Peter Criss (left) rejoined KISS from 1997 to 2004.
PETER Criss doesn’t like talking about his feud with former KISS bandmates Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. He’s maintained a dignified silence while fellow ex-member Ace Frehley has traded insults with the pair in recent years.
But it’s clear the founding drummer feels he has unfinished business with his fans, following his unceremonious exit from the group. And those fans are now being rewarded with final appearances, one in Melbourne and one in New York.
“I really want to bow out my way,” Criss says.
“I love the boys — I’m glad I started the band with all four of us together, no doubt about it — but everyone knows that when we left this thing it wasn’t the best. And even though we got in the Hall of Fame, even that wasn’t the best (Stanley and Simmons refused to perform at the induction with Criss and Frehley).
“So it really annoyed me, and I said, I wanna go back and I wanna really perform. I wanna do two more shows and then I’m ready to retire.”
Peter Criss wants to end his career on his own terms. Picture: Colin Gray/That Metal ShowSource:Supplied
It’s testament to the level of KISS fandom Down Under that the Victorian capital was chosen for one of the two final shows. Since the height of “KISSteria” in 1980, Australia has been a stronghold for the band and its members, past and present.
And the band’s 2003 performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra became the album and DVD KISS Symphony: Alive IV.
But Criss doesn’t know why Melbourne in particular is a standout.
“You tell me, it blows my mind,” he says.
“I know a lot of bands that go through there. We even did the Melbourne Symphony there of all places. We could have done the New York Symphony or the Boston Pops.
“But it was just a great night, and I think a lot of bands we talk to say it’s just a great place to play. It’s just an amazing response you get when you go there, much more than some other places… I don’t know what it is.”
Peter Criss (second from right) with the original lineup of KISS in Sydney in the late ’90s.Source:News Limited
In further evidence of the pulling power of KISS, the former drummer will command a ticket price of $760 for the evening on May 12 at the Sofitel Melbourne, which includes a sit-down three-course dinner.
He will also appear at the KISS Convention that weekend at Melbourne’s Wick Studios.
Criss confirms at the farewell show, “yes, there will be singing and drumming, but I’m not giving the rest of it away cos there’s some cool surprises”.
“I have the Sisters Doll, young guys who are backing me, they’re an amazing band of Bruce Kulick, and I have my guitarist Mike McLaughlin who’s been with me like 25 years, he’s gonna scare you, he’s that damn frightening,” he says.
“And then I’ve got some other surprises going on.”
Since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 — which was caught early enough for him to make a full recovery — Criss has become an ambassador spreading the word that yes, men can get it too.
“I’ve been 10 years cancer-free, and so has my wife, and trust me, your whole life changes,” he says.
Peter Criss member rock band Kiss. band/kissSource:News Limited
And while his former bandmates might have a loose definition of “Farewell Tour”, Criss assures us this is the end.
“I’m just ready to chill,” he says.
“I don’t wanna drop dead up there. I don’t wanna be told, ‘why don’t you get off the stage, you’ve been up there too long’.
“Like Sinatra, I want to do it my way.”
Following his final live performances will be a last album.
“I do have an album — I have been sitting on it for a long time, and it’s probably the best shit and hardest stuff I did, and then I caught the Big C and had to leave it,” Criss says.
“But I finished the music on it recently, I brought it with me to LA, and I played it for Johnny 5 cos we’re very good friends — and Rob Zombie, we’re also good buddies — and it knocked him out, he went absolutely crazy.
“And so after this is all over I’m going to go down to my studio and put the vocals on it and release it. So that’ll be my last highlight.”
Peter Criss (right) with fellow ex-member Ace Frehley.Source:News Corp Australia
Criss says he and wife Gigi and are building a home on the water.
“I’m ready to become Hemingway and grow a big white beard and write music for other people!” he says.
“I’ve got a couple of books in mind I want to write, and there’s other things I wanna do.
“I wanna enjoy my best of my years cos I put 55 years into this.”
While controversy has surrounded KISS’s more recent additions wearing the makeup of Criss and Frehley, and with Frehley still holding out hope of rejoining the band one day, it seems Criss is willing to let bygones be bygones.
“It was a wonderful time of my youth, but y’know I’m an older guy now, and I’m a different Peter Criss than when I was ‘that’ Peter Criss,” he says.
“But that Peter Criss will live on forever — the Catman will never go away — so it’s time for me now to just be myself and really enjoy my music, man.
“I wore a mask for many years; I’d like to just come out and be myself, and I feel I can do that where you guys are.
“I’m proud of the guys and what we did, all that was great. But now it’s time to forgive, forget and move on with your life.”
Peter Criss, One Last Time, Sofitel Melbourne, May 12. Tickets via Ticketbud
Ace Frehley is touring Australia with Alice Cooper in October. Tickets go on sale April 28
Originally published as One thing that gets Catman’s back up
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