KISS vocalist Gene Simmons recently outlined a new batch of Kiss-related projects despite the band’s 2023 retirement from touring, pointing to an upcoming cartoon series, ongoing film work and another Kiss Kruise-style event planned for Las Vegas. The bassist spoke while discussing the group’s expanding brand activity and upcoming fan events.
In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock Simmons said a cartoon show is in development with Warner Bros., and that another “Kiss Kruise: Landlocked” is planned for November in Las Vegas after last year’s edition brought Simmons and bandmates back onstage for unmasked, uncostumed appearances.
“More is good,” the bass-playing Demon says of what’s coming. “It’s like if you go into Tiffany’s and ask the guy at the front door, ‘Do you have any jewelry.’ Of course the answer is yes. And if you say, ‘What have you got?,’ it’s tough so answer because there’s so many things. We’re working really hard, all of us, in making sure that the quality of everything will blow you away because over the years the fans have been expecting not the norm, but the extra norm.
“In many ways (Kiss) was the caterpillar that went into the cocoon and you think that’s the end, but it’s really the beginning. We are going to go where no band has gone before.
Simmons also offered an update on the Kiss avatar show that was teased during the band’s final End of the Road concert at Madison Square Garden on December 2nd, 2023, saying it should be revealed in “under two years” and describing it as a sensory-heavy production that goes beyond standard visual spectacle.
“We’re gonna blow your socks off in a way multiple times more exciting than the Sphere,” Simmons promises. “People who go to Vegas to see a show in the Sphere are awed by the massive scale of everything. There’s nothing wrong with the Sphere, (but) I’ll go out on a limb and make sure people understand this (the Kiss avatars) is gonna make that seem like popcorn fart. It’ll be mind-blowing.”
The new announcements come as Simmons and Paul Stanley are set to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 11 in New York City, and as Kiss continues to build out its business footprint, including the opening of a Rock & Brews location in Royal Oak, Michigan, tied to the band’s longstanding Detroit connection.
Another Kiss Kruise: Landlocked in Vegas is in the plans for November in Sin City. Last year’s edition saw Simmons, Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer return to the stage for unmasked and uncostumed appearances.
“That was a lot of fun, Simmons recalls, “because we could just, as they say, let our hair down — not worry about big projection, big private jets and 60 people on the crew, being a traveling city. You just show up and plug in, like going over to your aunt’s house and putting on a concert in the garage. It’s shits and giggles, like I do with my Gene Simmons solo band. This idea of being up on stage is miraculous, it really is.”
For Kiss fans, the takeaway is that even without a full-scale touring machine, Simmons is signalling that the band’s next era will be driven by immersive productions, licensed projects and destination-style events that keep the Kiss brand active in public.
