so happened that we had Tommy and Eric who had reinvigorated the band and made us realise we could do great things.”

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Monster (2012)

Monster (2012)

“What’s great [about Monster] is that we all have different favourites, all four of us. My favourite is Wall of Sound.

“Going back to the first few records, we were forced to work that way because there wasn’t time, we had to get together in hotel rooms and toss around songs and riffs. Paul in particular started to have the credit for being there more hours than anybody else and for having the focus of reminding everybody and himself that this is what we all decided to do, let’s do an uncompromising record. Let’s be who we are.

“When you’re eating bad food, you know that it’s bad for you. A year later when you’ve got those extra pounds, and heaven knows I’ve succumbed to that, you know what’s good for you, what’s good for you is to keep it raw and lean. But that’s harder to do, it’s self control.

"When you get in the studio it’s like being on a diet inside of a bakery. You’ve got all this technology and all the time in the world. You can bring in symphony orchestras and saxophones and glockenspiels, because you’re not in front of people.

"We would never dare bring a guy with a saxophone out on stage. It’s not who we are. The hardest thing to so was to go in the studio and say, ‘F*** all of that fancy French cooking, let’s just have meat and two veg.’”

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Rich Chamberlain
Rich Chamberlain

Rich is a teacher, one time Rhythm staff writer and experienced freelance journalist who has interviewed countless revered musicians, engineers, producers and stars for the our world-leading music making portfolio, including such titles as Rhythm, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, and MusicRadar. His victims include such luminaries as Ice T, Mark Guilani and Jamie Oliver (the drumming one).

Read more
David Lee Roth in 1985
“In his prime, he was the super frontman of all time”: The rock superstar hailed by Gene Simmons as the GOAT
Gene Simmons
“We may jump up on stage and jam. It's very loose”: Gene Simmons tells Kiss fans to expect the unexpected in Las Vegas
The Beatles
“It's The Beatles — but they're pretending to be another band? It breaks all the rules”: Gene Simmons on Sgt. Pepper
Van Halen
“Eddie told me, ‘Roth is driving me nuts'": When Eddie Van Halen asked to join Kiss — and they turned him down!
Gene Simmons
“You do have to pay premium numbers": Gene Simmons explains why he’s charging fans $12,000 to be a roadie
Gene Simmons
"All I wanted to do is hug him”: Someone just paid $12,495 to be Gene Simmons' roadie for a day
Latest in Artists
Gary Numan
We catch up with synthpop legend Gary Numan to talk sampling, running a record label and the future of music
Neil Peart
“It was a different level of fame. Neil was struggling”: Why a classic Rush album troubled legendary drummer Neil Peart
Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam performs live on stage during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 03, 2025
"After 27 fantastic years, I have taken my final steps down the drum riser": Matt Cameron leaves Pearl Jam
rival
“You end up doing different things with a plugin versus a hardware synth”: Rival Consoles on why he still uses a Prophet emulation – even though he owns the real thing
Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
How a shrewd power move from Michael Jackson permanently dented his friendship with Paul McCartney
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter is Hungry Like The Wolf as she performs with surprise guests Duran Duran
Latest in News
Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam performs live on stage during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 03, 2025
"After 27 fantastic years, I have taken my final steps down the drum riser": Matt Cameron leaves Pearl Jam
nitzer ebb
SampleRadar: 205 free EBM samples
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter is Hungry Like The Wolf as she performs with surprise guests Duran Duran
Joe Armon-Jones
Ezra Collective’s Joe Armon-Jones on the imagined musical apocalypse that inspired All The Quiet
Melbourne Instruments Roto-Control
Melbourne Instruments' Roto-Control gets Bitwig Studio integration following 2.0 firmware update
Waves 4th of July
Waves just made building a pro-level plugin chain a lot cheaper - grab 2 for $59.99 or 4 for $99.99

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...