KISS’ Manager Compares Band’s Future to Marvel Cinematic Universe

Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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KISS is one of the longest-running bands in all of rock and metal history. Having formed in 1973, the band has gone on to create a plethora of hits, sell millions in merchandise, and play all around the world.

But as of this year, per the band’s manager Doc McGhee, KISS will be wrapping up their “End of the Road” farewell tour this year. However, McGhee also adds that KISS’ future is full of possibilities.

During a recent conversation with Podcast Rock City, McGhee was asked about the band’s future after they perform their final live show. While speaking to that future, the longtime KISS manager compared the legendary musical act to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying, “There’s all kinds of things that can happen with Kiss, and probably will.”

Here is what McGhee had to say about KISS’ future (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):

“There’s a lot of talk about everything. And nobody knows what’s gonna happen in the future. So what we’ve kind of put in our minds is let’s go through this like this is the end of KISS as we know it. And whatever comes our way, with technology and everything else, we’ll look at it. Will be Gene and Paul out there in makeup. No. I can tell you that.

“They’re hanging their hats up after the [final] show, which is gonna be very, very difficult and very emotional for them after 50 years of doing this. And they love it. A lot of my bands — most of my bands — [say], ‘I hate this. I don’t wanna be out there anymore. I don’t wanna do this. This is bullshit.’ That’s not [Paul and Gene]. They love it. They thrive on it. We have a great time on the road, or an extremely good time on the road. So, it’s, like, ‘Why are we ending this?’ And we’re ending this because this is the time to end it. This is it, 50 years of Kiss.

“And let them move on to their next phase of whatever they wanna do, whether it’s Gene in business or having a country named after him, the Gene Simmons World; we don’t know, however that works. And Paul’s got a family. He’s got three kids — he actually has four kids, but he’s got three kids in the house.”

McGhee goes on to add: “For us, we’re just kind of open. People are throwing ideas around to us, and then we’ll look at it. But, really, it has to be amazing. We don’t fall for gimmicks, as much as some people would think we’re a gimmick. But we don’t fall for ’em. We didn’t do NFTs, we didn’t do all that stuff, because we didn’t believe in it. We didn’t believe that people were gonna get anything out of it. And it wasn’t gonna be long-lasting.

“I like to think years and years ahead; I don’t like to think days ahead. So with that, we’re gonna go and finish this up and see what happens in the realm of the metaverse and the world of that type of things that can come back and people can experience things in different ways for Kiss. To me, Kiss is more like Marvel. There’s all kinds of things that can happen with Kiss, and probably will. So it’s a whole new frontier out there starting in ’24.”

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