KISSTIANITY

Kiss never do things by halves, and their Monster album and DVD, due in October, are preceded by a coffee-table book weighing in at over three stones. Tim Jones met the men behind the masks to find out more

Kiss have sold over 100 million albums and are known as the most commercially savvy rock band in the world, producing mountains of merchandise that are lapped up by Kiss kollectors akross the globe (that’s enough k’s – Ed.) Their 1976 Destroyer set is due out on 21 August as a 2-CD Resurrected Deluxe Edition with remix version and out-takes. But the New York-based quartet have outdone themselves with their aptly-titled Monster photo-history of the band, the tome standing over 3ft tall, hand-stitched, and containing over 100 unpublished shots from across their 40-year career. The volume was produced in 10 batches of 100, each with an embossed flag for each of Kiss’ biggest heartlands, such as the US and UK, signed and dedicated by the band. Each folio retails at $4,299, itself a monster figure, but with proceeds aiding military veterans’ charities such as Help For Heroes, this is one instance where more actually is more. RC asked singer/guitarist Paul Stanley, guitarist Tommy Thayer, bassist Gene Simmons and drummer Eric Singer, about the work charting their own road to excess.

Paul Stanley: We’re very proud of the book, charting the history of a band like us – though there is no band like us! We’ve never subscribed to limitations. So it’s groundbreaking. Particularly if you drop it on your …

by Tim Jones
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