KISS DRUMMER ERIC SINGER DOESN’T UNDERSTAND WHY FANS CRITICIZE HIM FOR WEARING THE “CATMAN” MAKEUP
KISS drummer Eric Singer spoke with The Cassius Morris Show about the fact that some fans continue to criticize him for wearing original KISS drummer Peter Criss’ “Catman” makeup. Here is what Singer had to say (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net):
“It’s always been a non-issue for me, emotionally or otherwise. And I don’t mean that disrespectfully to anybody that it is important to them; that’s fine and that’s cool. The only thing I don’t understand… I shouldn’t say ‘don’t understand’… What I don’t get is for those fans either fans or former fans that continually complain not just about that issue, but anything to do with KISS, and continue to say how they’re done with the band, and ‘I’m over it,’ and ‘I hate it,’ but yet they continue to talk about it non-stop. I just don’t understand that point of view or that thought process, because me, myself, when I’m done with something, whether it’s a former friend, ex-girlfriend… anything… a band… or product. If I don’t like the way a product… If they change the way the product tastes or the way it looks, if I don’t like it anymore, guess what?! I go, ‘Oh, okay. I don’t really care for it anymore.’ I stop buying it, I stop supporting it, or I don’t listen to it, I don’t eat it… Whatever it is, I move on from it. And I go, ‘Okay, I move on. I don’t like it anymore.’ It’s like having your favorite restaurant and all of a suddent they change the menu. Or they change the cook and you go, ‘Hey, the food doesn’t taste the same anymore. I’m not really digging it.’ What do you do? Instead of keep going there and going, ‘Hey, you know, I don’t like that you changed the cook,’ and ‘I think that you need to get that old cook back,’ and ‘You need do this.’ I don’t do that. I just go, ‘All right. Something is not right,’ or, ‘I don’t care for it anymore.’ And I don’t go. And I don’t buy it and I don’t support it. It’s just simple.”
He continued: “Now, maybe I’m looking at it too ‘black and white,’ but, for me, I just don’t really fully understand fans, or former fans, that have that point of view. I get the passion part, I get that a band like KISS means a lot to them, or it had a real impact on their life — I get it — but it had a real impact on me too, ’cause guess what?! I play in the band, you know, so of course I care; it means something to me. But I don’t understand the people that can’t just move on and go do… If you don’t like it, or you have a problem with something, respectfully just move on and, great. For those who like it or wanna enjoy it, cool.”
Singer added: “I’m not saying that you should just blindly go, ‘Oh, I agree with anything the band does and I don’t care.’ No, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is, if you really, really have a distaste for it, if you’re gonna be mad just because the band is not doing what you want, then go, ‘Okay, I’m not into it anymore.’ That’s what I did my whole life when it came to bands. When a band kind of changed the musical sound or direction and I kind of lost interest in them, I stopped buying the records and I didn’t go to the concerts, and like I said, I didn’t hate them; I just, ‘Okay, well, I’m not really into it anymore.'”
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine earlier in the year, Eric accused Criss and original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley of being hypocritical in their criticisms of other people wearing their makeup. “This is something that I notice that nobody seems to point out. When I came in to play with the makeup, Ace was in the band, and had no problem with me playing with Peter’s makeup while he went onstage and made that KISS money. In fact, he loved it, and he didn’t want Peter back in the band. And then go forward the next year, when Ace decided to leave. When we fast forward, all of a sudden they bring Peter back, and you got Tommy Thayer playing guitar wearing the Ace makeup, and all of a sudden, no one minded it was Ace’s makeup design. Peter had no problem, did he?”
Pressed about the fact that some people see what he and guitarist Tommy Thayer do in KISS now as almost an impersonation, Singer said: “Here’s the thing that’s ridiculous. I love when people say that, because the reality is, I’m not impersonating. Because I wear the makeup that he wore? Did they come up with their designs? Yes. Of course. But it’s not an extension of their personality. Peter wasn’t a cat. Peter Criss was a cat? They had to create a character. You know something? I don’t know if he even had a pet cat. Come on, it’s ridiculous.”
Asked if he tries to play like Peter onstage, Singer replied: “I’ve always played the way I play. I play like Eric Singer. I don’t play like Peter Criss. I don’t try to play like Peter Criss. I don’t mimic him on stage. Bottom line is, though, am I playing KISS songs? Yes. Am I playing songs that were originally played by Peter, and learning parts that Peter played or originally wrote? Yes, of course. But guess what? I did the same thing when I played in BLACK SABBATH or played with Brian May or played with Alice Cooper.”
Listen to Singer’s interview with The Cassius Morris Show below.
additional source: blabbermouth.net
I agree with him for the most part. I listen to the old kiss albums and watch the old videos and am not interested in the new band that much. Singer has been in the band a long time and deserves credit for the job he does. He is a good musician.
He’s not “impersonating”? He sings Beth while dressed as Peter Criss’s character, playing the drums. I could believe him if Gene or Paul sang it, but he straight up impersonates Peter. That’s what he was hired to do, why deny it? Tommy as well.
At this point, I really don’t care anymore, beyond the fact that the reason I every wanted to play drums or guitar was because of Peter and Ace.
It’s a theatric joke at this point, and I haven’t purchased a new album by them in decades.
My thoughts exactly
Here we go again, comparing KISS to other bands Listen, CopyCat: Kiss has never, EVER been “just a band”, you know exactly what I mean. You make sure you give the “right” answers and say “the right” things because your bosses will hang you if you don’t. Simmons goes on ridiculous rants about how “The Beatles didn’t have original members”, etc. and that’s ludicrous, simply because NOBODY KNEW WHO THE BEATLES WERE when Best was the drummer! WHO CARES if Brian Jones was replaced in The Stones! Kiss and The Beatles are the only 2 rock bands ever who you instantly know who they are just by their faces, and the Kiss that will be remembered is The Fearsome Foursome, and that doesn’t include you, Singer. And the fact that you sing “Beth in concert DISGUSTS ME. That’s Peter’s song, leave it alone! Get your own, for chrissake. You say you “get” the passion we have. No, you do not. This is like Star Wars. That kind of passion and the one the old timer fans have for Kiss is well above and beyond anything else in entertainment. THAT IS NOT JUST A BAND, you fool!
Watching the actual Peter criss sing Beth is no treat either. That’s when I go take a leak and get another beer.
I listened to Dressed To Kill about a week ago. I don’t know why, I guess I was bored and saw the album in my record rack and hadn’t heard it in ages and decided to put it on. It’s not a regularly referenced Kiss album, compared to others like Destroyer or Alive. But it’s a good record. I just put it on the stereo, went out in my back yard with some beer, pointed the speakers at the windows and just enjoyed the album while watching my two dumbass dogs chase squirrels. Good times. That has nothing to do with this story or what Eric said, but I’ve already made my peace with this subject. Original Kiss is sacred to me. Ace, Peter, Gene and Paul as a band are part of my life and always will be. What they’re doing now is no longer worth getting upset about, mainly because it does no good to get upset about it.
Merry Kissmas everyone!
Eric is right…I do not lik that he and Tommy are in the makeup (not their own), but Ace and Peter created this situation by leaving several times, so how Paul and Gene handled this may not be how I would’ve liked, but it’s a tough situation, and I think more people don’t mind than mind. I suggest listening to Chris Jericho’s podcast last week with Paul Stanley…it is by far the best interview I have ever heard from anyone in Kiss. No contrived Paul Stanelyisms or bs, just great conversation and I was shocked how good Jericho was at the questioning. Paul very eloquently talks about the RRHOF, Ace and Peter in General and the issues some have with Tommy and Eric in the makeup…it is the interview Eddie would want with Paul and remember I AM NOT A FAN OF THE CURRENT KISS. I see the comments on this site are usually swayed toward not liking the current Kiss, which is fine, but the continued banter that Paul and Gene ruined Kiss is absurd on so many levels…they did not ruin anything, and in fact they kept it going for 40 years and counting. I wish the originals never broke up, but shit happens and if it weren’t for the makeup Tommy and Eric would be embraced by most