The Katholik Kingdom
07-06-2004, 14:40
Feel the irony. Come on now, people.
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Simmons' solo album to hit shelves
Gene Simmons kisses and tells about his new solo disc
By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
It has been 26 years since Gene Simmons' previous solo album.
And while the public hasn't exactly been clamouring for the followup -- in this case, the cheekily titled Asshole, in stores Tuesday -- Simmons says the time was right for his sophomore solo effort.
"The truth is I've been busy," the 54-year-old blood-spewing bassist for KISS says during a recent stop in Toronto. "You know I'm in a band that wears more makeup and high heels than your mommy ever did. And we've also been touring along the way."
On this particular day, however, Simmons is in solo mode as he promotes ***hole, which is how the title actually appears on the CD disc and liner notes. "I am concerned that it won't get radio airplay, but here we are talking about it," Simmons says of the new album's provocative title track, provided to him by Norweigan band Shirley's Temple.
The first single is actually a cover of U.K. techno band The Prodigy's Firestarter, featuring Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. Two other collaborators on the new record are big surprises: Bob Dylan and the late Frank Zappa.
Waiting For The Morning Light was co-written with Dylan nine years ago, but Simmons only completed the lyrics one month before the album was finished.
"I kept asking Bob to write the lyric," Simmons says, "and he kept saying (adopting Dylan's nasal tone), 'No, you do it Mr. KISS.' That's what he calls me."
The two music icons initially got together at Simmons' request.
"So he came over to the house and we both had acoustic guitars," Simmons says. "And we were trading licks. Initially, I thought I was going to write the melody and the chordal pattern and that Bob would write the lyric because that's why I called him in the first place. You know, the pre-eminent modern lyricist. Melodically, I think The Beatles had it. But nobody touched Dylan lyrically. He changed the moon, June, spoon idea.
"And the irony is that he started to strum some chords that got me interested. I don't know where the melody came from, but it came right away based on his chords."
As for Zappa's co-writing, guitar and singing credit on Black Tongue -- which also features his sons Dweezil and Ahmet, daughter Moon and wife Gail on background vocals -- Simmons wound up going to the avant-garde musician's house right before he died. "I met his family then. This was late when he was not feeling well," Simmons says. "And he played me some things and he showed me some of his archives and he passed away."
Subsequently, Simmons kept in touch with the Zappa clan and when time came for the second solo album, he asked about using some of the material he'd heard. "Dweezil sent over three bits of music, one of the pieces was a 30-second snippet which wound up being the bed track. And then I put guitars, drums, background vocals, wrote a song around it. So, after the fact, you have a song called Black Tongue that's co-written by Gene Simmons and Frank Zappa."
Simmons got into the family act as well. His 15-year-old son Nicholas -- "He's 6-foot-6, he's got a size-15 foot" -- sings on Carnival Of Souls while his 11-year-old daughter Sophie -- "She's got the keys to the kingdom, she knows that" -- sings on Now That You're Gone, written about Simmons' father who recently passed away. Canadian content also comes from his longtime companion Shannon Tweed, and her "Newfie" mother Louise and sister Tracy, who all sing on Whatever Turns You On.
"And you can hear them laughing and whooping it up and having a grand ole time," Simmons says.
So what will the KISS Army think about Simmons' latest career move?
They may be somewhat satisfied knowing that sometime KISS members Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer are also featured on new songs, Sweet & Dirty Love and Weapons Of Mass Destruction, which Simmons says they basically recorded as a trio.
"My first solo record, 26 years ago, had this kind of wide spectrum," Simmons explains. "I had When You Wish Upon A Star as the last song, and likewise, on this album, I have a song I wrote called 1,000 Dreams, which almost sounds like a Hawaiian country psychedelic song or something. It's got steel guitar in it. But when you do a solo record I like to think you're doing something different than being in KISS."
In other words, Simmons clearly knows where his bread is buttered.
"KISS has a laser-sight set on the bull's-eye, which is, these are guitars, this is meat and potatoes, this is what we do," he says. "And as a writer, I write a lot of different material all the time. In fact, I've amassed over a 100 songs over the last 26 years.
"And, in a year, there's going to be a Gene Simmons box set that'll have a lot of these songs that have never been recorded, or released, anyway, and you know it shows this kind of other side. Some of it is slightly jazzy, some is bluesy, certainly a lot of it is Beatles-esque. Lots of oohs and ahhs. Three- and four-part harmony. A lot of those background harmonies are just myself doing all the parts."
And being the master marketer that he is, Simmons has already got the promotional plan set up for ***hole. "I'm going to have ***hole parties on the days off when we're not playing dates on the KISS tour," says Simmons, whose Rock The Nation U.S. trek with KISS begins Thursday in San Antonio,Tex.
"The parties are going to be for invited guests only. And you can only go if you're an ***hole or ***hole-lette. And, by the way, when you come into the party you will get a certificate and this will certify that you're a real ***hole. So that when you walk down the street and somebody says, 'What are you, some kind of ***hole?' You can actually say 'As a matter of fact, I am. Here's my certificate.' "
"This coming from the biggest ***hole of them all," adds Simmons with a chuckle. " 'Cause if you're going to be anything, you may as well be the biggest one."
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
Simmons' solo album to hit shelves
Gene Simmons kisses and tells about his new solo disc
By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
It has been 26 years since Gene Simmons' previous solo album.
And while the public hasn't exactly been clamouring for the followup -- in this case, the cheekily titled Asshole, in stores Tuesday -- Simmons says the time was right for his sophomore solo effort.
"The truth is I've been busy," the 54-year-old blood-spewing bassist for KISS says during a recent stop in Toronto. "You know I'm in a band that wears more makeup and high heels than your mommy ever did. And we've also been touring along the way."
On this particular day, however, Simmons is in solo mode as he promotes ***hole, which is how the title actually appears on the CD disc and liner notes. "I am concerned that it won't get radio airplay, but here we are talking about it," Simmons says of the new album's provocative title track, provided to him by Norweigan band Shirley's Temple.
The first single is actually a cover of U.K. techno band The Prodigy's Firestarter, featuring Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. Two other collaborators on the new record are big surprises: Bob Dylan and the late Frank Zappa.
Waiting For The Morning Light was co-written with Dylan nine years ago, but Simmons only completed the lyrics one month before the album was finished.
"I kept asking Bob to write the lyric," Simmons says, "and he kept saying (adopting Dylan's nasal tone), 'No, you do it Mr. KISS.' That's what he calls me."
The two music icons initially got together at Simmons' request.
"So he came over to the house and we both had acoustic guitars," Simmons says. "And we were trading licks. Initially, I thought I was going to write the melody and the chordal pattern and that Bob would write the lyric because that's why I called him in the first place. You know, the pre-eminent modern lyricist. Melodically, I think The Beatles had it. But nobody touched Dylan lyrically. He changed the moon, June, spoon idea.
"And the irony is that he started to strum some chords that got me interested. I don't know where the melody came from, but it came right away based on his chords."
As for Zappa's co-writing, guitar and singing credit on Black Tongue -- which also features his sons Dweezil and Ahmet, daughter Moon and wife Gail on background vocals -- Simmons wound up going to the avant-garde musician's house right before he died. "I met his family then. This was late when he was not feeling well," Simmons says. "And he played me some things and he showed me some of his archives and he passed away."
Subsequently, Simmons kept in touch with the Zappa clan and when time came for the second solo album, he asked about using some of the material he'd heard. "Dweezil sent over three bits of music, one of the pieces was a 30-second snippet which wound up being the bed track. And then I put guitars, drums, background vocals, wrote a song around it. So, after the fact, you have a song called Black Tongue that's co-written by Gene Simmons and Frank Zappa."
Simmons got into the family act as well. His 15-year-old son Nicholas -- "He's 6-foot-6, he's got a size-15 foot" -- sings on Carnival Of Souls while his 11-year-old daughter Sophie -- "She's got the keys to the kingdom, she knows that" -- sings on Now That You're Gone, written about Simmons' father who recently passed away. Canadian content also comes from his longtime companion Shannon Tweed, and her "Newfie" mother Louise and sister Tracy, who all sing on Whatever Turns You On.
"And you can hear them laughing and whooping it up and having a grand ole time," Simmons says.
So what will the KISS Army think about Simmons' latest career move?
They may be somewhat satisfied knowing that sometime KISS members Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer are also featured on new songs, Sweet & Dirty Love and Weapons Of Mass Destruction, which Simmons says they basically recorded as a trio.
"My first solo record, 26 years ago, had this kind of wide spectrum," Simmons explains. "I had When You Wish Upon A Star as the last song, and likewise, on this album, I have a song I wrote called 1,000 Dreams, which almost sounds like a Hawaiian country psychedelic song or something. It's got steel guitar in it. But when you do a solo record I like to think you're doing something different than being in KISS."
In other words, Simmons clearly knows where his bread is buttered.
"KISS has a laser-sight set on the bull's-eye, which is, these are guitars, this is meat and potatoes, this is what we do," he says. "And as a writer, I write a lot of different material all the time. In fact, I've amassed over a 100 songs over the last 26 years.
"And, in a year, there's going to be a Gene Simmons box set that'll have a lot of these songs that have never been recorded, or released, anyway, and you know it shows this kind of other side. Some of it is slightly jazzy, some is bluesy, certainly a lot of it is Beatles-esque. Lots of oohs and ahhs. Three- and four-part harmony. A lot of those background harmonies are just myself doing all the parts."
And being the master marketer that he is, Simmons has already got the promotional plan set up for ***hole. "I'm going to have ***hole parties on the days off when we're not playing dates on the KISS tour," says Simmons, whose Rock The Nation U.S. trek with KISS begins Thursday in San Antonio,Tex.
"The parties are going to be for invited guests only. And you can only go if you're an ***hole or ***hole-lette. And, by the way, when you come into the party you will get a certificate and this will certify that you're a real ***hole. So that when you walk down the street and somebody says, 'What are you, some kind of ***hole?' You can actually say 'As a matter of fact, I am. Here's my certificate.' "
"This coming from the biggest ***hole of them all," adds Simmons with a chuckle. " 'Cause if you're going to be anything, you may as well be the biggest one."