Jack Russell Explains Why Touring With KISS Was His Only Bad Experience

During his recent interview with The SDR Show, Great White singer Jack Russell recalled the band’s tour with iconic rock band KISS. The singer revealed why he often described this tour as a terrible experience and talked about Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley’s behavior toward him.

KISS released their sixteenth studio album entitled ‘Revenge’ on May 19, 1992, and it was their first to feature their new drummer Eric Singer who joined the band after Eric Carr’s death. Even though the album received positive reviews from music critics and their longtime dedicated fans, the band’s changing their pop-influenced glam metal sound affected the record sales. Therefore it failed to reach mainstream success and was only certified gold back then.

In addition, the band decided to announce their Revenge Tour as a part of the promotional process of their latest record. On April 23, 1992, the tour started in San Francisco and ended in Phoenix on December 20, 1992, during which Faster Pussycat, Trixter, and Great White performed the opening acts. Many people would consider this an excellent chance for these bands, but Jack Russell seems to disagree.

In his interview, the host wanted to know why he had previously defined this tour as his only bad experience, and Russell responded to him, saying that he made a joke to the band’s bassist Gene Simmons which changed the whole atmosphere. He used a rubber foot while shaking Simmons’ hand, and the bassist’s attitude toward him wasn’t kind after that. He added that Paul Stanley was friendly to him and even sent Jack a photo of him while on the other side of the stage.

Here’s what the host asked:

“You often said KISS was your only shitty experience. What did they do that was so shitty?

Russell said in his interview that:

“I walked up to Gene. This was like around Halloween, and I had this rubber foot. I stuck it up the sleeve of my trench coat, and I walked up to him and stuck my hand out to shake his hand. He looks down and goes, ‘I thought… Jesus!’ He was deformed or something. I’m like, ‘Man, what if I was?’ What a d*ck thing to say. After that, it was kind of like ‘F*ck this guy.'”

The host added:

“It was Gene. How was Paul? Was he nice at least?”

Russell responded:

Paul was great. One night I was standing on the side of the stage. I was about 200 feet from him, and he looked at me. He looked at me and smiled, took a pic, and flicked it. It dinks right off my forehead. I couldn’t believe it was like Robin Hood.”

You can watch the interview below.