KISS icon Gene Simmons made a surprising Greta Van Fleet (whose singer recently posted a shirtless pool photo) comparison on the Three Sides of the Coin podcast. A Van Halen icon recently explained a brutal Gene Simmons shot. Simmons said that Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer ‘infused’ KISS with energy, because there’s no ‘dark cloud’ of drugs. Thayer and Singer replaced Ace Frehley and Peter Criss on guitar and drums respectively.
“I don’t even say this for effect. Literally nobody in the band even smokes cigarettes. Nobody drinks. Not because there’s some kind of rule. If you wanna drink off to the side, sure, help yourself — as long as you’re professional on stage. But nobody goes to the bars — there’s no pub stuff. It’s not part of the culture. And literally nobody in the band uses drugs.
And maybe that has a lot to do with showing up on time and getting up on that stage and making the words true. ‘You wanted the best’ — not the second best or kind of good — ‘you wanted the best. You’ve got the best. The hottest motherfucking band on the planet.’ And the words have to mean that, or get off the stage and give — I don’t know — Greta Van Fleet a chance.”
Gene Simmons recently called out ‘stupid’ KISS impersonators. Paul Stanley discussed Frehley and Criss possibly making guest appearances last month.
“Who knows?” he told Torg And Eliott on 96.3 WLVQ. “I have to say that door is open, but it’s nothing that I contemplate daily. We’re 45 shows into a sold-out tour, and it’s going to continue. And it’s a celebration, not of any lineup of the band — it’s a celebration of everything we’ve accomplished with our fans. And that’s not limited to any particular people.
So whatever happens, happens. But this lineup in particular — Eric’s been playing drums for over 25 years, I think, and Tommy’s been in the band for 18 years, so we have a pretty good stability and tenure of this lineup.”
