KISS Manager Talks About Possibility Of Original Lineup Reunion

KISS Manager Talks About Possibility Of Original Lineup Reunion
Original Photo Credit: Jamiecat*, CC BY 2.0 (www.flickr.com/photos/jamiecat/4362635346/), via Wikimedia Commons

KISS bassist Gene Simmons said recently in an interview with Classic Rock magazine that the band has reached out to original guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss about joining the band on its “End of the Road” farewell tour. The KISS bassist revealed that he doesn’t expect them to join. “I was hoping that Ace and Peter, at least for that (a final show), would be with us,” Simmons said. 

“It would be the saddest thing of all if they chose not to be there. But such is life. I hope and wish they’ll get over the victim, ‘look what happened to me.’ No, nothing happened to you. These were all decisions you made. They were in and out of the band three different times. Can you believe that? How many chances in life do you want? That’s the saddest thing.”

Simmons added: “There are fans that are still angry with us about Ace and Peter. They just don’t understand. I personally have asked Ace and Peter a number of times: ‘Hey, this is the last time around. We’ve still got another hundred cities or so to go. Why don’t you jump on stage with us?’ And they said no. . . More than once.” Paul Stanley added, “It would be great to have Ace and/or Peter participate at some point if they were interested, and if their requests or demands were realistic and not disruptive to the overall spirit of this tour.”

Now in a new interview with VWMusic, KISS’ longtime manager Doc McGhee said he’s also not sure if Frehley and Criss will take part in the band’s final concerts or if KISS will even invite them to their last ever show. “Honestly, I don’t know. You can invite them, but they may not come,” he said. 

“They may come, they may not come, and we might not invite them. We’ve talked to them, and we’ve talked about it. Well, we don’t talk to Peter, but we do talk to Ace. We haven’t talked to Peter in a long time. But you know something? They were part of it, they aided in starting this band, and they should be part of the end of this. They started this, so in some way they should be able to share that spotlight on the way out. Now, regardless of if it happens or not, you’re not going to get six guys up there in makeup. That’s not going to happen.”

McGhee had previously said on the KISS Kruise that he hoped that all surviving members of KISS past and present could take part in the final show. “We want to include everybody that played with KISS to celebrate the 45 years of KISS,” he said at the time. “And everybody — Vinnie Vincent and everybody else — that [has] played with KISS is part of this whole celebration of 45 years. So, we’re still looking at what we’re gonna do on the final show of KISS.”

McGhee also said he hoped there would be a way to make everyone happy should they choose to participate. “It’s pretty difficult,” he said. “When people say, ‘Oh, you should bring Ace and Peter up.’ How do you do that when you have two Catmen and two Spacemen? So you say, ‘Okay. You don’t wear makeup and you wear makeup.’ And then they [Ace and Peter] go, ‘Well, that was my makeup.’ I don’t know. So it’s real hard to do, but we’ll figure it out because they’re very much a part of the heritage of KISS. And they’re acknowledged by Gene and Paul and everybody in this room as the founding members… So. it’s important to you guys [and] it’s important to us. It’s just a matter of the balance and we can bring it where it works for everybody and everybody is having a great time.”

Frehley has previously said that he would only consider taking part in the “End of the Road” tour “if I took back my make-up and costume and my character — which I designed.”

B.J. LISKO
Follow B.J.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT


AROUND THE WEB