Gene Simmons tells story behind KISS’ number one single “Samurai Son” in Japan

Gene Simmons tells story behind KISS’ number one single “Samurai Son” in Japan

KISS bassist, singer and co-founder Gene Simmons was recently interviewed by Rockcellar Magazine and spoke about the upcoming KISS Expo in Japan where the KISS documentary You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best will be premiering as well as KISS‘ single “Samurai Son” which reached number one in Japan.

Simmons commented on what the story was behind KISS‘ first number one single in Japan: “Sometimes it’s the right time and the right place and that case it was an idea pitched to us that sounded like fun and it worked out great. We’ve never chased singles as such. We’d stick a few out; I Was Made For Loving You did well around the world and Beth did well in some countries but when you think about it…there have been lots of bands that have had lots of hits that didn’t get anywhere we’ve been and there are some bands like Zeppelin, AC/DC and a few others that have done very well with no hit singles. Come to think of it, I think AC/DC might have had one hit single. Anyhow, it’s tough to stay true to who and what you are and play the singles game. The best of them I suppose were the Beatles and the Stones who somehow continued to have hit singles and somehow it all sounded like authentic Stones and Beatles. But other than those bands it was always a case of giving up their identity to try and get a hit single.”

Simmons also spoke about the upcoming KISS Expo in Japan: “KISS Expo is a lot of the stuff from my collection but it’s also virtual, you can stick on glasses and hop up onstage and play with us. It’s quite an amazing thing with the technology but that’s no surprise, Japan is very advanced in that field. It’s almost sold out. The big Japanese artists are attending. There’s a guy named Yoshiki who is in a group called X Japan but there it’s just X.

We recorded the song Samurai Son, with Momoiro Clover Z, who are little girls, sort of pop space girls and have an enormous fan base there. It turned out to be our first # 1 single in Japan so they’re coming to the KISS Expo. So everyone will be descending on that because a lot of those artists grew up worshipping KISS.

I’m flying over solo to the KISS Expo in October. I’m gonna stay for a week, meet the press and play nice and all of that, and then Yoshiki is going to come down and open the KISS Expo with me. KISS is why he decided to get into music. So I’ll be at the KISS Expo, hosting people and meeting them and doing all of that. Then the day after the expo I’ll be joining Yoshiki who’s doing a three day X Japan festival and there will be 100,00 people there so I’ll be going there and joining him onstage to do a few songs.”

You can read the rest of the interview at Rockcellar Magazine.

KISS playing “Samurai Son” in Nagoya, Japan on February 23, 2016:

KISS Samurai Son Live in Nagoya Japan 23.02.2015

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KISS‘ “Samurai Son” US mix:

KISS – Samurai Son (U S Mix)

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