ANTHRAX GUITARIST SCOTT IAN DEFENDS KISS’ DECISION NOT TO PLAY AT THE ROCK N’ ROLL HALL OF FAME CEREMONY
According to blabbermouth.net, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has defended KISS’ Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons for their announcement that no members of KISS will be playing at the April 10th Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn.
Speaking to Rover’s Morning Glory, a syndicated hot-talk/comedy radio show airing weekday mornings on Cleveland rock station WMMS (100.7 FM), Ian joked, “Look, I’ve got Gene Simmons tattooed on my leg, so whatever Gene says is what goes.”
He continued, “I’m a [KISS] fan, just like everyone else, and would I wanna see, if I was going… I’m not going to the Hall Of Fame thing, so would I wanna see the four original dudes back in makeup one more time? Of course I would, as a fan. But bands don’t do things dictated by what the audience wants. A band would last about a year if that’s how you worked. You have to do things the way you wanna do them.
KISS has been around for 40 years and are bigger now than they were in 1977 because Gene and Paul make smart decisions — that’s why. So, as a fan, and if you love them, you have to abide by the decisions that Gene and Paul are making for their brand and their band. So, why people get so upset over these things, I really don’t understand. Like, if they decided they were playing with [current KISS members] Tommy [Thayer, guitar] and Eric [Singer, drums], so fine. That’s what they’re doing. This is their band. This has been the lineup for a long time now.
I get it — those two guys [Tommy and Eric] aren’t the guys who are getting into the Hall Of Fame [with Paul and Gene], it’s Ace and Peter… you know, I get it. So I think they made the right decision now by saying, ‘We’re just not gonna play. You can’t please everybody. We’re just gonna shut it down and just not do it.’ I get it. I understand.”
additional source: blabbermouth.net
Thayer ought to put a band together with Singer. Get Sarzo. Carlos as the duel lead. Whatta mother that would be. Yes the ’14 line-up can bring it on huge but even on the worst day the ’78 line-up is killer. 4 tunes was all that was asked.
What’s so funny is the irony…Ian wants to come across as this big rock star insider, and we, the clueless fans, just don’t get it. But he is exactly like those drooling tattooed Kiss fanatics who will march along with anything that Gene and Paul say. I actually don’t have a problem with other people wearing the original Kiss makeup; my problem is with the way it was handled, all of the trash talking about Ace and Peter, which they responded to in their books. If there is a passing of the torch it should be done with respect for the Kiss brand, and like it or not, Ace and Peter are very much a part of that brand.