Guitarist Philip Shouse states Gene Simmons is just like one of the guys in Gene Simmons Band

Guitarist Philip Shouse states Gene Simmons is just like one of the guys in Gene Simmons Band

Gene Simmons Band guitarist Philip Shouse was recently interviewed by Decatur Daily and spoke about his musical endeavours including playing with KISS bassist Gene Simmons in the latter’s solo band.

Shouse stated: “For me, influence-wise, nobody even comes close to the Beatles and Kiss. I learned so much from both of those bands…. Every Gene Simmons show, I have to pinch myself. It’s amazing. The band is really solid. When you see pictures of us on stage playing, we’ve all got grins from ear to ear. And Gene is just like one of the guys. He’s amazing to be with. I’m definitely on team Gene for sure.”

In terms of how he landed the gig with Simmons, Shouse advised: “Ryan Cook, one of the three guitar players in the band, has known Gene since the late ’90s. I met Ryan in 2010-11 through Bo Bice. So Ryan is in a band called Big Rock Show and they play every Kiss cruise. On the 2016 cruise, Gene asked Ryan to put together a band for a handful of shows. When Ryan got off the boat, he said, “Dude, I’ve got something to tell you.” I got excited. Now, I’ve been in situations before where something cool comes up but doesn’t happen. You get asked to do a lot of things that don’t end up transpiring. I thought, this is great, if it happens. Well, it did happen.”

In regard to what a typical show is like, Shouse stated: “It’s not like a Kiss show, even though we do all Kiss tunes. It’s really intimate and Gene brings people on stage and they sing with us. It’s like a storyteller’s type of show because sometimes he’ll tell stories about how a song was written or different memories he has about the songs. It’s really special.”

You can read the rest of the article / interview with Shouse at Decatur Daily.