By Gavin Martin

Away from his fire-breathing, blood-spewing, face-painted, tongue-wagging Kiss persona, Gene Simmons cuts an an impressive 6ft 2ins figure, sat in the boardroom of a London hotel.

As the metal monster band's frontman and bassist for 35 years, Simmons is the 60-year-old head of a multi-million dollar empire run with his surviving Kiss partner, guitarist Paul Stanley.

It has included comic books, TV series, condoms, board games, guitars, credit cards and 100 million album sales. A brand new album, Sonic Boom - Kiss's 19th studio outing and their first in 11 years - came out last October and Gene is in town for a secret gig as a prelude to a full UK tour in May.

Here's an interview that Paul and Gene did with Reuters UK newswire. Take a look!

KISS' visit to Europe continues to be a hot topic in the media! Here's a feature on the band's "Wetten, Dass..?" appearance from Germany's Salve.TV network.

Hey Guys!

Just got back from London after a 6 hour coach trip to Liverpool and have to say just how amazing and worth the trip down to London was for the Islington Academy gig! We are both 18 and I was lucky enough to get tickets - out of all the bands I have seen live, nothing has and nothing ever will come close to how awesome KISS were last night! It was a dream come true to see then in such an intimate venue & it's only got us more excited for the arena shows in 2 months! Here is a picture of us in front of Big Ben with our banner - I'm sure you remember us from the queue! See you in May at Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Wembley!

Love, Jen & Jazz - KISS Army UK!

LETTERS

We were lucky to get up close and personal with the most recognizable brand in music last night (yes, this one is going on expenses as "research") as American rock legends KISS played a short but exfoliating set in a tiny club on our doorstep in Islington, North London.

KISS were a huge influence in shaping Design For Music. We wanted to create album covers and design for bands ever since we first saw a KISS album cover, and we've always loved their iconic logo and branding. And the strength of that classic double lightning bolt logo that's appeared on thousands of KISS branded products from pinball machines to lunchboxes is no accident—it was designed by original lead guitarist Ace Frehley, himself a graphic designer before joining KISS full-time. The KISS logo has withstood the test of time incredibly well, despite being worked harder than any other logo in the music industry. It features all the hallmarks of a classic rock band logo:

KISS is everywhere! it's real! Check out this KISS fragment from the Russian serial "Univer".

Dmitry Tananov

Listen to this interview Paul and Tommy did with Britain's 106.7 Rock radio!

Check out this great fan-filmed clip of "Say Yeah" live in London!

Welcome to Classic Rock's new occasional column Then And Now, where we look at classic gigs past and present. We kick off this week with Xavier Russell comparing Kiss across three (or should that be four?) decades.

Xavier first saw Kiss way back in 1976 when they headlined the Hammersmith Odeon and hadn't clapped eyes on them for some 30 odd years. This week he finally saw Kiss again, when they did a their low-key club gig at London's Islington O2 Academy.

THEN

Venue: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Date: May 15, 1976

Kiss first came to my attention when I heard Kiss Alive, the classic double album recorded at Detroit's legendry Cobo Hall in 1975. I remember being blown away by the rawness of the production, and by the whole look and concept of Kiss. I just had to see them LIVE. As luck had it they were due to play two nights at the Hammy Odeon (as it was affectionately known back then) but could I get a ticket? No chance. Both gigs sold out in two hours flat!

I turned up on the night without a ticket and casually asked a tout what price he was charging. "25 pounds for the circle, or 50 pounds for the stalls." This was way out of my price range. So I decided to play a patient waiting game. I knew that once Kiss were on stage, the touts would get desperate.

Kiss were loud, even from outside the venue, I could clearly hear Deuce, Strutter and Flaming Youth from the just-released Destroyer album. A tout approached. "How much have you got mate?" "A fiver," I replied. "Oh, go on then'." And I was in.

Photographer Ross Halfin blogs about his experiences photographing the world's most famous artists. Here's an excerpt from his blog entry regarding KISS's recent London club show:
_____________________________

March 2 - A day of Kiss....

Drove off to the wastelands of Islington where Paul Elliott was holding court in the Hilton hotel, next to the Angel tube.

I had a small conference room to set up in and do a photo shoot with The Gods Of Thunder.

I get Kiss in all their glory at 5.30 pm for an hour. It went ok considering I'm shooting in a hotel. The highlight of the afternoon at the hotel was seeing the three very, very lovely Appleton sisters in the lobby all on the way to see Kiss destroy the Islington Academy.

From my point of view it was a pain in the arse. The barricade was right up against the stage, imagine the feeling of being trampled on by Kiss in platforms, it gave the effect of photographing lying down on the stage. I took a photo of Gene and Paul with The Mighty Boosh. Then The Kings of the Night Time World came saw and nearly literally killed the crowd when the CO2 in the confetti canons sucked the air out of the venue. Gene Simmons nearly passed out behind his amps and Paul Stanley told me he couldn't breathe and the band had to cut three songs out of the show... it was still a great show.

More photos from KISS' Tuesday night show in London.

Thanks to Luc Verdickt for sending KOL these photos from HLN Belgium!

Dear KISSonline,

Just got this tattoo done today. Disney and Kiss - two of my favorite things!

Marc Sherman

LETTERS

Here is our new billboard promo-ing Season V of GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS.

If you see a billboard in your city, take a foto and send it to GeneSimmons.com.

Photo courtesy of Waring Abbott

Yes, KISS actually played a high school's Homecoming weekend, back in 1975.

It was 1974 -- the straitlaced football heyday of Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler -- and in northern Michigan, you could hear a pin drop in the way-too-tight Cadillac High School football locker room before games.

That's when an enterprising assistant coach named Jim Neff had a brainstorm. Why not rev up the Cadillac defense by playing a little pregame rock and roll? Like, for example, KISS?

When the bold plan led to a big winning streak -- and a conference title -- Jim Neff and the band he loved hatched a daring plan... to make Homecoming the following year an event the town of Cadillac would never forget.

Nearly 35 years later, no one has.

CLICK here for the rest of the story and more GREAT photos