Angry Gene Simmons Explains Why Canadian City Contest Winner Got KISS-off from Band Tour Schedule

Gene Simmons claims that KISS did not forget about the KISS first prize contest winners in Oshawa when they planned their upcoming fall tour. The Rock and Roll All Night hitmaker says they had every intention of living up to their agreement, despite the fact that the city was not listed in KISS' recently announced North American tour schedule.

In a heated interview with The Canadian Press, an angry Simmons said that KISS had planned a surprise for Oshawa all along, but the press ruined it.

"I'm really p*ssed off at the media for creating this nonsense," a sharp-tongued Simmons said.

Early in the year, the band ran a KISS Fan-Routed Tour contest. Fans were instructed to go online and vote for their hometowns, and the cities with the most votes would be guaranteed a KISS concert in their city. Thousands of Oshawa fans voted online and beat out every other North American city to win. According to KISS contest rules, the entire 2009 tour would be determined by the cities with the most demands. But when the band announced their KISS Alive 35 tour schedule, Oshawa was nowhere to be found on the list and no explanation was offered.

KISS management said the city had been passed over for logistical reasons, but assured the media that Oshawa would get a "surprise." No further explanation was offered.

Oshawa fans and politician were incensed that they had been passed over, and the criticism finally forced KISS to announce that it would perform a show in the Canadian auto capitol on Oct 7.

Simmons claims that a concert, and a special event had been in the works the whole time, and he criticized the media for ruining the surprise they had planned for the winning city by forcing KISS to make an early announcement.

Mean Gene said KISS clearly implied that Oshawa would get what it was due, and suggested the press acted like members of the media acted like spoiled brats by demanding to know the details immediately.

"We'll tell you when we're ready, not when you're ready, that's not how you do things,"

"You have a birthday coming up and you want to know, 'What's my birthday present?' .... settle down, take a pill, relax. We'll let you know what it is - not when you want. It's show business."

The Family Jewels star asserted that the press neglected to get a reaction from KISS before printing the story, but messages were definitely left by the media and not returned.

Simmons believes Oshawa fans should have had faith that KISS would not overlook them.

"Respectfully, the fans aren't qualified to understand how things are done ... don't know how things work," he said.

"Since we're playing Toronto right down the street from Oshawa (about an hour's drive apart) we didn't want Toronto to compete with Oshawa."

The Mayor of Oshawa, John Gray thought the media were fair in the coverage of covering KISS' no-show, but believes that all's well that ends well.

"The Kiss organization is fulfilling their commitments, the media recognized that Oshawa was a victim - and they performed their role quite responsibly - and I think at the end of the day it's a win for everyone," he said.

"I think the band applied logic to it and said, 'Look, we better find a way to do this concert' and I think that's exactly what they're doing."

Simmons made assurances that fans in Oshawa were in for a special treat.

"Because of who and what Oshawa is - which is near and dear to our hearts because Oshawa won the No. 1 spot above and beyond New York, L.A., Toronto, Vancouver - we wanted to do a huge campaign and literally premiere 'Sonic Boom,' our new album, Oct. 7 in Oshawa,"

"They will get the full high-octane, high-energy show ... this is going to be a two-and-a-half hour sweat-filled show, huge fireworks displays, the biggest screen you ever saw, brand new outfits, and almost every song that we can physically play during that time."

When queried about other top 10 winning Canadian cities that had been left off the KISS Alive 35 schedule thus far, Simmons hinted, begrudgingly, that other cities may be included on a second leg.

"We're coming back and playing again and yes, there'll be another leg," he said.

"But not when you want us to talk about it, it's when we want to talk about it."

KISS' new Sonic Boom will feature the band's first new material in 11 years and is slated for release October 6 at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart.com and Sam's Club retail locations.

The Detroit Rock City hitmakers will begin their KISS Alive 35 tour with 2 concerts at Detroit Cobalt Arena on Sept. 25 and Sept 26.

R L Rheubottom