Kiss shocked the world at the end of 2023 when they revealed plans for a new virtual version of the band during their final End of the Road concert in New York City.
The Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment purchased everything related to Kiss — “the makeup and the tunes and the publishing and all that – for a [lot of money], as the band’s bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons shared in an interview earlier this year.
Having developed and launched ABBA’s incredibly successful hologram show previously, Pophouse has been hard at work with George Lucas’ visual-effects company Industrial Light & Magic to create a next-generation avatar-based experience for Kiss fans.
New music has been recorded, as Simmons revealed, and work is continuing for a projected launch in 2028.
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As guitarist Tommy Thayer tells UCR, they’re in for the ride of their life.
“It is mind-boggling. I mean, I’ve been very much involved working on this,” he told us during a recent interview. “We’ve got some great surprises in store and it’s going to blow people away when this thing comes out. It’s basically a virtual Kiss show.”
“The closest thing you could compare it to is the ABBA Voyage experience, which has been a hit show in East London now for about four years,” he says. “The same people produced it, and when you see this show in London, you think you’re seeing ABBA performing live in their heyday.”
What Makes This Live Experience ‘Mind-Boggling’?
“I’ve seen a lot of things and I was blown away just like everybody else was when we saw it. I’ve seen it a few times and that would be the closest [example] conceptually to get an idea what we’re doing,” he explains. “But technology has evolved so much in the last four or five years that us doing our show, it’s going to take it to a whole ‘nother level, more of a mind-boggling live experience.”
What Is Happening at Thayer’s 50-Year Celebration of Kiss in Germany?
The guitarist will be in Dusseldorf on Oct. 30 for a special event to help commemorate the five-decade connection Kiss has enjoyed with Germany. He says it’s going to be presented in a format that fans will be very familiar with.
“The event itself is more of a concert format, which I didn’t realize at first,” he shares. “I thought it was going to be more like an expo or a convention type thing that goes all day. [But] it’s mainly the evening. It’s in the arena, on stage. We’re going to do [question and answer] with some prominent Kiss-oriented people like Ossy Hoppe, the great German concert promoter who’s done every Kiss concert in recent times.”
“Doro Pesch will be there and we might even get up and jam a little bit [Thayer worked with the vocalist back in the ’80s]. Then they have a great Kiss tribute band that’s going to come out in full regalia, and I’ll probably pop in with them, jump up with them for a few songs as well. So it’s going to be a whole evening concert on stage. There will be some VIP events in the afternoon though that are planned for autograph signings and photo ops and things like that too. So it’ll go all day. I’m sure it’ll be quite an involved event.”
Thayer is keeping busy outside of his Kiss duties. Shogun Mojo, his new band with vocalist and singer-songwriter Dan Reed (yes indeed, of Dan Reed Network fame) will release its self-titled debut album on Oct. 30.
You can see a video below for “Gonna Raise Hell,” the second single from the upcoming record.
Watch Shogun Mojo’s ‘Gonna Raise Hell’ Video
Kiss will be back on stage in November for this year’s installment of Land-Locked in Vegas, which is set to include a tribute to the late Ace Frehley. The band also recently released a new collaboration with Pitbull called “Reach for the Stars.”
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Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening
