The Strombo Show welcomed Gene Simmons for an intimate exploration to celebrate his Gene Simmons' Vault. This is the unedited, full conversation. He opened up about his thoughts as an immigrant toward President Trump, his relationship with all members of KISS along with his thoughts toward feminism and more. Read the complete transcript here.
On if he thinks if President Trump is a good President:
"Well, it's too early, you know when you were a little baby and you kept falling on your face, i'm not gonna judge you then, do i think you said a lot of stupid things, oh ya, but i know the man by the way, we hung and all that stuff, what you see is what you get, he says stupid things, and so do you, and so do i, i'm not validating it but, there's not a human being that walks on thee face of the planet that privately hasn't made racists or anti-semitic or entire martian or anti-women jokes, or anti-irish jokes, go ahead. Privately everybody does it. He is a tourette president who will say whatever he wants.. and he doesn't give a fuck if you approve of him, and he's doing the job for one dollar. I like that.
You will be judged by what you do and that i agree that what you say can be hurtful, but at the end of the day politics intrinsically is about 2 things, one keep us safe, and to give me an opportunity to feed my family. I think if you go across everywhere else, anywhere else in the world those are the 2 items people are concerned with most, you will never please anybody, i don't know anybody here who hasn't said stupid things publicly or privately and if they get outed you know if you get caught on tape, from Mel Gibson to everyone, and i know mel very well and i'm jewish myself, and he said some stupid things, racists things, anti-semitic things when he was, y'know high or drunk or whatever, but i know the guy, i know that he gave a 2o million dollar check to start mending kids privately and never talked about it, i know the guy that goes out of his way to help refugees and stuff like that and doesn't advertise it. It's your deeds not what you say, you've said potty words and so have i, so i'm gonna give the guy who was duly elected a chance to show us what he can do, and then i'll judge his legacy."
On another KISS record:
When and if it's the right time, i would wanna figure out a different business model because i refuse to stick it on clouds and shmouds and all this stuff where it's just like a puff of smoke that's gone, i want to feel, i want to see the art, i wanna feel the thing in my hand, i refuse to play by a broken down system that in a lot of ways is highway robbery, the artist, by the way it doesn't affect me,. I'm a rich son of a bitch and all that okay okay okay, the new little baby bands, how do they earn a living? How do you write your songs and, how'd you quit your day job and really do this full time. You can't.
It's crazy because the fan refuse to pay money for the records, and that means your killing the new bands, you're killing them , you're not giving them the next elvis or elton or whoever you think is great, a chance. We had a lot of chance, we had record companies, they gave us millions and we could tour and do all that stuff, new bands have to go back to living in their mother's basement. That’s unfortunate
On Halloween:
We used to go through Beverley Hills and they used to do cobwebs through entire street and i remember walking down the street one day, so help me god true story, without makeup or anything, just walking with the kids, and coming on the other side was a young mother and her very small child dressed just like me with makeup, which was in the days when the Demon was wrestling, and she comes over and she says sweetheart that's gene simmons, and the little kid said, and he's dressed like me in Kiss makeup, “who?” She said y'know, that's the demon, she goes nooo, because the kid put on the demon makeup because of the wrestler who's dressed like me, he never heard a kiss or anything. But i got him later mwahaha.
On Peter Criss' final tour:
There's no such thing as final. Yknow every band says goodnight, but if they clap long enough you come back and do it again.
I haven't spoken to him in a long time but i think he's far happier now, not everybody is designed to run a marathon, y'know being on the road is tough because everybody around you will try to drag you into darkness, and if you're not careful it's easy, and i'm too involved with myself and delusionally in love with myself that i'm not interested in other people's assessment of life, i know what's good for me."
On Paul Stanley:
"He's the best partner, i mean if i was gay i would do him, in front of you and your children."
