During a new interview with The Moynihan Report, KISS bassist Gene Simmons reflected on his current relationship with former bandmate Peter Criss.
Criss co-founded KISS in 1973 and served as the band’s drummer over three stints before leaving for the final time in 2004.
“When we’re with each other, it’s great. As you go apart… Ah, it’s tough for me to be honest and stuff,” Simmons said (via Blabbermouth). “Peter’s always considered himself a victim: ‘They ganged up on me, and look what they did to me,’ and stuff like that. Instead of, if you’re really cured and everything, you look in the mirror and said, ‘It’s my fault. I used. I didn’t do my work, and I was complaining,’ instead of being grateful to be in one of the largest bands that has ever existed.”
When asked if Criss still makes money from his work with KISS, Simmons replied: “Very little. We bought him out — in 1982.”
He added that he and Paul Stanley also acquired the late Ace Frehley’s ownership stake in the band.
“All groups of people are a business,” he said. “Money’s gotta come from someplace. Life is business. People don’t like that.”
Speaking about his relationship with Stanley, Simmons said they still get along well: “Always had. That doesn’t mean you agree. I like to make this reference point that intrinsically, in our DNA, we share deep moral and philosophical ideas about life. So we share this kind of thing, but also the work ethic. No drugs, no alcohol. I’ve never been high or drunk in my life. No cigarettes. As it happens, we just share those ideas when this rock and roll world is filled with f*cking losers.”
