Guesting on Artists On Record Starring ADIKA Live!, KISS icon Gene Simmons discussed the band's plans to move ahead with / as avatars.
Simmons: "Part of the fun of Christmas is when you open your present, you're shocked and surprised and hopefully delighted. So why would I tell you in February what you're gonna get for Christmas? There's so much hard work being done behind the scenes, and what I've seen will blow your mind. So in a very real way, our end is really like the caterpillar becoming the butterfly. The end is the beginning."
During the same interview, Simmons looked back on the band's final show, which took place on December 2nd, 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Simmons: "I'm proud that we did this at the right time, at the right place. Because, I mean, let's call it for what it is: how many world-champion boxers have stayed in the ring too long? Think about it. The best of the best get knocked out by some new chump because they stayed there too long, and we've all seen shows that have gone on too long. Leave them wanting. Fifty years is plenty. And the other thing, is we introduced ourselves with, 'You wanted the best. You got the best. The hottest band in the world.' That's how you're gonna introduce yourselves and you're gonna come out in wheelchairs with fireballs on the sides? So you wanna get off that stage while the getting's good. You don't wanna become fat, naked, bloated Elvis on a bathroom floor when you are the King Of Rock N' Roll. That's not the way to go out.
In a very bizarre and sad way, Marilyn Monroe will forever be iconic and young because she died when she was young. We don't have an image of her in her 70s and 80s. And there's nothing wrong with that, by the way. But the great stars of yesteryear, once they quit acting, whatever, they would get off the media stage, if you will, and you wouldn't hear... Marlene Dietrich, I don't know what she looked like when she was 80. Greta Garbo and so on, they would disappear. They became private citizens, and that's the way to do it."
In the wake of the final show of their career, which took place in New York at Madison Square Garden on December 2nd, KISS have shared a video clip along with the following message:
"The end is only the beginning. KISS have been immortalized and reborn as avatars to rock forever. Get exclusive access to the full story, including behind-the-scenes material and the making of the avatars, and be part of the New Era only on kissonline.com."
KISS made the announcement they would continue as digital avatars at the end of their final show. After the band left the stage, the virtual KISS performed "God Gave Rock And Roll To You". Check out the fan-filmed video below.
Paul Stanley: "What we've accomplished has been amazing, but it's not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are. It's exciting for us to go the next step and see KISS immortalized."
Gene Simmons: "We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we've never dreamed of before. The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he's ever done before."
The KISS avatars were created by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) and financed / produced by Pophouse Entertainment, who are responsible for the ABBA Voyage show taking place in London. Pophouse Entertainment was co-founded by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus.
