Q & A with GENE SIMMONS : ‘I Want to Be a Ride at a Thrill Park’

Not much bothers Gene Simmons, whose cartoonish rock band KISS has shrugged off critics’ barbs for two decades while selling some 75 million albums worldwide and inspiring countless young musicians--from Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Hootie & the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker to Courtney Love and Garth Brooks.

But as the fortysomething bassist sits poolside at a West Hollywood hotel eating a lunch of Chinese chicken salad and iced tea on a bright, breezy day, he shifts uncomfortably in his chair.

“You’re going to write about the sparkling water and the palm trees swaying in the breeze, and it’s going to ruin the illusion,” says an only partly kidding Simmons, who had wanted to do the interview by phone. “We only come out at night. Night is right for KISS. Day shines too much light.”

For the first time since 1983, when the band first appeared without its trademark makeup, KISS is reapplying the greasepaint. The band’s original members--Simmons, drummer Peter Criss and guitarists Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley--will embark next month on a worldwide tour, opening with a June 15 appearance at KROQ’s “Weenie Roast” at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

Over lunch, Simmons talked about the band, the tour and whatever else seemed to suit him.

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Question: What prompted you to put the makeup on again after all these years?

Answer: We had these KISS conventions about a year ago, and fans didn’t just want to take pictures with us and ask us questions. They also wanted to hear tunes. So we started playing unplugged. And, of course, Ace and Peter [who both left the band in the early ‘80s] started coming around. And the more we hung out together, the more we forgot about what we’d been angry about or disappointed about [when Frehley and Criss left the band]. And then we started talking about bringing spectacle back to the world.

By anybody’s standards, the band has been very active and successful without makeup. As recently as a year and a half ago, we were headlining “Monsters of Rock” shows all up and down South America. But the fans have always wanted to see this. Year in, year out, letter after letter was always about bringing back the makeup and costumes.

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Q: Why did you ever take off the makeup?

A: It had run its course. By ’82 or so, we’d done it all--comic books, tours, toys, movies. The band had gone where no band had gone before, to quote “Star Trek.” If we would have continued, we would have been going over familiar ground. It would have been the magician pulling the same rabbit out of the same hat.

Q: Why does it feel right to bring it back now?

A: Everybody’s so damned depressed about everything, and there’s absolutely nothing to be depressed about. My philosophy is: Any day above ground is a good day. Everybody should get a life and stop whining--especially white, middle-class kids. What the [expletive] does anybody have to complain about? If you’re black and poor, I can almost buy it. But if you’re white and middle-class, shut the [expletive] up. And come to the show.

Q: That’s the antidote?

A: Maybe it’s a piece of the puzzle. For two or three hours, this show will blow your ass right off your body. If at that point you forget about your troubles, then it’s magic.

Q: Has it ever concerned you that KISS has a credibility problem with critics?

A: Don’t ask them. Ask the fans. Who bought the records? Time is the real judge. We’ve never been credible. We’re still not credible. But all the other bands that were credible are dead and six feet under the ground. Is my life dependent on whether or not some guy sitting in front of a typewriter gets it, or is it about the people? Is music the American way, by the people and for the people? Or is it for the select few who decide what’s cool? Critics are the enemy.

Q: Are you flattered that so many young bands have cited you guys as a major influence?

A: I’m shocked. The fact that anybody would like your stuff is one thing, but when somebody says, “Because of you, I picked up a guitar,” that’s the highest honor. It brings me back to when I was a kid. I liked everything--I loved Chubby Checker records and Albert King records--but when I saw the Beatles, it changed my life. I said, “I want to do that.”

Q: When did young musicians first start telling you that you had inspired them?

A: It started in the mid-’80s. The first 10 years of the band, people would say they liked our stuff. But then, [young musicians] would start telling me which show changed their life and made them pick up a guitar. It’s the sweetest revenge. Every band that critics love today came from a band that critics hated. It’s the ultimate.

Q: What bands do you like?

A: The Rentals, Civ, Presidents of the United States, Everclear, Garbage, Sonic Youth. I like ABBA and I love Live, this band. I love the music, but I hate the Live vibe: middle-class white kids making believe they have nothing to live for and they want to kill themselves. You can’t even do that anymore. It’s been done. Kurt Cobain. Boom! At the point when he killed himself, I can just imagine 50 lead singers in 50 depressive bands saying, “Beaten to the punch. Now I can’t kill myself and grab the headlines.”

Q: A lot of bands talk about affecting change. . . .

A: Not us. We have no role in life whatsoever. None. The only thing I want to do is sprinkle magic dust on everybody and say, “Just relax. Let us take you.” I want to be a ride at a thrill park that takes you for the ride of your life, where you just can’t help yourself and you’re screaming with delight and at the end of the ride you get off and you go, “Wow! What a great ride.”

* Original members of KISS, including Gene Simmons, will materialize in cyberspace today at 3 p.m. in the concert talk section of Ticketmaster Online at www.ticketmaster.com

After the chat, Ticketmaster and the group will unveil the complete KISS world tour schedule and announce on-sale dates.