KISS bassist and founding member Gene Simmons recently spoke with the “Talking Wax With Adika Live!” show, where he spoke about the lack of involvement from former members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley in KISS’s new documentary “Biography: KISStory”, which premiered last month over two nights on A&E.
“God love ’em, both Ace and Peter, in the beginning of the band, were just the best thing that ever happened to us,” Gene said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “But they made such horrible choices in their life. And they continue to do that — they continue to make really bad choices, not just in terms of their health and what you ingest, but career choices. Like, we just had this documentary that came out that’s a headlining thing at the Tribeca Film Festival, and, of course, without even thinking twice about it, we reached out to both Ace and Peter, ‘Hey, come and be part of this thing. You helped create the band. No question about it.’ And they refused. Ace wanted certain… ‘I want this. I want that. I want editing rights,’ and that kind of stuff. And God love him, that wasn’t gonna happen. I didn’t get those rights and didn’t want them; I just wanted to throw caution to the wind and get the thing done. So they barely appear in it.”
Directed by D.J. Viola, “Biography: KISStory” chronicles the band’s five decades in the business as founders Stanley and Simmons reflect on their career. Current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer as well as guests Dave Grohl (NIRVANA, FOO FIGHTERS), Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE), manager Doc McGhee, music producer Bob Ezrin (ALICE COOPER, PINK FLOYD) and more tell the wild story of the one of the most successful and influential bands in the world.
You can check out the full talk at this location.