Gene Simmons' full plate

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- With his legendary glam rock band, KISS, on its farewell tour, Gene Simmons has a full plate for the rest of the year -- a KISS box set, a memoir and a show on court TV.

Simmons -- who easily outdid his bandmates in the area of outrageous, over-the-top presentation -- is the bass player with the impossibly long tongue. He remains irrepressible more than 25 years after KISS raised the bar for audacity on the rock and roll stage with bombastic performances that feature (fake) blood-spitting, (real) fire-breathing and their now-legendary face makeup.

As Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley work their way through a KISS farewell tour -- bringing the show to two generations of the "KISS Army" around the world -- Simmons has taken time out to help promote "KISS: The Box Set," due in stores Nov. 20.

Along the way -- in interviews to promote the box set, the autobiography ("Kiss and Make-up"), the Court TV show and several other upcoming projects -- Simmons' loose tongue is, perhaps inevitably, leading him into controversy.

Take, for example, his observations on the terrorist attacks on the United States and the new war on terrorism.

"I was born in Israel so I had a slightly different perspective," Simmons told United Press International. "It wasn't as shocking for me. My dad used to go to the front every weekend because everybody did. The building we lived in had bullet holes in it."

Simmons said he has no objection to U.S. air strikes on Afghanistan.

"It's either them or us," he said. "You're either going to be allowed to live your lifestyle, or you're not."

But Simmons said he understands "the other point of view" as well.

"Christians were every bit as bad as the Muslims, with the holy wars, inquisitions, Christians killing Christians," he said. "You can understand someone living in the desert thinking all this is evil."

Understanding or not, Simmons said the Sept. 11 attacks have made it necessary to kill the terrorists. Yet, he confesses he does not have a very strong personal sense of good versus evil.

"I don't even subscribe to good and evil," he said, "but you have to talk that way in order for people to understand you."

Simmons seems most interested in reaching the largest possible number of people -- not necessarily to express anything in particular, or to be understood. Just to sell records and other products.

KISS has sold more than 80 million albums. Simmons said no other band but The Beatles has sold more albums than KISS, and no bands but The Beatles and the Rolling Stones have more gold records than KISS.

"Numbers speak louder than words," he said. "At the end of the day, it's about numbers. When fans speak they speak with money. They buy tickets and they buy stuff."

KISS has profited from the use of their images in comic books, pinball machines, board games, a KISS Visa Card, the 1999 movie, "Detroit Rock City," and a Fortune magazine cover in 1996, when they were the number one touring band in the world.

Soon, they're bringing a CGI superhero to TV, a musical to Broadway and, Simmons said, KISS brand condoms. He plans to launch a magazine next spring, "Gene Simmons's Tongue," and he has a clothing line in development.

"I basically want to go where no band has gone before," he said. "I want to be Disney without the overhead."

Does that mean that, for Simmons, there is a clear, bright line separating commerce from art?

"Art, I believe, should be the name of a guy," he said. "The American way is a better way -- of the people, by the people and for the people. The intelligentsia decides nothing for us. The people decide whether it's art. The rest of us morons just do what we do, and the people decide whether it's art."

Original KISS fans are showing up at concerts and bringing their kids with them, which is OK with Simmons -- except it's forcing him to take back something he said a long time ago.

"I used to say that on the day that mom and dad like the same music you do, rock is dead," he said. "I was wrong. But on the other hand there was no such thing as KISS in those days."

The band's histrionic approach to rock has influenced a diverse group of other artists, including not only metal bands but also Garth Brooks, who Simmons said is a good friend.

"When I see Garth flying through the air at concerts," he said, "do I think of KISS? Sure. Does it matter? No. The only thing that matters is that at the end of the evening, people walk out saying I just saw the best show."

Simmons said, though, he doesn't get a thrill out of seeing other acts emulate KISS.

"Don't care," he said. "I've been paid hideously well for this privilege. Whether anyone else copies, it really doesn't matter. The only thing I'm thrilled about is I've never had to work for a living."

In his autobiography, Simmons also writes about having had sex with 4,600 different women. Asked to compare that to the late NBA star Wilt Chamberlain's claim -- in the 1991 autobiography, "The View From Above" -- that he had been with 20,000 women, Simmons scoffed.

"That's a lie," he said of Chamberlain's boast. "You can't make those numbers work."

Simmons claims he has physical evidence to back up his numbers.

"I wrote the names on the back of the photos," he said. "Think of me as a tourist. If I've been somewhere and I see a beautiful sight, I sure want to take a photo of it."

Simmons remains open to touring with KISS again, even though the band is on what is supposed to be its farewell tour.

"Money can convince God and the devil to do it," he said. "Ace and Peter would either talk me out of it or convince me to do it."

One way or the other, Simmons is pretty sure the KISS phenomenon will be lucrative for some time to come.

"It's not over and it's getting bigger," he said.

"KISS: The Box Set" features six hours of digitally remastered recordings on five CDs, with 94 tracks. In addition to the band's classic numbers -- "Rock and Roll All Nite," "Deuce," "Detroit Rock City," "Love Gun" and "Beth" -- it includes previously unreleased band and solo demos, outtakes and live recordings.

A Special Deluxe Edition comes in a life-size 46" x 16" x 4" replica of a guitar case with an official RIAA certified KISS Alive! gold record award. There are other packages too -- a mini-guitar case style box and a cigar box edition.

The Court TV documentary, "The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll," offers an overview of crimes and misdemeanors perpetrated in the world of pop music over the past 50 years. It will air as a special edition of the cable channel's series, "The System," on Dec. 4.