English translation from the Swedish Pop Magazine OKEJ. OKEJ was more or less the only music magazine in Sweden during the 1980’s and almost 90% of Swedish youth read it and then talked about in school. Are you interested in the OKEJ magazine phenomena, read more here!
GLITTER ROCK'S PROUD FLAGSHIP
KISS
- ON TOUR IN THE USA
Heavy rock'n'roll, playing lights, effects, glitter and a world-famous, reptile-long tongue as usual KISS takes its audience by storm!
They will soon finish their tour in the USA and then they will record a new LP - we can expect to see the supergroup on a Swedish stage at the earliest in August!
Paul Stanley laughs contentedly - this should once and for all silence the doomsday scoundrels who stubbornly claimed that Kiss has no chance without makeup and futuristic fantasy costumes. Sold-out giant arenas, cheering crowds and a gigantic show of a rarely seen kind Circus Kiss rolls on and nothing seems to be able to stop the group!
- We don't need an image, says Paul with pride in his voice. We are the image ourselves! It's the songs, the music and the show that apply, everything else is irrelevant. And who thinks you can judge a book by studying its cover?
How true it is. Kiss are well aware of their strength and now their ambition is to step up to a higher class and series, to be taken seriously for the first time in their career and to compete with the big boys. Kiss has tired of the nursery.
- It is mainly in Sweden that we have such young fans, says Paul. Of course, we like them just as much as the others, but the phenomenon as such is quite strange. Everywhere else in the world, fans are between 18 and 25 years old, but in Sweden they are much younger. I have no explanation for this.
As usual, he exaggerates a little, the happy-talker Paul Stanley. In the USA it can be difficult to get into a concert venue if you are under 14, but the audience is still very youthful and the average is probably more like 16 or 17 years old. The difference between Swedish and American fans is not as startlingly large as it has been claimed.
ROCK IS REBELLION
The age limits in the USA are due to this ridiculous debate about hard rock, violence and sex. Kiss has always been in the firing line, ever since the start and it has hardly gotten better lately. It's really stupid, all the kids get to see violence, detective stories and science fiction films on TV, but they're not allowed to go to a Kiss concert!
- We don't advocate violence, not in any way. On the contrary - we are against violence! What we do on stage is just a show, a spectacle that should be nice to watch and at the same time tickle the imagination a little.
Although it's good that parents warn us, Paul continues. Rock stands for rebellion and we have always been on the side of the kids. Imagine how terrible it would be if the situation were reversed, if we were accepted by our parents - in that case we would have stopped playing a long time ago!...
But Kiss has no plans to stop - not for many years. The album "Asylum" was not quite the sales success that was hoped for, but the results have still been relatively decent and the group's fans are of the faithful and loyal kind. Already two new albums are in the preliminary planning - a studio recording and then a live triple set!
The studio LP will possibly be recorded in Stockholm, which has become something of a second home for Stanley and Simmons - here they enjoy themselves, here they can take it easy and relax and, not least, here are the tall, blonde, beautiful girls...
ADJUSTED PROGRAM
But now it's about touring and Circus Kiss is as overwhelming and convincing as usual. The already enormous stage is expanded and grows with each new gig, the lighting is fantastic, the effects are numerous and the material is a pleasant mix of old and new. Kiss even dares to try out a cover, including The Who's old "We Won't Get Fooled Again". Pete Townshend and the boys did it better, but the song is also nice in this version and one wonders why more hard or glitter rock bands don't pore over the top numbers from the 60s and 70s. Is it only Kiss and Mötley Crüe who have learned from Quiet Riot's success? Kiss are happy with what they have achieved during the ongoing concert tour in the US, although of course there have been problems. For example, the members have been hit by the flu at various times and they have been forced to cancel some concerts, which has resulted in the entire schedule being postponed by about a month. That's one of the reasons why Kiss is probably waiting until late summer or fall for the European tour - the finale in the US will take place in mid-April, after which the guys will take a couple of weeks off and then they plan to start working on the next studio LP. In other words, fans in Stockholm should keep their eyes peeled - maybe you'll see Paul or Gene strolling around the summer town...
BY MICHAEL MASTER PHOTO: SPS