[From: K-UK]
Don't forget that the first episode of the web-based KISS cartoon - KISS Immortals - is released tomorrow. Several sites will be broadcasting it including the Multipath Movies site. The movies feature voice-overs by KISS themselves and will be released in several installments.

The online version of Spin magazine have just published a new interview with Gene, when asked about the cities that haven't been announced yet, Gene says this:-

"We'll do about 70 in America and then a series of stadiums around the world. Five to ten in Japan and the same number in Australia."

Read the interview over at Spin.com.
 

Message from Parasite

21st Feb 2000 KIZZ - First look at new tribute

[From: Launch Radio Networks]
Never ones to shy away from a good marketing opportunity, KISS has signed on to do a new commercial for Pepsi. The quartet, whose Farewell Tour kicks off March 11 in Phoenix, Arizona, are about to step in front of the cameras for the soft-drink maker. Bassist Gene Simmons gave LAUNCH Radio Networks this preview: "We're gonna basically be on stage, who we are, and they're gonna turn and make their Pepsi thing part of what we do. So, we feel very confident about that, and we're gonna shoot that in about two weeks, and it's gonna debut on the Academy Awards -- and from then on will be seen 2,000 times before they stop the campaign."

20th Feb 2000 Chat with Gene

Gene Simmons will be doing an online chat talking about Detroit Rock City on Monday, March 13, 2000 - 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT.

"Kiss is one of the few rock-n-roll bands to become a legend in its own time. From fan conventions, to MTV's Celebrity Death Match, to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the band is everywhere. Bassist Gene Simmons recently produced Detroit Rock City, a film about four Midwestern boys and their adventures on the way to a Kiss concert. Chat with Simmons in the NetCafe Live on March 13, hosted by Borders.com  and Talk City"

Borders' site can be found here.
 

Parasite info

[From: Parasite]
OK KISS MAYBE SPLITTING UP BUT PARASITE WILL STILL BE
KICKIN ASS We will be playing on MARCH 4   at the SPIDERS WEB  in Grimsby Carl will be  ERIC CARR   for the  gig because he  wants to pay tribute to his hero and influence....... There will be NO arranged set list and no make up period as a rule,,,,,, COME ALONG  AND SCREAM FOR YOUR FAVORITE KISS TRACK MAKE UP OR NO MAKE UP  WE ARE KISS FANS
CONTACT US ON THIS E MAIL ADDRESS OR  PHONE 01472  239590
AFTER 7 O CLOCK  and speak to Carl PARASITE a tribute band for the fans

Top Ten US Stadium Rock aired today on Channel 4, KISS were 10th on the list (making them 1st on screen) it was only about 10 minutes, but even still it was worth seeing.... The show had some good stuff to say about the band, with some cool footage that I'd never seen before (including 'Rule Britannia' during a sound-check!).... But as expected there were a few piss takes too (they'll do anything for 50 quid now - then shows a pic of them playing a 'car park in Las Vegas') - not to mention calling Peter Criss a hamster, and to top it off getting the title of Parasite wrong. There was very little in the way of new interviews with the band, just a couple of minutes of them walking around Vegas, nor were there any real incite into the magic behind a KISS stage show. Mind you the other 9 bands got a similar kind of grilling....

I will do a full transcript for the site tomorrow, in the mean time here's a few pics.....

Click to read the Top Ten transcript!
 

Alive IV Cover

KISS Online have released a new version of the Alive IV cover.... this time you can actually see Peter (just!), cool cover though don't ya think?
 

18th Feb 2000 Not Dead Yet

Another great piece of UK journalism...

This article was in today's issue of The Times, it was written by someone called David Sincair, if you want to contact him (The Times have a website).

'Kiss, whose pantomime-rock routine was one of the wonders of the American live circuit in the 1970s, actually enjoyed the highest grossing year of their career in 1996, by which time they had become a grotesque caricature of themselves. Their final appearance in the Top Ten documentary, in which the group stand huddled together in full warpaint, trying in vain to validate their reasons for performing a corporate gig in a Las Vegas car park, is one of the saddest things I've seen in pop.'

The 'car park' this asshole is referring to happens to be a theme park at the MGM in Vegas, nice to see this was researched...
 

A small KISS article appeared in today's Daily Star, it says:-

"The big Kiss-off
Rock legends Kiss are calling it a day after almost three decades together.
The New York group have announced that they will be embarking on a farewell tour next month. Guitarist Paul Stanley, bassist Gene Simmons, guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss have finally decided that they are getting too old for the outrageous make-up and hard rocking lifestyle.
Kiss will perform a string of farewell gigs across the States from March 11. They will also release an album recorded at their New Year's Eve show in Vancouver, Canada.
Over the years, Kiss have spawned spin-off make-up kits, games, comics and even a movie."

Thanks to Neil Brodie for the info.
 

Tickets from VH1

[From: Bob Gilmartin at VH1]
This is the ONLY place to get KISS tickets until Feb. 19. Simply click on the link below to find out how to get your Pre-Sell tickets for the KISS FAREWELL TOUR. Also got an interview with the band from the DETROIT ROCK CITY
premiere AND... A preview of the forthcoming KISS 3-D adventure: KISS IMMORTALS  Get Kiss Tix and a ton of information! http://www.vh1.com/kiss/
 

15th Feb 2000 Sunday Times/Radio Times

14th Feb 2000 The End?? / Alive 4

Okay, I'm sure you've all read it by now, but here's today's press release about the demise of the current KISS line-up. Quite what this means is unclear, it'd be great to see a return for a certain other 2 KISS members but with Broadway imminent for Mr Stanley I doubt this will happen. I'm also having doubts that this tour will make it all around the world, looks like a trip to the states is on it's way. Tis a sad day for KISS fans Worldwide, but just remember how many other bands have had 'farewell' tours....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2000

KISS Announce Farewell Tour Beginning March 11th 
Alive IV To Be Released March 28th

New York, NY-- Legendary rock band KISS has announced today that they will hit the road for the last time beginning March 11th in Phoenix, AZ. The "Farewell Tour" will be the final opportunity to see the four original KISS members – Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss – together on stage. KISS’ 1996-97 worldwide Reunion tour featured the band back together and back in makeup and was the highest grossing tour of that year. 

In addition to the "Farewell Tour", KISS will release Alive IV on March 28th (Mercury/Island Def Jam). Alive IV was recorded on New Year’s Eve 2000 at Vancouver’s BC Place Concert Bowl. The album contains such classics as "Rock and Roll All Night", "Shout It Out Loud", "Love Gun" and "Beth".

KISS has sold over 75 million albums in their 27 year career and are second only to the Beatles in the number of Gold albums they have been awarded.

Alive IV

Also announced today is the set-list for Alive IV, personally I think it's a little bit disappointing (especially as we've already had the bonus Psycho Circus CD), it would have been nice for some of the lesser played tracks thought the reunion to be included (eg C'mon & Love Me). Also why the hell are extra tracks always included on the Japanese releases, why not all releases?? It will be released on March 28th. At least all of the 80's tracks from the Vancouver show are there.

Track Listing: 

Psycho Circus, Shout It Out Loud, Deuce, Heaven's On Fire, Into The Void, Firehouse, Do You Love Me, Let Me Go Rock & Roll, I Love It Loud, Lick It Up, 100,000 Years, Love Gun, Black Diamond, Beth, Rock and Roll All Nite
Bonus Tracks for
Japan:

2000 Man, God Of Thunder, Detroit Rock City

13th Feb 2000 Top Ten - more info

The advert for next Saturdays Top Ten program on C4 is now airing and features KISS quite a lot - I'll have some screen grabs of it asap.

Here's some more info about the program courtesy of DigiGuide:-

"This week's Top Ten is a celebration of hard boys (and girls) with big hair and make-up - the Top Ten of US rock bands. Presenter ALICE COOPER counts down the chart and reveals legendary tales of bad behaviour from the masters of the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle. The Top Ten (in no particular order) are: MOTLEY CRUE, ZZ TOP, KISS, GUNS 'N' ROSES, HEART, AEROSMITH, POISON, BON JOVI, METALLICA and VAN HALEN.
 

From: Gary Banton
Here are some more Dressed To Kill dates.... 

Friday June 23rd - Crewe Limelight
Saturday June 24th - Stourbridge (nr Birmingham) Rock Cafe 2000

Hope to see you all there!

Cheers!

Gary (Gene in DTK)
 

Parasite gigs

Parasite have announced a couple of new gig dates :-

• March 4th, Grimsby, Spiders Web
• April 15th, Lincoln (venue unknown)

More details about the gigs as soon as I hear anything, so far I've been told to expect the return of the Fox and drum risers.......
 

3rd Feb 2000 Mike Japp Interview

Mike Japp who co-wrote several songs with KISS starting with the Paul Stanley solo album in 1978 has kindly given me an exclusive interview. Mike helped write 'Ain't Quite Right', 'Move On', and 'Take Me Away, (Together As One)' on Paul's solo album, 'Saint And Sinner' on Creatures Of The Night and 'Down On Your Knees' on Killers. Mike talks about his past with KISS and his brand new CD that has just been released.

<<Click here to read the Mike Japp Interview!>>

2nd Feb 2000 Skid Row may open for KISS

Carni-vinyl  Of Souls 

Fans of Carnival Of Souls may be pleased to hear that you can now get it on vinyl over here. Currently CD Zone are stocking it for a huge £19.96 (inc P&P).

1st Feb 2000 KISS Immortals pushed back

The release of the KISS Immortals 3D cartoons from the Multipath Movies site has been pushed back by 1 month to Feb 29th, but while you're waiting you can now download an an extra film from their site.

New Tribute Band

You may remember I mentioned a new KISS tribute (KIZZ) from Northern Ireland a while back. 'Gene' from the band has been in touch to let me know what's going on, look out for a picture of the band very soon. 

"I am the Gene Simmons clone gut and everything.  We done our first photo shoot yesterday (30/1/00) in our local bar in the disco which is closed due to it being sunday so as we could set up our logo etc.... Afterwards around 6.00pm when the public bar was full of people eating dinner having a quite drink we came stomping through the bar in full costume and make up!!!! Wow what a reaction we are hoping to be gigging in about 6 weeks time just fine tuning the music at present almost perfect."

Interviews

Keep checking out the site this week for the first of 2 interviews with some past co-writers with KISS.