Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have not ruled out the involvement of past members on KISS’s “End Of The Road” Except Vinnie Vincent, Vincent has canceled his previously announced comeback shows.
Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have not ruled out the involvement of past members on KISS‘s “End Of The Road”farewell tour, but only in a guesting capacity.
In the months after KISS announced the trek, fans wondered openly if Ace Frehley and Peter Criss would be involved in the tour, especially considering the apparent current goodwill between Paul and Gene and Ace. Frehley‘s new album “Spaceman” — a title suggested by Simmons himself — features two songs the pair wrote together, and the duo recently completed a joint tour of Australia, after which Frehley fired his solo backing band and hired Simmons‘s. Stanley, meanwhile, appeared on Frehley‘s previous studio album, the 2016 covers set “Origins, Vol. 1”.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Simmons said that appearances by Frehley and Crisshave not been taken off the table.
“Ace and Peter have gotten three chances,” he said. “They were in and out of the band — fired — three times. For drugs, alcohol, bad behavior, being unprofessional … they weren’t carrying their load. … So the short answer to your question is we’d love to have Ace and Peter join us here and there. And if they don’t, it’s not going to be because of us. But they’re never going to be in KISS again.”
He added: “Three times is the charm; ‘I promise I’ll pull out’ doesn’t work. It’s the boy who cried wolf: ‘Oh, I’ve been straight for a million years.’ Terrific! Have a good life! … Would we welcome Ace or Peter to jump up onstage for a song or two? Of course. Could we depend on either Aceof Peter to do a full set night after night? Not on your fucking life.”
Stanley said that “it’s really not up to” him whether former KISS members join the band onstage for a guest appearance on the upcoming tour. “But I’ll say that this is a celebration of this band and its accomplishments and its history,” he said. “So anybody who was shortsighted enough to think this should be a reunion is missing the point. That being said, I would love to see everybody at one point or another be onstage. And if that doesn’t happen, it’s their choice, not mine.”
Both Simmons and Stanley spoke in glowing terms about former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick. “We love Bruce,” Simmons said. “He was always professional and showed up on time. … So I can never say anything bad about Bruce.” “Bruce is somebody who shouldn’t be overlooked or underestimated as far as his role in the band,” Stanley added.
Stanley and Simmons were far less enthusiastic about the possibility of an onstage collaboration with Vinnie Vincent. “Now Vinnie, that’s one exception, and for so many reasons,” Stanley said. “I would say that’s not someone who I want to celebrate.”
Simmons also chimed in, explaining that “it’s worth stating that Vinnie has sued the band and lost 14 times. I’m not here to cast any aspersions. He’s a talented guy. That’s why he was in the band. But would I depend on him to get up onstage and do anything? Never. … Can he come to the shows? Of course! Anybody can. But onstage? Never.”
The first North American leg of “End Of The Road” will launch January 31 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at Rogers Arena and will hit an additional 43 cities.
The touring lineup features the current version of the band — Stanley, Tommy Thayer, Gene Simmons and Eric Singer.
Kulick said during a recent interview with Rock Titan that he’d “love to be there” if given the chance to participate in KISS‘s farewell tour. “Obviously, if there’s ever an opportunity where they did want to pay a little tribute to any of the other eras, they know I’d be there,” he said. Vinnie Vincent also voiced similar sentiments during an interview with BackstageAxxess last year. “If they ask me, I’ll be there,” he said. “They’re still my buds, my friends, and [there’s] a lot of love left. A lot of magic left.”
Frehley rejoined his former bandmates last October during the 2018 “Kiss Kruise” to perform an acoustic set of KISS classics. Also appearing with them was Kulick.
“End Of The Road” is expected to continue for more than two years.
Former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent has canceled his previously announced comeback shows.
Derek Christopher, the promoter of the event, says that Vincent “has sent a notification letter that he will not be performing the concerts scheduled for February 8th and 9th, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee.”
Christopher adds: “While we cannot discuss the terms of the contract due to a confidentiality clause within the contract, we are shocked at this development, and it is, unfortunately, beyond our control. The matter has been turned over to our attorney. As they say, it’s ‘now in the hands of the lawyers.’ In the meantime, every ticket and meet-and-greet order will be automatically refunded in full.
“We want to thank everyone who worked so diligently and tried so hard to make these shows happen. A lot of really good people were involved and tried to make these shows a reality for the fans.”
Vincent‘s plan for his comeback has publicly changed several times. In the initial announcement, the show — which was originally slated to happen in November — was described as a true solo gig with Vinnie singing and playing songs from his career on acoustic guitar and telling stories about the old days.
Vincent had tapped drummer Carmine Appice (VANILLA FUDGE, ROD STEWART, JEFF BECK, BLUE MURDER) and bassist Tony Franklin (DAVID GILMOUR, JIMMY PAGE, THE FIRM) to join him at the Nashville concerts.
Robert Fleischman, a former member of JOURNEY and Vincent‘s post-KISS band VINNIE VINCENT INVASION, was supposed to sing for Vinnie but abruptly pulled out of the project in November, saying that he was unhappy about elements of the production.
Last summer, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons suggested in an interview that Vincentwas “his own worst enemy” and expressed his doubt that Vinnie would successfully relaunch his career.
“There’s something called the classic failure mechanism, which I was told by doctors and everything — I’m not saying he is one,” Simmons said at the time when asked about Vincent‘s attempt to trademark the name “Vinnie Vincent’s Kiss”. “But there are people who simply cannot handle when things are starting to go their way — success — so they torpedo it by making stupid decisions to make sure they don’t succeed, so they can deal with that.”
Vincent — who was a member of KISS when the band publicly “unmasked” in 1983 — made several public appearances last year after spending the past two decades out of the public eye.
Vinnie joined KISS in 1982, replacing Ace Frehley. As the “Ankh Warrior,” he toured with the group in support of “Creatures Of The Night”, on which he played lead guitar on six songs prior to becoming an official member of the band.
