An Interview With Gene Simmons

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G.S.: That question sounds like you're giving up—which is to say, it hasn't been very successful. But what's the alternative? Nothing?

L.G.: Well, the alternative, I suppose, which has been put forward by groups such as Radiohead, is to try and figure out a new business model. [Last year the British rock band released its seventh album, In Rainbows, on the internet, telling downloading fans to pay what they wished.]

G.S.: That's a fallacy. That was a one-time event for them. They're not going to go back to that model because you can't make a living. If you're nobody, you don't have any sort of downside—"Yeah, take my music for free." But if you're somebody, which is to say you're making a living off your music, why would you give it away for free? I mean there's got to be a demarcation between what charity is and a capitalist venture.

L.G.: This is the problem, of course, that's faced by many businesses that have been affected by the internet. I come from the newspaper business, and newspapers are on an inevitable downslide in circulation and advertising because their content is available for free online.

G.S.: I think you're missing my point. Whether newspapers and paper goods become a thing of the past or not, underlying rights is what needs to be protected. If you create something, and you own it, the question is, should other people be able to have access, make copies, and bypass you and not pay you? That's really the issue. It's a legal, moral, and ethical question. I mean, the farmer goes into the henhouse and complains that there are no chickens and no eggs left. Well, moron, you let the foxes in whenever they want, so what do you expect? Of course there aren't any. So this doesn't affect me. Kiss is on a world tour, our 35th anniversary, we're selling out stadiums, and we're about to play to 50,000 people in Bilbao, Spain.

L.G.: Is that where you are now?

G.S.: Yeah, literally.

L.G.: I looked at the pictures on your website. Awesome. Those crowds are amazing.

G.S. And we're thrilled and blessed and all that stuff. But how sad that there's not going to be another Beatles or Kiss or U2 or whoever. There's not going to be a new band like that, because there isn't going to be an infrastructure to support it. And so the next generation is happening right now. There are some really good bands out there that are never going to see the light of day. You always hurt the one you love. Well, the people who love the music the most are the ones that are killing it. Again, I'm not complaining for me. I get paid every time I get up on stage—and [from] 3,000 licensed goods, everything from Kiss condoms to Kiss caskets.

L.G.: Right, it's easier to sort of supervise and enforce your licensed products than it is your music. But can you make sure that your music is protected as well?

G.S.: Well, we simply don't put out new music. We put out DVDs, our Kissology DVD trilogy, volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, is approaching 20 times platinum, 20 times—that's from the R.I.A.A. [Recording Industry Association of America]—each disc! [Street noise] The music you hear in the background is people marching through the streets. I'm out on the terrace.

L.G.: I hope it's not a revolution or a coup!

G.S.: Well, it's happened before in Spain, it's pretty volatile here. So again, this doesn't affect us, but the new bands, forget it. It's a crime. And the reason the film industry began to battle piracy is they saw the death of the record industry. They actually arrest people. They actually see people with video cameras filming the movie, and they arrest them in the movie theaters, and they take them to court.

L.G.: Of course, we could talk about this endlessly. Obviously there are certain countries like China that don't respect even rudimentary copyright laws.

G.S.: So far. But they're coming around, because of capitalism and trade and sanctions and blah blah blah, they're coming around. Because China is going to see that as soon as it enters the underlying rights world, which is to say, the next Chinese person who creates the next Pokémon, Chinese version, is going to want to reap the rewards. So if you're a Chinese filmmaker, or songwriter—you know, right now, China doesn't have any pop culture that anybody gives a shit about. I can't name you a Chinese comedian, or actors or superheroes or anything. But when that first Chinese superhero or cartoon or song or painting becomes a worldwide phenomenon, you bet your ass, they're going to be more vocal about it than Western culture, and they're going to want to get paid. Same thing with India. I can't name you an Indian comic book, cartoon character, comedian, actor, and don't really care.

L.G.: Well, Bollywood, of course.

G.S.: Means nothing outside of India. And over there they collect 50 cents or whatever per ticket. Once they see billions of people willing to go to their movies, what do you think they're going to do? How about if there's an Indian rock band who all of a sudden starts making records that everybody wants to buy? Stranger things have happened. There have been German bands that have sold platinum. So that first Indian band, do you think they're going to let the rest of us have it for free?

L.G.: So we should be propping up the popular culture of India and China and sort of accelerating this process?

G.S.: We should be doing nothing. Capitalism is a wonderful, self-generating sort of entity. Let the cards fall where they may.

L.G.: I just wanted to ask you—you're in the middle of this humongous world tour which you started in March and you're going to the end of August—what's that been like, traversing the globe on this very demanding tour?

G.S.: It's not demanding at all. Anybody who complains just wants sympathy. It's the life of Reilly. You live on Mount Olympus. I don't even have to wipe my ass if I don't want to. People carry your luggage, you travel on your private jet—there's nothing to complain about. And the big guys don't. You never hear Mick Jagger open his mouth. Bono will say nothing. It's lonely at the top? No, it's not. You can have as much flesh as you can digest. It's not lonely—we get paid very well, hideously well—everybody wants to be us, and we have access to any girls we want.

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