| Are you planning to make a movie based on the Elder? We intended to do a movie. There is a script floating around somewhere. Would it be like the made for tv movie Kiss did several years ago? No. There is no place for Kiss in the story. The story is about a boy that has been chosen to fight the evil in the world. We would be incidental to this thing, which is another radical departure for Kiss. Apart from maybe doing some of the voices, if it was to be an animated film, all we're doing is playing the music and overseeing the thing. That is as far as our involvement goes. We would not be in it. Were you a Kiss fan before you joined the group? Yes, I was. I always loved the band. To me they were like the Beatles - who were my idols for all time - in so far as each member had his own definite personality. There was a mystique about them. To me they epitomized being superstar rock and rollers. I never in my wildest dreams expected to be in Kiss, but I was hoping that someday I would get into a band like them, a band that was really special. What were you doing before Kiss? I was starving, that's what I was doing. I was in a three piece band and I had just given them my notice because the band was going nowhere. For the first time in my 14 or 15 years as a professional musician, I had no other propects. I was in a pretty desperate situation. I auditioned for Kiss Tuesday, the next Monday I was in the band! What kind of feedback are you getting from Kiss fans on this latest album [The Elder]? Most people have said it's a good album, but very different. But I think there is a sense of disappointment because the album is so different. People were expecting a better version of an older Kiss. We were very much into the album and happy with what we were doing. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be the success we hoped it would be. How has KISS avoided the traps that so many groups fall into, either the drug stage, or the fat and lazy stage? How do you keep in shape? Everybody stays pretty active. Paul and Gene play racquetball a lot. Ace is just naturally thin. He doesn't work out but he takes care of himself. Me, when I practice my drums, that's a good workout, plus I go to a spa a few times a week. I try to keep myself together because you want to look good on stage. A few years a go, it was reported Kiss wore makeup into the studio to record. Is that still true today? No. That's not true. I don't even know if it ever was true. I know I didn't have my makeup when I went in to record and I didn't notice anybody else with makeup. Kiss was thought to be a pretty outrageous group in the beginning. Now, when you compare Kiss with Ozzy Osbourne, or the Plasmatics, Kiss is tame by comparision. How outrageous will rock groups get before all of this will stop? Maybe when a bat comes along and bites off Ozzy's head! I don't know. Paul and I were talking about this today. What's happening in rock and roll is there are times when there are voids. Kiss came along to fill the void when Alice Cooper was going out. Because Kiss was sort of out of it for the last year and a half, a lot of bands have come along to fill that void. Ozzy's doing that. He's doing his interpretation of things Kiss had done. He is using the idea of spectacle, lavish production a la Kiss. Yet he is using it the way Ozzy Osbourne uses it, in his context, like a maniac. My impression of Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics is that their antics are totally for shock value. It makes no fdifference either way, as far as the image of the band is concerned. I think this kind of stuff will wear thin right away because it's not real. It's not legitimate. When Kiss does something that is spectacular or fantastic, you look at it in the context of Kiss, everything about Kiss is larger than life. |