Gene Simmons has spoken out about some of his former KISS bandmates, saying that “they continue to make really bad choices”.
Speaking in a new interview, the bassist and co-leader singer discussed the lack of involvement of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley in KISS’ new documentary Biography: KISStory.
“God love ’em, both Ace and Peter, in the beginning of the band, were just the best thing that ever happened to us,” Simmons said on Talking Wax With Adika Live! “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.
He continued: “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.”
Simmons claimed that Frehley had a number of demands in order to participate in the documentary including editing rights. “God love him, that wasn’t gonna happen,” Simmons said. “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.”
You can watch Simmons’ interview below:
Last September, Frehley confirmed during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk that he had been approached by the producers of the KISS documentary and asked if he would take part.
“They offered me a small fee to be involved with it, and I turned them down,” Frehley said. “I thought the fee was embarrassing, because I know how much money they’re gonna make on it. So, either share the wealth, or c’est la vie. So I decided not be involved. But they have plenty of old footage of me, and they’ll probably use that and get by. But it won’t be the same as if they get current footage.
He concluded: “Unfortunately, I decided the money that they offered me wasn’t anywhere near what I felt I deserved, so I turned it down. The footage you’re gonna see of me in this documentary is only gonna be old footage.”
Biography: KISStory premiered in the US late last month with a two-night event on A&E.
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