KISS in concert this Friday

By JOHN BENSON

entertainment@vindy.com

You can’t believe everything (or anything) you read on the Internet; however, after a quick search of concert dates, it appears rock band KISS last played Youngstown in 1974 at the Tomorrow Club.

That means it only took 42 years to get Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and company back to Northeast Ohio. That’s right, KISS is scheduled to play Friday at Covelli Centre. The 2014 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee act, which since the ’70s has released 44 albums and sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, is currently on its “Freedom to Rock Tour.”

The Vindicator recently talked to Simmons via phone about fresh towels, “Rock and Roll All Nite,” and the band’s legacy.

Q. Good afternoon Mr. Simmons.

A. Hold on a second, someone is at my door. (After a minute he returns)

Q. Did they bring you extra towels?

A. How do you know about that? Yes, extra towels.

Q. It appears the last time KISS played Youngstown was in 1974 when the band was on its “Hotter Than Hell Tour.” Thinking back to that tour, what comes to mind?

A. What you had to do then is much more honest than what happens now. There was no “American Idol” or anything. You had to get into your station wagon, which is what we were in, and a big crew bus behind us and a truck, and go city to city, roll up your sleeves and prove it. That’s much more honest and how we cut our teeth. We went to Youngstown and Toledo and Cleveland. We played a series of Agoras all over. In fact, we set one of the Agoras on fire. That was a lot of fun. We were doing our job.

Q. Tell us about the “Freedom to Rock Tour.”

A. I’m proud to say, the tour doesn’t have any New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago dates. We’re visiting places like Youngstown. Yesterday we were in Richmond for a big outdoor show but that ain’t Richmond, Virginia. That’s Richmond, Illinois, where there were more people at the concert than lived in the town. We’re bringing the A game to Youngstown because those are the cities that made us in the first place. Also, on this tour we’re teaming up with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and we’re hiring veterans locally. They get paid, we honor them, bring them up on stage and they help our road crew put on the greatest show on earth.

[Editor’s note: Simmons is referring to the Roadie for a Day program, coordinated by Hiring Heroes, which selects military veterans to spend the day backstage, helping the band. Retired Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kathy Gregory of Dayton will have that honor for the show at Covelli. KISS has donated $150,000 to Hiring Heroes, a program of the U.S. Chamber that finds jobs for veterans.]

Q. Considering the “Freedom to Rock Tour” is hitting smaller markets KISS hasn’t played in decades, are you opening up the setlist?

A. It runs the gamut over 40 years of stuff. We do some stuff we haven’t done perhaps ever. “Flaming Youth,” which is off of “Destroyer.” But we try sometimes not to do “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” and give fans some chestnuts. So we try to mix it up and change the setlist every once in a while. And no matter how many times we’ve done “Rock and Roll All Nite,” we haven’t done it in Youngstown in 40 years. So we’re going to do “Rock and Roll All Nite.”

Q. How do you get up for a song like “Rock and Roll All Nite,” which, as you said, KISS has been playing for 40 years?

A. It’s the roar of the crowd and the smell of the greasepaint. In our case, every word of that is true. You get aches and pains and you pull a muscle or you’re tired going from city to city, and the cure to all of that is the roar of the crowd. That is like a shot of adrenaline. All of a sudden you just can’t wait to get out there. It’s amazing.

Q. KISS was finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame a few years ago. How big was that for the band?

A. Honestly, I never thought much about it. We won the lottery as soon as fans started coming out and seeing us. When the KISS Army was born in 1975, we thought we hit the jackpot like, “Wow, you can stay true to yourself, not worry about what any other band looked like or sounded like.” Just as the Greeks used to say, “To thine own self be true.” And still get fans. We don’t fit any [expletive] mould. We don’t look like your next door neighbors. We don’t dress up like your favorite band. KISS is KISS. It’s definitively itself and in that way we’ve always been anti-fashion because fashion is fleeting. And people like lemmings tend to follow other people because you want to be a part of a crowd. When you go to our concerts, it defies logic because it’s multigenerational. You have hot girls and guys in cowboy hats. It’s everything for everybody.

Q. What’s the legacy of KISS?

A. I know what it is. It’s very clear to us. We have raised the bar, and I’m not delusional about this. We have raised the bar of what should fans rightly expect and accept for anybody they’re paying hard-earned money they’re going to see live. We’ve raised the bar of the live show. So the next time you go see (Paul) McCartney, who is one of my favorites, and you see fireballs and special effects, where did that come from? Air Supply?

Q. Finally, Youngstown is looking forward to KISS’ return. And you better believe we’ll have plenty of fresh towels ready.

A. (laughs) That’s a good idea. I should call ahead.