KISS bassist Gene Simmons opened up about the importance of stage props and visual satisfaction for the audience along with audio, vocals, and performance during an interview with Kyle Meredith, and revealed that live shows should include visual elements that will make the experience memorable.
As many of you know, in addition to its iconic songs, and albums, KISS is also well known for its members’ face paint and stage outfits, along with its unexpected live performances, which often featured props such as fire breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics.
During a recent interview, Gene Simmons revealed that he expects a grand show on stage since he was influenced by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix who was also wild on stage as his guitar would be on fire, or smashing something during the performance, therefore, Simmons is upset when a musician is just standing and singing as his expectations need a show.
Here is what Simmons said:
“Whenever you see Jimi Hendrix footage, the classic stuff is him on the floor, on top of his guitar lighting it on fire, or Townshend smashing his guitar, and all that stuff. It’s showmanship, stagecraft. And sadly a lot of great very, very talented musicians and singers stand up on stage with a microphone all by themselves. It’s like, ‘Give me a show! At least give me lights! Give me something!’ You’re paying so much money for a ticket and you’ve got to be cognizant of that fact. There I go with another big word like ‘gymnasium.'”
Along with this, Gene Simmons also stressed the fact that a live performance includes both audio and visual, that’s what makes it a unique experience than just listening to the music in your car while driving to your house. Simmons also made a bold yet funny statement by saying KISS’ firepower on stage may overpower some third-world countries.
Here is what Simmons said:
“It’s audio and visual, it’s both. So when you’re at home or in your car, it’s just your ear that gets tickled, but when you go to a live event, you got to tickle the orbs, you got to give them something they’ll remember, and the lights…
I mean, we have more firepower on that stage than some third-world countries. And I mean that the very nicest way.”
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