Cartoon Show, a Second Las Vegas ‘Kruise’

Kiss opens a new and long-awaited Rock & Brews restaurant this week in Detroit Rock City, and Gene Simmons tells UCR that the group — despite its retirement from touring in 2023 — has plenty more on its docket in the not-too-distant future.

That includes on screen, on stage and, in the fashion the Kiss Army has become accustomed to, beyond.

«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.

«Oh, wait, I should write that down…»

Certainly on the top of most Kiss fans’ list is the avatar show that the band introduced during the closing concert of its End of the Road World Tour on Dec. 2, 2023 at New York`s Madison Square Garden. Simmons says he «can’t get into specifics» — including a title that’s been determined — but says that it will be revealed in «under two years» and promises it will be worth the wait.

«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.»

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Simmons adds that in addition to the visuals, the avatar show will «attack the senses as well. If you see a dragon coming in to scoop you up and it breathes fire, there will be fire all around you, and you’ll feel the heat. The fire, the brimstone, the coffee, you’ll be able to smell it. We attack the senses instead of Virtual Reality, which only attacks the eyes.»
Simmons adds that the avatar show will be staged «all around the world,» too, rather than just one location.

Movies And Cartoons Are Coming Up

Kiss still has two film projects in the works, For the biopic directed by McG and co-produced by Mark Canton, Simmons says «the scripting is being refined, casting is on its way. (McG) is finishing up Baywatch now and the moving on tour our film.» A documentary is finished, Simmons says, though a release date has not been determined. And, he adds, «There’s a cartoon show in the works with Warner Brothers.»

Meanwhile, his Simmons Hamilton film company with producer Gary Hamilton will release a feature, Deep Water — starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley — on May 1, with Canyon, starring Bella Thorne and Mel Gibson, in the works.

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Another Kiss Kruise Will Dock In Vegas This Fall

Another Kiss Kruise: Landlocked in Vegas is planned 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.»

Simmons adds the that the Kruise will build on last-year’s fan-centric features as well. «The real thrill is and will always be the relationship we have with the fans. The Kiss Army put us here in the first place. There’s a big debt of gratitude, respect, admiration and love — as you know and as you’ve seen, and there always will be.”

Songwriters Hall Of Fame Awaits

Before the Kruise, Simmons and Stanley will be feted with an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 11 in New York City, where Kiss formed in 1972. After receiving a Kennedy Center honor in December, they’ll join a class that includes Kenny Loggins, Alanis Morissette, Taylor Swift, Walter Afanasieff, Terry Britten, Graham Lyle and Christopher «Tricky» Stewart, while John Fogerty will receive this year’s Johnny Mercer Award.

«It’s special,» Simmons acknowledges. «When I first came to America at the age of eight and a half, the first music I heard was Chuck Berry…Even though I couldn’t speak English, couldn’t understand the words, the feeling, the sound and the beat affected me.» Yet, Simmons says that «we were too busy having a great time» with Kiss to think about the work in terms of songwriter until curating the Kiss My Ass tribute album in 1994.

«And the reaction we got, Paul and I especially were just shocked,» Simmons recalls. «Garth Brooks immediately said, ‘Oh yeah, I want to be on the record, ‘cause when I was a kid my first band was Kiss,’ and we’re doing, ‘Really?!’ He did ‘Hard Luck Woman’ and we had Lenny Kravitz, all kinds of people. All of a sudden you get the sense it’s really about the tunes, ‘cause when you do a Kiss cover you don’t wear makeup, there’s no bombs, it’s just the tunes. All of a sudden we started thinking, ‘Oh! We’re songwriters! Up until then it occurred to you ‘cause we were so busy with everything else.»

The Songwriters Hall honor appropriately comes alongside the 30th anniversary of Kiss Unplugged from the MTV Unplugged special of the same name. «When we were first offered the Unplugged thing by MTV there was a little reluctance,» Simmons says.

«‘I wonder if the songs will sound OK without the bombast? When you strip away everything, is it just all fluff and sugar-coasting?’ And we were pleasantly surprised; ‘Oh, that sounds pretty good,’ even the big, amped-up sounding songs and the albums, they sounded great. And that was about the songs, too.»

Detroit Rock City Gets Its Rock & Brews

Kiss’ latest Rock & Brew location — the 19th since 2010 — opens March 16 in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, a 12,000-square-foot, three-story facility that will pay homage to as well as the city’s close association with Kiss, celebrated in the 1976 anthem «Detroit Rock City.»

«Payback is a good thing,» says Simmons, who will visit himself on April 9 and play a concert there with his solo band on Sept. 7. «Before New York, before Los Angeles, Detroit and the entire area took Kiss to its bosom. Detroit’s always been a wonderful place for us. I’m a big fan. Some of the finest people I’ve ever met have been in Detroit. So it’s a source of pride for everybody on the Rock & Brews team to open up in Royal Oak. It’s gonna really be something special.»

Simmons says he, Stanley and Rock & Brews’ El Segundo, Calif.-based team have been involved «from soup to nuts» in the Royal Oak location, including design and training the kitchen, bar and waitstaff.