Guitarist goes from fan to fame.

By David Glessner

Car crashes cause enough commotion without rubberneckers stopping for autographs. So goes the thinking of KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer, who found himself outrageously overdressed a few years back in the middle of a Mexico intersection.

"A lot of times when we finish a show, we'll get off stage in full makeup and costumes, and jump in a van to go straight to the hotel," he says, calling from a Virginia Beach hotel room.

"On this particular night, we each had our own van and we were either in Monterrey or Mexico City. We were going through this crazy traffic in the downtown area and suddenly, 'Boom!' We hit a car! I told my driver, 'Go! Go!' I mean, what am I gonna do, get out of the car and fill out a police report dressed in my spaceman outfit?"

Quick to promise there were no injuries or unresolved insurance headaches, Thayer moves on to another occupational hazard that could only come from playing in the world's most theatrical rock band.

KISS IS EVERYWHERE!

TMZ.com is holding a contest for viewers to choose the best photo featuring a cheerleader. They're down to their top five finalists, and one of the photos really rocks!

Cheer-tastic Photo Contest at TMZ.com

HI - just thought I'd share this superb KISS moment with you !!

On September 11th ROCKESTRA was held here in Malta (Europe) - a concert by the 65 piece National Philharmonic Orchestra (accompanied by a massive choir) covering rock classics !!

Myself, from rock band RUG, as the Star Child along side Paul, front man of rock band Fakawi as The Demon and Kenneth, front man of rock band FIRE, as The Spaceman closed off the performance with 2 KISS classics - I Was Made For Loving You and God Gave Rock & Roll To You.

The audience - 10,000 of them - went MAD and rocked the roof off !!!!!

This was probably my best KISS moment ever !! I hope I made the boys proud !!!

KISS 4 EVER - Gianni

LETTERS

By Callie Enlow

Tommy Thayer, who officially replaced founding guitarist Ace Frehley eight years ago in the original Fame Monster band, KISS, talks Gaga, make-up, and YouTube.

When you play with KISS, do a lot of people cheer for Ace Frehley?

Honestly, I never got any of that. You might think otherwise, but I've never seen that. Certainly not lately. Most of the crowd out there today is younger and they don't really even know as much about the original band, they just know about the band as it is now in the last 10 years.

I noticed KISS has a ton of younger fans. What do you think causes 14- and 15-year-olds to love you guys?

It's a phenomenon that's happened in the past year or two. It's a combination of factors you can attribute that to. With the internet and the age of YouTube videos, I think kids are seeing this spectacular concert performance that they don't see in any other band. It's very unique, the KISS characters and the make-up and the theatrics and the stage show. There's no other band like it. Combined with great music, of course. That and Gene Simmons' Family Jewels TV show is real popular.

KISS will be headlining huge concert in Fontana on Sept. 25

Fans of the band can get collectible cups at 7-Eleven

KISS, the legendary American rock band, will be wowing the crowd at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on Friday, Sept. 25.

But before that, the many devoted fans of the tremendously popular group will be wowed with special collectible cups offered at local 7-Eleven stores.

The Super Big Gulps, courtesy of Dr Pepper, each bears the likeness of one of the KISS band members -- Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer. The cups are available in participating Southern California and U.S. 7-Eleven stores this September through the band's partnership with Dr Pepper.

KISS is currently on tour with the "Hottest Show on Earth," making stops throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico in support of its first album in 11 years, "Sonic Boom."

However, the KISS show on Sept. 25 at the Epicenter 2010 Festival in Fontana will be the band's only Southern California appearance.

The shows succeeding in this challenging concert-biz climate are the ones with lots of theatrical punch.

Excerpted from article by Brad Wheeler

Fast-forward to 2010, and we see ... the costumed Kiss bringing high theatrics to arenas and amphitheatres - upping the ante boldly in the middle of a music-industry downturn.

"Nobody wants to go to the grocery store and plunk down their hard-earned dollars, and walk out with an empty sack," says Kiss front man Paul Stanley. "If you're going to pay money to see a band, you should at least see something." Stanley, the preening, grease-painted shout-it-out-louder, talked recently about spectacle and rock 'n' shows - the kind of high-wattage extravaganzas his band is known for.

Last week, Kiss brought its expensively produced tour to Toronto's Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, where a full house fanned themselves in the face of hotter-than-hell dramatics and fire-breathing. Asked about the slumping concert business, Stanley expresses disbelief. "You wouldn't know it from the 14,000 fans at our show last night," he deadpans, "and you wouldn't know it from the 15,000 tonight."

Check out this great billboard advertising KISS' Utah show on September 22!

Thanks to Scott Halvorsen for sending the photo to KISSonline.

Check out these great KISS photos from their Toronto show last Friday.

Thanks to Terry Wilson for taking the photos for KISSonline.

By Laurie Lonsdale
Photo by Scott McAlpine

Exactly thirty-five years after the release of their first album, KISS celebrated the milestone at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre in Toronto, with a stage set up reminiscent of their early days and the cartoon-like personas we've grown to know and love. While the band's founders still exist in demon bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons and Starchild guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley, the rest of the line-up now sees guitarist Tommy Thayer who has comfortably stepped into Ace Frehley's Spaceman boots, while drummer Eric Singer now dons the cat make-up that was originally worn by Peter Criss.

With the venue packed to capacity, the big screens on either side of the stage depicted a satellite view of world, coming ever closer to home as it honed in on Toronto, and then revealed backstage as the infamous New York foursome, in full make-up and dress, were led to the stage by original band manager Doc McGhee. The retro footage was cause for fans to cheer and spring to their feet in anticipation of the show. "You wanted the best, you got the best! Ladies and Gentlemen - KISS!" was heard over the loud speaker, and the excitement of the crowd was palpable as the black kabuki curtain finally fell.

KISS fans looking forward to Friday's concert

By Brad Meyer

The original shock rockers of heavy metal music will be painting their faces, strapping on their platform boots and taking the stage at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Friday.

KISS, the iconic hard rock band, brings their high energy show to The Woodlands this weekend as part of their "Hottest Show on Earth" tour. The band, known for their elaborate live performances, has a legion of dedicated fans across the country and around the world.

"This will be the ninth time I've seen them live," said Mark Sheffield of Magnolia. "They are an amazing band."

Founded in New York in 1973, KISS burst on the music scene with a hard metal sound and a flamboyant look that included painted faces, exotic costumes and elaborate onstage antics like blood spitting, fire breathing, smoking guitars and levitating drum kits.

By Chris Alexander

Ah, the concept album, the rock opera...the ambitious extension of every pop artist who tires of his or her trade and dreams of bigger fish. In the 1970s, as music and mass media leaned towards bloat, with bands like Queen, The Who and Pink Floyd conquering the charts and grand-scale cinema like STAR WARS owning the box office, Kiss decided to give the trashy rock-and-roll pulp they made their name with a rest and pursue loftier creative heights.

The result of their semi-delusional dreaming was 1981's THE ELDER, a baroque, full-blown concept platter charting the story of a Luke Skywalker-esque boy who is called upon to battle the evil Mr. Blackwell and restore order and balance to the land. The album was the work of legendary producer Bob Ezrin (who helped shape the sound of hard rock's first horror show, Alice Cooper), a Toronto native who had previously reinvented the band with 1976's classic DESTROYER and had, at that time, just worked on Pink Floyd's double-disc rock-opera juggernaut THE WALL.

Check out this great fan-filmed clip of "Black Diamond" shot from the front row at Sunday night's Cleveland-area show!

By Matthew Wilkening

The last big action blockbuster of the summer, and possibly the most explosion-filled, came to town last night in the form of Kiss' at Blossom Music Center.

At the start of the decade, it seemed the energy from the band's 1996 return to facepainting had run its course, with surprisingly lackluster performances only half-filling venues across the country. But for whatever reason, the band once again is in full possession of its distinct mojo onstage and staking claim as the true kings of the arena-rock spectacle.

Perhaps the newer guys in the band - Cleveland native Eric Singer on drums and Tommy Thayer on lead guitar - have given mainstays Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons a shot in the arm by so faithfully recapturing the spirit of the band's '70s heyday, even on newer material.

Kiss played three songs from their latest album Sonic Boom, and they all held up admirably next to warhorses like "Detroit Rock City" and "Deuce."

Stanley in particular seemed to be having a fantastic time, dropping Led Zeppelin and Who riffs in the middle of the band's own surprisingly muscular songs, demonstrating an uncanny ability to deliver guitar picks to any corner of the venue, and generally never letting the crowd's attention wander back to the fact we all had to get up early for work the next morning.

Take a look at these great photos from KISS' show in Michigan on Saturday night!

Photos by Louis Antonelli for KISSonline.

Dr Pepper partnership brings together iconic American band, retail giant

KISS is currently traveling North America on The Hottest Show on Earth tour. Four collectible Super Big Gulps courtesy of Dr Pepper, each bearing the likeness of one of the KISS band members - Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are available in participating U.S. 7-Eleven stores this September through the band's partnership with Dr Pepper.

"KISS has a huge following, and the legendary rockers' appeal cuts across generations," said 7-Eleven vice president and CMO Rita Bargerhuff. "For 7-Eleven to provide these special cups in September while the band is on its concert tour will be a bonus for baby boomer, Gen X and millennial fans."

Each of the sleek, black cups features an individual closeup of a band member in signature black and white makeup. Ross von Rosenberg, art director at TPN, part of the FreshWorks consortium of agencies serving 7-Eleven, spoke of the style he used to create the new cups: "I used metallic ink and rock-and-roll style graphics to emphasize the heavy-metal aspect of these cups and make KISS appear larger than life. And really, I just wanted them to look as awesome as a face-melting KISS guitar solo sounds."