GENE SIMMONS: KISS avatars will blow your mind
07-03-2024
Gene Simmons says that what he has seen of the KISS avatar show will “blow” fans’ minds.
The technology being used for the KISS avatars, originally developed for ABBA‘s “Voyage” show in London, will allow KISS to stay “on the road” in retirement.
The KISS avatars were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and were financed and produced by the Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which is behind “ABBA Voyage”.
Simmons addressed the KISS avatars in a new interview with Artists On Record Starring ADIKA Live!. Regarding what the avatar show will look like, he said: “Look, part of the fun of Christmas is when you open your present, you’re shocked and surprised and hopefully delighted. So why would I tell you in February what you’re gonna get for Christmas?”
He continued: “There’s so much hard work being done behind the scenes, and what I’ve seen will blow your mind. So in a very real way, our end is really like the caterpillar becoming the butterfly. The end is the beginning.”
This past December, Simmons said that “about 200 million” dollars is being invested into the KISS avatar show.
Unlike the “ABBA Voyage” show, which recreates a 1970s-era ABBA concert in a custom-built London arena, KISS‘s avatars that appeared at the band’s final concert in New York on December 2, 2023 will not be as grounded in reality as ABBA‘s digital replicas. According to BBC News, the KISS avatars will see the band appear as fantasy-based superheroes who are eight feet tall, breathing fire and shooting electricity from their fingers, while floating above the audience.
No details have been announced yet for KISS‘s plan with the band’s avatars. “We’re going to figure it out after the tour,” Pophouse CEO Per Sundin said prior to the final show at Madison Square Garden. “Is it a KISS concert in the future? Is it a rock opera? Is it a musical? A story, an adventure? These four individuals already have superpowers. We want to be as open as possible.”
The avatars will now be available for live shows around the world and in digital online settings, which some people collectively refer to as the metaverse.
KISS will reportedly become the first American band to go fully virtual and stage its own avatar show.
JOCOUP Creative, an experiential design firm co-founded by former Universal Creative director Thierry Coup and BRC and Universal Creative alumni Johanna “Jojo” Atilano, is also involved in the project. Coup has been announced as creative director of the KISS avatar show.
This past January, it was announced that Gene will perform with his solo band, the GENE SIMMONS BAND, on Friday, April 26 at the Brazilian edition of the Summer Breeze festival at Memorial da América Latina in São Paulo.
In addition to Simmons, the GENE SIMMONS BAND members for this date will include guitarists Brent Woods (WILDSIDE, SEBASTIAN BACH, VINCE NEIL) and Zach Throne (COREY TAYLOR) alongside drummer Brian Tichy (LYNCH MOB, THE DEAD DAISIES, WHITESNAKE, BILLY IDOL, FOREIGNER, PRIDE & GLORY, SLASH’S SNAKEPIT).
Back in 2017 and 2018, the GENE SIMMONS BAND played a number of shows with a lineup that consisted of Simmons alongside guitarist/bassist Jeremy Asbrock, guitarist Ryan Cook, guitarist Phil Shouse and drummer Brent Fitz.
Six years ago, Simmons stated about his solo shows: “Doing these smaller concert halls, which hold a thousand to three thousand people, means they get filled up by real diehard fans. They don’t want to hear the ‘same old, same old.’ They want to hear nuggets, as they say. It’s a hoot for me because I’ve never really had a chance to do this stuff live. It’s been a lot of fun.” Gene told the Chicago Sun-Times: “By the end, I get the chance to bring as many people from the audience as we can fit on the stage to sing with me.”
Regarding how the idea for a solo tour came about, Simmons told Australia’s Advertiser in a 2018 interview: “The GENE SIMMONS BAND was not a plan or anything. About a year ago, a corporate event asked me to be keynote speaker … then they said, ‘Won’t you get up and sing a few tunes?’ I explained that you can’t just do that, you’ve got to have a band and rehearse and all that. They said, ‘Well, we’ll pay you X dollars more,’ and I said, ‘I like you!’ “So I put together a band from Nashville — these guys back up Kid Rock and lots of other people — and without a single rehearsal, I just told them which songs I wanted to do and they learned them. It just sounded natural — there is such a thing called chemistry. They don’t teach that anywhere — I mean, they do teach ‘chemistry’ but not the kind I’m talking about. It felt right and as soon as the videos went on YouTube and such, people were calling. This little GENE SIMMONS BAND never tried to be KISS… It was just a little bit of fun and stuff. Now all of a sudden, we’re headlining festivals in the Czech Republic, Canada, Germany… It’s crazy.”
KISS played the final concert of its “End Of The Road” farewell tour on December 2, 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Regarding why now was the right time for KISS to call it quits, Simmons told USA Today: “The touring band that is KISS with the makeup and the dragon boots and fire-breathing, that has to stop and that has to do with Mother Nature and Father Time. If we were a blues band or I was blessed to be Keith Richards in THE ROLLING STONES, I’d show up in my comfy sneakers and T-shirt and stand still and play. But we’re different bands. Physically, we are the hardest-working band on the stage. We idolize (Mick) Jagger and Bono and the great showmen, but if you put those guys in my outfit, they would pass out in half an hour. It’s 40 pounds of armor and studs and seven-inch dragon boots that are about the weight of a female bowling ball. So you’ve got 20 pounds on your feet and then you’ve got to spit fire, fly through the air and the entire band is doing that for two-plus hours. If you have any love for the fans, get off the stage before it’s too late. How many boxers have stayed too long in the ring? We’re doing the right thing.”
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