Concert Review: Gene Simmons at the Pageant in St. Louis April 8, 2017 -photos and words by Danny Nichols

Gene Simmons came to town for the systemic price gouging event known as Wizard World. Even though I had already had the privilege of interviewing Gene by telephone in February, I ponied up the exorbitant fee to briefly stand beside him in person and have him sign an album.  Here was the KISS demon, a man who exudes cool and dominates a room like no one I had ever observed.  A man who confidently walked into the football stadium where the convention was held, and asked the staff about its capacity, knowing he had filled venues of this size before, and could do so again with a few phone calls.  Still, as much as I enjoyed observing him in the element of celebrity and businessman, it paled in comparison to watching him in his true element of the stage.  The lower levels of the Pageant Theater were mostly filled for a much more fairly priced performance by his solo band.

When I had interviewed Gene in February about his upcoming solo tour I asked him about the set list.  He was tight lipped about the details at the time, but indicated it would feature several selections from the roots of rock-n-roll, such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Roy Head, and might not be as many KISS songs as the audience would think. A solo tour is a perfect opportunity for a rock innovator such as Simmons to pay homage to his influences.  It might also be true the audience, having seen many KISS shows, would enjoy seeing Simmons open a set with something other than “Deuce”.  This was fine by me, as I purchased a ticket fully expecting half the songs to be covers.  However, when Simmons and his band did indeed storm the stage with a thunderous rendition of “Deuce” I discovered it was exactly what I wanted to hear.  It did not let up from there, as the set was almost entirely glorious and mighty KISS songs.  The lone exception being when the band covered “Johnny Be Goode” in tribute to the recently deceased Chuck Berry. Simmons  attended Berry’s funeral the following day.

Interview: Gene Simmons of KISS talks to Glacially Musical's Danny Nichols

The following is a transcript of Danny Nichols' telephone interview with KISS' bassist Gene Simmons conducted on February 20, 2017.  The audio of this interview was first published by St. Louis Magazine on February 23, 2017 at www.stlmag.com.  

Danny Nichols: Hi, Gene

Gene Simmons: Good morning.



DN: It's really an incredible honor talk to you. I have been obsessed with KISS since I was about twelve years old and I've been in a couple of bands, both of which covered KISS songs. So it's really exciting to be talking to somebody who's an actual architect of this great material. I want to start by asking you about your coming appearance in St Louis. I know you are going to be in St. Louis from April 7th to 9th for the Wizard World comic convention and you're going to be doing a musical performance while you're there. I was wondering about the band you're going to be performing with at the Pageant here in town. Who's going to be in this band, who  are the musicians that comprise this band?

GS: That there is a whole thing, boy that sounds like a paragraph, not a question. Usually it's do you like black or white, boom, then I go on and give the paragraph.

DN: I may have over thought this. I has been a long time waiting for this moment so...

GS: You are a powerful and attractive man! So this, Wizard World and getting up on stage and having some fun, combines two of my favorite things. KISS is in the middle of doing all kinds of wacky stuff, we're gonna be kings of the Mardi Gras in a few days in New Orleans, and we play the Superdome while we're there. So I'm sure there will be a lot of people in that stadium. And shortly thereafter, we'll play a few more casino shows, but then we'll move on to Europe, where we play the first show May 1st in Russia, on what they call May Day. That's when they bring out all the missiles and the tanks. I'm told Putin is going to attack and you'll see.

Classic Album Review: "Hotter Than Hell" by Kiss

As a younger man, I purchased and sold CDs like nobody's business. Every 6 to 8 months, I'd prune out albums and keep my collection in the neighborhood of 250. Several of the Kiss studio albums were among those pruned.

Now that I've switched to computer storage of the music instead of a 400 disc CD changer, I'm adding some of them back. The first one I put back was 1974's "Hotter Than Hell." This album is now 38 years old.

This record, like the first few by Kiss, was written and recorded in literally just days, but it doesn't feel like it. That is kind of an amazing feat considering that Gene Simmons even went into the well to pull out a Wicked Lester song.

This album was, in my opinion, a harbinger of what was to come from Kiss. Though their debut record is better, this album is more complete in my opinion. At least better in terms of classic songs.Whereas the eponymous was a rock tour de force from track one to track ten, Hotter Than Hell takes several twists and turns, and unlike it's predecessor, offers up some sadly forgotten deep cuts.