• Richard Branson interview
• Interviews with Leila Ali (Muhammad's daughter), Jenna Jameson, Todd McFarlane (Spawn creator) and Rosanne
• Lots of pictures of Gene at parties (including one with Bruce Kulick's ex wife Christina).
• Finally an unmasked Gene interviews... The Demon! Haven't yet decided if this is genius or just plain barking mad.

The magazine can be purchased from www.genesimmonstongue.com.
 

Click here to read the full interview

"It could be in his genes, but meeting Gene Simmons proves he is, indeed, unabashed and unapologetic about anything and everything "FACING your demons" is a phrase we use to describe our confrontation with those things that haunt us.

Last week I faced my own demon -- Gene Simmons (pictured with yours truly), the ``demon'' from rock group Kiss.

Debating Simmons can be a roller-coaster ride. He is outspoken on many issues, including business, marriage and the way men and women tick. So outspoken that he is difficult to argue with. Simmons returns to Melbourne this week for a speaking tour, called Speaking in Tongues, organised by Madison.

But last week, during a promotional whistlestop, I had a chance to get into the mind of this man who has sold 80 million records, helped create a merchandising empire that has turned over $1 billion and whose autobiography is a bestseller.

Simmons, interesting and charismatic, has spoken to 11,000 at the University of Miami and to the gentlemen of the New York Stock Exchange. This from a man we have seen in demon make-up, spewing fire and pounding his bass on stage. Today, Simmons has his own magazine, book imprint and audio and fashion companies. He is ``happily unmarried'' to actor Shannon Tweed, with two children, Sophie, 10, and Nicholas, 13. He is the only child of Florence, a Nazi concentration camp survivor.

Before finding fame as a rock 'n' roller, he was a schoolteacher and studied to become a rabbi. We went head to head, while not much lunch was eaten.

ANN PEACOCK: Why do people want to listen to you talk about you?
GENE SIMMONS: People lead a paint-by-numbers lifestyle. They wind up doing things that they then have to pay the price for (at the expense of) their happiness . . . because their decisions for themselves are based upon what others want, whether it's marriage or political. I am unabashed and unapologetic about anything and everything.
AP: Who taught you to be like that?
GS: Nobody. Being of Jewish loins and being an only child helps. You don't spend too much time with anybody else and when you make a decision it is for yourself. My happiness shouldn't be a decision by committee, and I urge everyone to take note that ``selfish'' is not a bad word. Take a cue from the airlines. If, God forbid, something happens 30, 000 feet up in the air, they tell you to place the oxygen mask on your face first. In other words: Be selfish.
AP: As a father, how can you be so selfish, especially regarding a child's safety?
GS: It's the only way. I have to make decisions about travelling the world and working. If I don't take care of myself, I won't be able to help my child. Trying to stay alive is a selfish notion, but I do it for my children. First you have to do it for you. Take money: ``Make lots of money'' -- we are taught that this is bad, but it is good. ``More'' is a good word. England and America are remnants of the puritan ethic where you are taught that love is the most powerful instrument in the world. That's a lie. It's a fantasy.
AP: Selfishness is more important than love?
GS: Initially, yes. Money is the currency of love. You're standing on a street corner and the bus arrives, the doors open and you say to the bus driver: ``I have no money but I love you. Can I get on the bus?'' You are not going to get on the bus. One thing will get you on the bus -- cash. Cash is the currency that makes all things possible. Love buys you nothing unless you are a woman. You can parlay love into cash. Men, by and large, can't. That' s a woman's most powerful weapon -- that we crave you and are willing to do anything, such as build cities around you, just to have your love. It doesn't work the other way.
AP: What are your views on marriage?
GS: I'm not familiar with the term. It doesn't work if you get married. The statistics tell you that in a few years, you get divorced. For men, that will be the worst thing that ever happened. Apart from no longer having happiness, he is going to pay someone he has just met as a grown up 50 per cent of his gross pre-tax dollars, more than the government takes in taxes in your system here. In return, by the way, the government will give you police, military and infrastructure for your taxes. She (your wife) will share your bed if she feels like it. Who invented this system? The devil? The mother who gave me birth is getting nothing and this person I just met is supposed to take half.
AP: What are your principles regarding a work ethic?
GS: Always work. You have enough time to rest when you are six feet under. I am writing a new book called Buy This Vol. 1, and people may find many notions in there bizarre. But what I find bizarre is that someone 20 years old wants to have a vacation. Or not work seven days a week. It's the people who work hard who are identified as the players you want on your team.
AP: You have two children. What advice do you give them?
GS: They get different advice, but they both get the truth. I tell my daughter to stop playing Barbie dolls. That cuddling, nurturing instinct happens naturally. Instead, learn languages; learn computers because you are not -- as my daughter -- going to define yourself by a man.
AP: What do you think of successful women?
GS: I prefer it. I want the world to be predominantly run by women."
 

[From: KISS Forever Band]

• We played a couple of unplugged show on the last weeks here in Hungary, we recorded the concerts and next spring our second CD will come 
  out by the "Tom-Tom Records"! More info (song-list,etc)later.
• We will play 6 shows between 29th of Nov and 14th of Dec in Germany,for example in Munich with the Torpedo Girls, and on the opening party of 
  the biggest european Harley Davidson Store in Frankfurt!
  The dates:
• 29.11.2002 Frankfurt - Harley Davidson Store/VIP Party (unplugged)
• 30.11.2002 Frankfurt - Harley Davidson Store
• 04.12.2002 Munich - Garage Deluxe (with TG)
• 12.12.2002 Mainz - Kulturzentrum
• 13.12.2002 Ingolstadt - Eiskeller
• 14.12.2002 Pforzheim - Irelands own Irish Pub
• We will recording "Talk to me" for the next-coming tribute album by Shameless(he was on tour in the UK in October),it will by a whole album 
  with songs just from the "Unmasked" album.Slash's snakepit,Warrant,Pretty Boy Floyd will be on the album for example...

All the best,keep kissin'

Starchild/KFB

http://www.kissforeverband.hu
See also the KFB page at this site
 

There were about 4 cameras there videoing the event. 3 on tripods and one which a guy was using by going around thru the crowd. He also mentioned that it would be released on video, but no details about it. He didn't say anything about a 30th anniversary tour or studio album, but he did say that Alive 4 would be next year. He also mentioned something about the band breaking away from Universal.

Another thing he mentioned was, when he was asked whether Ace and Peter are confirmed for Melbourne, he said Peter is confirmed because he signed for it, but that he can't speak for Ace at this point. He calls Ace every week and says that he really wants him to do it, and actually begs him, tells him the fans really want him there also, but so far he just doesn't know what's going to happen. Also, he brought up a time when Ace was being like this about some previous event, but I can't remember which one, that in the end, Ace agreed to do it but only once they agreed to buy Ace's guitar a seat on the plane as well as Ace himself. He was basically pushing to see what he could get. For the Jamaica gig, they were literally offered millions to play for just one hour, and for whatever reason, Ace simply refused to do it. It was put on by some bankers (I think Russian...not 100% on that) who's fave band was Kiss. There were all these girls there and only a few guys. Offered millions and Ace wouldn't do it. There's only so much the band can do. I hope he does it.

I got him to sign a picture which was the back page of a magazine that came out about 1 or 2 years ago. It's an advertisement for his Axe Bass and shows him in his creatures costume playing it.

Glad I went, got his autograph, had a bit of a chit chat with him, it started at 8:30 and I got out of there about 1:20 am. He promised that he would sign something for every single person there. I was closer to the front of the line, he must have been there at least another 2 hours signing. He was very nice all throughout and happier I could not be.
 

[From: Jason Hunt, NEC]

www.musiclive.co.uk
 

Sneak preview of Sean Delaney's autobiography at November 11 KISS Expo Sean Delaney, who was one of the creative forces behind KISS from 1973-1982, will make his one and only European appearance at the November 11 KISS Expo in Holland (at De Kade in Zaandam). Not only will he sign autographs and pose for photos with the KISS fans, he will also tell his side of the story on what has been going on behind the scenes during the wild seventies. All the good shit, and all the bad shit - from the groundbreaking Alive! album to the inner band troubles, and from the incredible promotional campaigns to the maffia influence. Sean Delaney has been 
working on his autobiography for years and is looking at an early 2003 release. Tentatively titled Sean Delaney's Hellbox, the cover (see scan) features great artwork by Roy Young, an old friend of Sean's who has worked for McFarlane (Spawn) and Lady Death, Evil Ernie comic books as a colorist and illustrator.

Click here to visit KISS Kollector