Courtesy of SixthmanKISS is celebrating Halloween in grand fashion this year, as the costumed rockers launch the eighth edition of their KISS Kruise today. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will be playing multiple shows during the seagoing extravaganza, which embarks from Miami and will visit Key West, Florida, and Nassau in the Bahamas before returning to port on November 5.
Reflecting on the festive nature of the cruise, Gene Simmons tells ABC Radio, “We have a few thousand KISS crazies from 34 countries that gather…and it’s nuts.”
The cruise’s lineup also features two former KISS guitarists, founding member Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick, as well as all-star hard-rock act The Dead Daisies and more.
Frehley, who released a new solo album this month called Spaceman, says the cruise could possibly feature one or more reunion performances with his former band mates.
“Anything can happen on this cruise, and I think the fans are expecting something special,” he tells ABC Radio. “Either I might be invited onstage or I might invite Paul [Stanley] or Gene, or both of them. We’ll see what happens…[I]t’s a KISS Kruise, and the sky’s the limit.”
Ace also reveals that he’s thinking about playing some songs he’s never performed live on the cruise, including KISS rarities “Save Your Love” and “Dark Light,” and a track or two from his 1978 self-titled solo debut.
Meanwhile, Simmons recently shared a favorite Halloween memory with ABC Radio, recalling that in 1976, as the band’s popularity was beginning to soar, he wore an interesting “costume” to a party at the famed Los Angeles-area nightspot the Rainbow Bar and Grill.
“Everybody came in dressed up — Elvis [Presley] and, you know, Chewbacca,” Simmons remembers. “I came as Gene Simmons without makeup…I came as me.”
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