Sky News Australia recently hosted KISS bassist Gene Simmons for an interview with Erin Molan, where he shared his thoughts on fame and his public image.
“I just wanna say, I don’t wanna wait for anybody to say, but I’m very impressive,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me if anybody thinks so. I think so.”
When Molan asked him if he ever got annoyed when people didn’t recognize him, the bassist replied, “I could give a f*ck. Just pay me. Really, fame is highly overrated if it’s free.”
Since KISS announced their retirement from live shows in December 2023, Simmons focused on his solo band, which wrapped up a tour in August. Still, he and his former bandmates returned for a new project to get back on stage.
The group is now teaming up with Pophouse Entertainment to create virtual avatars for future shows. This technology was also used by ABBA for their ‘Voyage’ performances in London. Paul Stanley believes their version will be better than that thanks to advances in technology, though.
“So, we’ll be working with ILM [Industrial Light & Magic], with George Lucas’s company, and we’re creating something that’s not a concert,” the frontman recently explained. “The idea of a hologram, and it’s not a hologram, but that term seems to get thrown around a lot, but the idea of a simulated concert is not what we wanna do.”
The singer hyped up the upcoming performances, adding, “It’s a must-see go-to experience. So, it’s beyond anything that anyone else has contemplated. The whole idea, again, of doing a simulated concert is—that’s the dark ages to us.”
According to Gene Simmons, the virtual project will cost around $200 million and won’t be ready until 2027.
