Latest UK News

Kevin Curtis has just sent me a review of the Guitar Hero event last week in London.

Click here to read the review and see the pictures!

FIRST EVER GAMING GUITAR IS INDUCTED INTO THE HISTORIC HARD ROCK HALL OF FAME BY THE UK'S BIGGEST KISS FAN

To mark the launch of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the first ever gaming guitar has been inducted in to the legendary Hard Rock Hall of Fame by the UK's biggest Kiss Fan Kevin Curtis. A member of the world's longest running KISS tribute band, Kevin was on hand to unveil the guitar which was framed and signed by KISS front man and rock god, Gene Simmons. The gaming controller now sits alongside historic memorabilia from such rock royalty as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley, where Guitar Hero has taken its rightful place in the pantheon of rock music lore as part of the Hard Rock Hall of Fame.

"Guitar Hero is a rock n roll icon and has made an incredible impact on the music industry," added Marc Carey, Regional Sales & Marketing, Hard Rock Europe. "We are delighted to be part of the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock launch and to be inducting such an influential piece of music and gaming memorabilia into our collection. Hard Rock owns over 79,000 pieces of authentic music memorabilia that are proudly displayed in our cafes, hotels and casinos around the world. I have no doubt that one of the brand-new guitar controllers signed by Gene Simmons will be a welcome addition."

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is available from 24th September on the Xbox 360(r) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation(r)3 computer entertainment system developed by Neversoft Entertainment as well as Wii(tm) from Vicarious Visions.  The new game invites all budding warriors of rock to join with their friends in an epic journey to save rock n' roll.  Featuring an impressive 90+ track set list, a totally redesigned rock-inspired guitar controller and a host of all-new gameplay features, living room legends and their friends can strum, drum and wail in the most immersive music videogame experience to date.

As you may have noticed a few days ago we were looking for a Gene fan to visit London this week. This was for a PR event being help on behalf of Activision to promote the new version of Guitar Hero featuring Gene doing a voice over. The PR company wanted someone to dress up as Gene and put a signed GH controller up on the wall of the Hard Rock Cafe in London. Kevin Curtis (forum moderator) was the "lucky" volunteer literally at the last minute! Sadly the "Gene" costume was actually an Ace costume but never mind, by all accounts Kev had a blast. The following article was on the Classic Rock website today (picture is also from there), I am currently awaiting some photos to publish here, hopefully tomorrow. Note that for the article Kev never actually said he was "in Dressed To Kill"! BTW, thanks also to Gary & Chris for offering to help with this.

From Classicrockmagazine.com:-

For the first time ever, a gaming guitar has been inducted into the Hard Rock Hall Of Fame. Today the game Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock is been officially launched – and it’s narrated by Gene Simmons. The Kiss bassist has signed one of the gaming guitars, which was unveiled by Kiss megafan Kevin Curtis. A member of Dressed To Kill, the world’s longest-running Kiss tribute band, celebrated the guitar’s induction in full Simmons make-up and costume, as pictured below.

The Coveroo competition is now closed, thanks to everyone who entered, we had a great response this time but a lot of people got the question about the name of the current US tour wrong! I now have a Coveroo case for my Nokia and can confirm they are very good quality and are made with original cases direct from the manufacturers. I will be in touch with the winners shortly.

Click here to see if you were a winner!

If you are a huge fan of Gene and would be available to be in London this Wednesday (22nd Sep) then please contact me asap. There is some promo work taking place for the new version of Guitar Hero and they need a Gene fan to help out.

Apologies for the lateness with this, I've been away. Sadly Eric Carr's mother, Concetta "Connie" Caravello passed away on Friday September 3rd at the age of 81. Our thoughts go out to all of her family, in particular to Loretta who has been of great help to this site over the past years.

Full details can be read over at the record online website.

Please feel free to post a comment over at this thread on the KISSin' Uk Forum: http://www.kissinuk.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8457

A new song called 'Call Paul Stanley' has just been released from a band called Bad City (Atlantic Records). Their album 'Welcome to the Wasteland' has only just been released on iTunes. The band are all big fans of KISS and wrote the song about a young rock star who somehow stumbles upon Paul Stanley's phone number and calls him up in the middle of the night.

Good thing is that we have permission to give away the MP3 from KISSin' UK, please download it and if you like what you hear check them out on iTunes. File will be available for a limited time, please right-click on the link and select 'Save Target As'.

Click here to download 'Call Paul Stanley'

More info on the band can be found at http://www.badcitymusic.com

Thanks to Coveroo, I have 2 superb KISS mobile phone/iPhone/iPad covers to give away. Coveroo produce custom mobile phone covers for a variety of phones all of which are genuine parts rather than just a sticker or skin, they have 10 custom KISS designs and will of course ship to the UK.

All you have to do to enter is answer the 3 easy questions found below.

Click to enter the competition!

The following article appeared in The Mail:-

'KISS the Queen,' she wrote - a reference to both the rockers and the fact she now has more Twitter followers than anyone else in the world.

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons has openly admitted to being a Gaga fan, describing her as the 'female version' of the band. 'I love the vibe, the big mouth and the big visuals," he has said. 'She's the most exciting thing to happen since us. She's a female version of us.'

Simmons, 60, has even claimed that Gaga's off-the-wall fashion sense and theatrical style could have been inspired by Kiss and credits her success to her ability to connect with her fans. 'One of the first things we learned was to treat the audience as the guv'nor,' he said. 'When they buy a ticket they become your boss. We just work here. She realizes that her fans deserve the best you got because they pay your wages."'

Meanwhile it appears Lady Gaga is so devoted to bringing music to her fans that she even sleeps in the studio! Well, that's the impression she gave yesterday with her post on Twitter, messaging her fans, who she calls her 'little monsters.'

'Haven't left the studio,' she tweeted. 'Each song I write, I feel closer to you. Miss you little monsters, little inspirations. X ' The post was accompanied by a photograph of the pop diva seemingly in her bed, despite the fact she appeared to be wearing a full face of makeup.

KISS are up for 2 Classic Rock Awards this year - Band Of The Year and also Album Of The Year for Sonic Boom. The awards will be hosted by Alice Cooper and will take place in London on 10 November.

Cast your votes here - http://awards2010.classicrockmagazine.com/