Doc McGhee (KISS manager) speaks about the KISS Kruise event

Longtime band manager Doc McGhee participated in a Q&A session with guests at the “KISS Kruise: Land-Locked In Vegas” event on November 16 at the Virgin Hotels resort and casino in Las Vegas. These are some interesting topics he spoke about, as reported by blabbermouth.net.

Will he ever release a book?

I’ve wrestled with the idea of a book for a long time. Everybody wants to hear the stories — the dirt, and the things that have happened over my 50-year career. As I started to write the book – and I’ve been doing it for years — it dawned on me that I don’t really have the right to do that. I’m like Dad, and I shouldn’t talk about my kids. This was between all of us, so that’s why I probably won’t write a book.

The perfectionism of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley

They’re very hands-on before the show, after the show. We sit and critique the show after the show every night. It’s probably one of the very few bands that I’ve ever managed that was actually coherent enough after a show to sit down and talk about it, but actually wanted to sit down and go through pyro, video — we’d always have playback brought in of that show, so when we talked about something, we could play it back and see how we were going to change it.

Kiss to be honored by Kennedy Center

Very, very few artists have ever received this award, especially in the rock field. Usually rock bands are not talked about at [this level] — I mean, Zeppelin got it, but there’s only been a few [rock] artists that have received it. To get that honor is amazing… Some artists say they won’t play it because of the political landscape. To me, music is supposed to bring people together… Some artists are doing it even though they’re not with this regime. Two of them said, ‘It doesn’t matter — it’s not about politics. It’s about music.’

About the biopic

It’s crazy, because [Simmons and Stanley] were probably the two most unlikely people in the world to become rock stars when you look at it. You have Chaim Witz and Stanley Rosen. One was a cab driver that had one ear and couldn’t hear and was kind of made fun of, and the other one came from Israel and didn’t speak English until he was nine years old, lived in a Hungarian neighborhood and learned English watching television… It’s the story of the guys from inception — before the zeroes [on their paychecks], when it was fun — and the struggle to get to ‘Alive!’… It’s the American dream. Everybody says, ‘You can be whatever you want to be.’ That’s fuckin’ great to say, but here’s an example — especially with Gene and Paul, who absolutely would have been the last people to be picked to become what they are today.

About Ace Frehley

I think Ace would have been a rock star no matter what. The guy was just crazy… Whether you liked Ace or not as far as a person or think he’s a great guitar player, he’s probably one of three or four guitar players in the world that actually influenced kids to pick up a guitar. You can [count] the other ones on one hand. [There were plenty of other] great guitar players, but not kids who said, ‘That’s what I want to be.’

About the cruise, and the band enjoying them

These guys, when they got the first cruise, they didn’t want to get onto the boat. The guys left after two days. When they were off, they went, ‘Wow, we really sucked. What was that?’ Then they stayed on the boat [the next year], and they started to understand fans, truly. They got closer and more involved every year. They got more approachable. They told funny stories, and you actually saw a different side of Gene and Paul and the band. That made them more connected to [fans]… We’re going to watch surveys and talk to everybody and see what’s available for boats. Maybe it’s a European thing [next time]. We don’t know yet. We’ve never done a European one…That’s something we’re looking at, but there will be one every year. That’s what we hope for, and we want to find the right spots

About the band playing the cruise

These guys haven’t played in two years. What have they been doing for two years? Über-dad. They love their families so much, but you just turn into… you’re going to Home Depot. You’ve been a rock star for 50 years, and you’re at Home Depot with an orchid. They would have come here a week early. They were really excited… I thought [the concert] was phenomenal. All the shit worked! The timing of the lights and everything else was so much better [than expected]. We spent two months trying to get it right on [the final leg of] the ‘End Of The Road’ tour. It was torture every day trying to get everything synced, and somehow, all the stars were aligned last night. I thought they sang well. I thought it was a little slow to begin with, and then they kind of got their [sea] legs and started to roll. It was just them playing — it wasn’t that setlist of perfection that we have to do every day. They were looser. I thought it was one of the better shows I’ve seen.

About the avatar show

We didn’t want KISS to fade away. Nobody knew how to do it, until I saw ‘ABBA Voyage’ in London. Then I went right to the company that did it [Pophouse], and I said, ‘Wow, this would be an opportunity for us to take KISSinto the future.’ Gene and Paul, everybody gets older. Nobody wants to see [past-his-prime NFL legend] Joe Namath go out there and throw the football. They wanted to go out on top and be the best that they could be before they couldn’t do it… With this, we have the ability to now introduce new generations, new songs, new elements of a new KISS. The [forthcoming full-length band] documentary is, like, the first 50 years of KISS. Then we have our next 50 years that we’re about to do. I think that’s the exciting part for me.

About the original lineup

They didn’t play together for 17 years… If you have a glass of milk that’s sour and put it in the refrigerator for 17 years and expect it to taste any better, I’m not sure that’s what’s going to happen. But they really hung in there for a while [after reuniting] before their emotions got to them and all the old feelings came out. It’s sad when that happens, but that’s life. It’s like a marriage or a relationship. Seventy percent of all marriages fail, so why wouldn’t a rock band fail? They’re with each other every day of their lives, and they all have different cheerleaders in their families and friends, and ‘I’m more important than him,’ and ‘This guy’s getting more than I’m getting’… You’re getting all these things that interfere, and sometimes people can’t get past those things. They can’t let things go, and that past kills the future. History repeats itself — it was about six years before they started to fall apart to begin with, and when I put them back together again, it was six years when we started falling apart again… That whole concept of, ‘You have to stay together’? We wanted everybody to come and play this [event]. I talked to all of them and couldn’t get it done. It’s just, shit happens, and there’s not much you can do about it.

The first time he saw Mötley Crüe

They were so bad. When I went to see them in 1982, I thought I was being punked. I walked in there and they were rolling around on the floor blowing shit up and lighting themselves on fire, and I went to myself, ‘What the fuck is this? This is terrible.’ Then I looked around and saw 3,000 kids going ape-shit. [They] tore down every poster, bought every piece of merchandise. Then I realized that I didn’t know a fuckin’ thing about music. Since then, I don’t watch the bands – I watch the audience, because if the audience doesn’t like them, it doesn’t matter what I like. Who cares what I like? I’m a masses guy. I happen to like KISS and I happen to like the music of KISS, but it doesn’t matter. That’s not the key. The key is, how do I continue to make you guys like KISS, and your kids, and how can I keep the connection that you guys have with this brand?… We try to do stuff like this [KISS Kruise] and take photos and do whatever you can to help the people that are here. When somebody says, ‘You helped me get through this’ [pauses]… I get choked up, sorry… that is such an emotional connection.