Gene Simmons Opens Up About the New Documentary Biography: KISStory and the Stories Behind the Band’s Success

Gene Simmons, the bassist and co-founder of the group KISS, 71, is the subject of the new two-part documentary Biography:KISStory (June 27 and 28 on A&E). He and musical partner PaulStanley reveal the stories behind their successful five decades in one of rock’s most outrageous bands.

What was the most important thing for you in making KISStory?

We wanted to stay true to the vibe and the culture that we’re all about. Our mandate has always been, we’re apolitical: Don’t go looking for meaning. Don’t give us gravitas. Don’t make us seem more than what we are. We’ve always been about putting on the best show, and that’s it.

Will people learn anything surprising?

They’ll be surprised that we’re normal, boring guys. Despite what people may think, I’ve actually never been drunk or high in my life. Never smoked cigarettes. People might be surprised: “I thought he worshipped the devil and sacrificed children.” Nope, don’t do any of that. I like cookies, I watch cartoons and I love my family.

The film starts with Kiss’ End of the Road tour. How has COVID affected that?

We’ve got something like 100 cities around the world lined up if they’ll allow us. If you’ve been vaccinated, then the Kiss Cruise in October is already sold out. We’re going to be in the Bahamas, I believe. Just a superliner filled with thousands of Kiss crazies. We love doing that. In November, we’re due to be in Australia. The shows have already sold out.

When I say that kind of stuff, I hear myself and it sounds like I’m promoting, but I’m always shocked. We’re approaching our 50th year, we’re 48 years, something like that. I’m shocked that anybody would give us the time of day, much less come out to see us. We all do, certainly Paul and I, feel a debt of gratitude, which is why we put on the best shows on the planet. Period.

To what do you attribute your almost 50-year career? That you put on the best show on the planet?

Yes, I believe, in fact I know, who and what we are has more to do with being a live band than PinkFloyd or the Beatles, the iconic predecessors who were more studio bands. They made great art in the studio. I’m a little sorry we didn’t spend more time in the studio, but we just didn’t have the patience. It’s too much fun to be on tour.

The film mentions Kiss getting kicked off of tours in the early days. Which headlining bands did you blow off the stage so they uninvited you?

Every damned one of them. We opened up for ManfredMann, SavoyBrown and Argent. A lot of younger fans have no idea who these bands were, but at the time they were significant. They’d kick us off the tour.

We got kicked off, so we were forced to headline. Even before the records started selling—it took us three records to get any kind of foothold and get our first gold record—we were doing multiple nights in arenas. Before MTV, before cell phones, even before voicemail, the vibe of Kiss spread across the country. We debuted January or February 1974. By ’77, ’78 and ’79, we were the Gallup poll No. 1 band in the world above the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees, you name it. Kissmania is apt. It just took hold naturally without marketing companies, without PR, nothing. It’s what the fans were attracted to.

KISStory also says that initially you and Paul were inspired by the Beatles. Is there a Beatles song that would be a great Kiss cover?

What a good question. Instrumentally, I would imagine “Helter Skelter” because it is more guitar-based and all that. But you can’t compete. Some writers out there think, “I can write a good song.” No, you can’t. What they were able to do in three minutes, hundreds and hundreds of songs, that is just undeniable.

Paul and I used to busk. We would take an acoustic guitar and a hat or a tray, and we’d sit outside of a restaurant in Chinatown, where we liked to have egg foo yung. Paul would strum a few chords and we’d sing Everly Brothers–type harmonies of Beatles songs. We’d always make enough money to go in and gorge ourselves with Chinese food. Sing for your supper, what’s better than that? It beats digging ditches.

Kiss is planning to retire after the End of the Road tour. Why?

The last thing you want to do is to stay onstage too long. We introduce ourselves with, “You wanted the best, you got the best—the hottest band in the world.” We should not stay on that stage a day longer, not a show longer, than when those words are true.

You helped create the rock spectacles that we have today: enormous props, fireworks, explosions. Was anyone ever injured?

Not seriously. [Guitarist] Ace [Frehley] was semi-electrocuted in Lakeland, Florida, before the days of grounding. Back then, all the guitars were connected with long wires to the amplifiers, and if not grounded properly—if you touched a metal railing on the side, which he did—you got knocked on your ass.

For so many years, Kiss members kept their faces hidden. How did that come about?

Our original manager, BillAucoin, came from movies, MarilynMonroe and all that stuff, and understood the idea of glamour. He pointed out that you never saw a photo of Marilyn Monroe looking schleppy. She always had perfect hair and makeup. She was Marilyn Monroe 24 hours a day. He thought, “Well, you know what? You shouldn’t let people see you.” Like Superman kept the Clark Kent part of his persona hidden, that was his secret identity, and that’s what we did. There was a $25,000 reward—in those days that was a lot of money—to get photos of me, in particular, because of the Hollywood ladies I was dating and all that.

A lot of bands break up, but you and Paul are still together. Why does that friendship keep going?

Mutual respect, admiration. If you start off with that work ethic, then the rest is easy. Paul and I are completely different human beings, but we share the important values—family, responsibility, professionalism, the corny stuff that nobody ever talks about.

The phrase, “sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll,” sex is OK, rock ’n’ roll is OK, the drug part is just self-destructive and we want nothing to do with that. In fact, former members who have been in and out of the band quite a few times, who engaged in that stuff, were asked to leave.

My reasoning is I never wanted to disappoint my mother. My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany when she was 14 years of age. The most horrific life you can imagine for anybody. My mother lived to be 93. After all she’d been through, I could never imagine breaking her heart. She was my moral compass; she was my guide that prevented me from wandering into the dark side.

Also, there’s just no upside. Getting drunk or getting high or smoking cigarettes doesn’t make me smarter, richer or make my schmekel bigger. Nothing happens. In fact, it’s all negative.

This is the cornball part, but I’m deadly serious about it, I consider it an honor, maybe even a blessing, that anybody would allow me, and certainly the band, to wear more makeup and higher heels than you ever wore and get up onstage and blow up s–t and have the time of our lives. Even on rainy days or when you’re not feeling so great, the roar of the crowd, the smell of the grease paint—thank you, AnthonyNewley—there’s nothing like it.

Kiss also has this incredible line of merchandise. How did that come about?

In terms of licensing and merchandising, it didn’t take a genius to see that the fans started making their own homemade T-shirts and all kinds of stuff. The licensing and merchandising Gargantua that it became really was fueled by the fans. Demand begat supply instead of the other way around. We literally have everything that you can imagine. We have air guitar strings. Google it. Put in Kiss air guitar strings, you’ll see it. Nice packaging, a plastic thing, and inside the plastic nothing. And we also have Kiss condoms and Kiss caskets. We get you coming, and we’ll get you going.

What’s the most amazing concert experience you’ve had other than a Kiss concert, since you can’t see that live?

I’m thinking Kiss is the band I’d like to see live. And the reason for that is that even if you’re not a fan of the music, or you’re too busy with BTS and all the wonderful new pop stuff that’s out there, you will walk out of there saying, “That’s the best show I’ve ever seen, I give up.” That’s the real test. It’s easy to preach to the converted. But if you walk in and somebody just steals your soul when you’re not ready for it, that’s greatness. We are greatness. We are above and beyond critics. It doesn’t matter what a critic says about Godzilla, he’s 52 stories tall. It doesn’t matter. Critics are necessary, and so is mulch.

So you’re saying critics are mulch?

Yes, I am, and I’ll tell you why. In most jobs, you need to be qualified. If you want to be a cab driver, you need a driver’s license. If you’re a journalist—and I was a journalism major—you go to journalism school, you get your degree, and I do have that as well as being a teacher in sixth grade. You don’t have to do anything to be a critic except [makes a rude noise] through your oral passage. Which is to say just because somebody says that’s good or bad, it really doesn’t mean anything because there’s no qualification behind it.

What’s the hardest part of performing at 71?

I spit fire, I fly through the air, I wear 8-inch platform heels, dragon boots, and each of them weighs as much as a bowling ball. There’s about 45 pounds of studs and armor. We all admire MickJagger, Bono, and all the great frontmen, but if you put KeithRichards or the Edge in my outfit, they’d pass out in a half minute.

That’s not even hyperbole; it’s the physicality of what we do. JamesBrown was called the hardest working man in show business. We are the hardest working band in show business. Period. That’s a source of pride.

I can imagine the great blues guys, B.B. King and everybody, they were staying onstage through their mid-80s. Jagger and some of the Stones are in their mid-70s. I think early-70s, we should get off the stage and graciously thank the fans for making all of our dreams come true beyond. Not like boxers who stay in the ring too long.

Are your feet going to thank you for retiring from wearing 8-inch heels? Or do you have a great podiatrist?

Every woman who wears stiletto heels knows what I mean. You look cool posing. Look at how appealing I look to everybody. Even women look at it and go, “Wow!” And then at the end of the night when nobody’s looking you say the words, “Oh, my feet are killing me.” Am I right? And your back too. It’s hard work, as anybody will tell you who wears high heels—men and women, but mostly women—knows.

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