Gene Simmons

DM) On your recent album you've co-written songs with a number of notables, one of which was Bob Dylan.

GS) The story behind, "Waiting for the Morning Light", really happened years ago. About eight or nine years ago, I picked up the phone and called Bob and said, "Hi It's Gene Simmons, would you like to write a song?" I knew fully well that he could say yes or no. Fortunately, he responded [spoken in full Bob Dylan accent] "Yeah, Mr. Kiss."

He came over to my house. He had an acoustic and I had one. I thought he would come up with the melody and the lyrics or at the very least the lyrics, because he is Bob Dylan, but the truth is that he came up with the chords that I used and then I wrote the lyrics and the melody.

The album also features a co-write between myself and Frank Zappa. The history behind that is that Frank, later on when he was not feeling well and was actually quite ill, called me over to his house. I spent time with him and his family and we got to know each other pretty well. Then he took me downstairs and played me some material that had never been released. After the fact, after Frank passed away I thought, wouldn't it be great to play a 30 second snippet and some chords that Frank hadn't used before and that's exactly what I did. Gayle, his wife, sent over a 30 second chord pattern that Frank had and I wrote a song around it called "Black Tongue". It's the first time that the entire Zappa family appears on a recorded work, Dweezl, Moon Unit, Ahmet and Gayle Zappa as well as Frank Zappa.

DM) With all of these guests, you must be pretty proud of this album.

GS) I'm very, very happy with the record. The first single, Firestarter, has Dave Navarro on it, of Jane's Addiction. It also, has the song "Carnival of Souls" which has my son Nick singing the choruses with me. Also, Shannon Tweed is singing the background on "Whatever Turns You On (Turns Me On)" with her mother Louise.

DM) When did you get the idea to release a solo record?

GS) Oh, about a year ago. Sanctuary Records approached me with revising the Simmons record label, and I said that I was interested because there was a Canadian act that I wanted to sign called Bag. They also said what about a Simmons solo record and actually the thought never occurred to me before they said that. I said, "Yeah sure, why not."

DM) You never thought about it before that?

GS) Well, I've been busy. Acting in movies, producing other acts and managing other acts and producing movies, and also I'm in a band. And KISS is busier than most bands.

DM) I would have thought that at any of the given peaks that KISS hit, somebody would have approached you about the idea?

GS) Everybody talks out their ear, but you have to ignore that. They're not qualified to ask a question. Their opinions are based on nothing. Everybody thinks that everybody's opinion is worth the same. They're actually not. There's a crowd of people standing by a skyscraper, and everybody says, "That's a great skyscraper." But one guy says, "No, that's not a sound skyscraper, it's not a good skyscraper." And the guy's an architect. His opinion is actually valid and the rest means nothing.

DM) In your position, I assume that you've gotten lots of people's comments on KISS and your music.

GS) But without qualification. They've never done anything, it's just opinions, that's why, "Asshole" is a good title because everybody's got one.

DM) Just like everybody has opinions.

GS) That's precisely the point. Now you're getting it. And because of that, I'm going to be holding, on the off days of the KISS tour, I'll be holding Asshole parties. You'll be able to go only if you're an asshole and once you're inside you'll get a card which certifies that you're a real asshole. Just in case, you're friends ask if you're some kind of asshole, you can respond, "Why yes I am. Here's my certificate."

DM) What do the other guys think of this solo project?

GS) Oh, everybody's thrilled, everybody's very supportive within the band. Paul's [Stanley] going to be doing his right after the tour. Once you reach the heights where you have more gold records than any group in recorded history in North America, what do you have to prove to anybody? Now you can just go and have fun.

DM) Is your relationship with the band better now, than before?

GS) Now that Peter [Criss] and Ace [Frehley] are not in the band, Yes. To be quite honest, because there's no drama. There's no unhealthy behavior. I don't want to talk about that stuff ,because fans get really upset. Like when Mom tells the kids what dad's really like, they don't want to hear that.

DM) Was the recording process and making of this record that different from a KISS record?

GS) Completely different, because the basic notions of recording is to go into a recording studio with a band and stuff like that. The truth is that a lot of this was recorded in living rooms, and I took it into the studio and beefed it up. So Bag, my artist, has a small bedroom in his apartment and he has some computerized equipment right there and we did two tracks right there in that bedroom.

DM) It seems that this album is a bit more intimate having the friends and family.

GS) It has both. It's gotten friends and family and it's got some real ballsy stuff on it. The first few tracks will shed a few pounds. There's a song called "Sweet and Dirty Love" and a song called "Weapons" which is also a really hard song.