When I was in my teens my Mum and Dad took me and my best mate to see Kiss at a venue in the UK called Stafford Bingley Hall. It was an unusual venue that doubled as a cattle market and concert venue. That was the start for me and every tour wherever I was in the world I was there. This year Kiss play Australia for the last time before bowing out next year on their 50th Anniversary. Kiss is the only band I’ve seen more than 30 times, and the only band I’ve seen on four continents, both with make-up and without. It’s been a remarkable career for a remarkable band who over the years have rolled with the punches and adapted to the changes but always, above all, have stayed true to the fans. I had the pleasure of chatting with Tommy Thayer back in 2019 when the first Australian dates were announced and now it’s time to talk again with the 2022 Covid-delayed dates just around the corner. It’s going to be an emotional time for legions of Australian fans of all generations, me included.
Tommy: Hey Mark.
Mark: Hi Tommy, thank you so much for talking to The Rockpit today. It’s great to catch up again, it seems like only the other day we were talking about Kiss heading to Australia for the the Final tour, I think that was back in November 2019! And her were are again!
Tommy: Yeah and we’re still talking about it! (laughs)
Mark: It’s really going to happen this time though isn’t it?! (Laughs)
Tommy: (Laughs) Well I really have a good feeling this time.
Mark: 49 years of Kiss and I guess with the new dates Gene announced the other day coming into 2023 we’re going to hit that 50th Anniversary. This year is also your 20th Anniversary if I’m not mistaken?
Tommy: It is yeah, I’ve been in the band 20 years now and still going strong!
Mark: It must be an interesting time with the end in sight and so many possibilities ahead of what happens next?
Tommy: Yeah, I’ve ben thinking about that a little bit and thinking about what happens after Kiss.
Mark: I’m going to ask you a lot of fan questions today some of them from the Kiss Army here in Perth. But I’ll get mine in first – if you could sneak one song into the set what would it be?
Tommy: (laughs) Well one Kiss song that I’ve always really loved that we’ve never played since I’ve been in the band is ‘All Hell’s Breaking Loose’
Mark: What a great song.
Tommy: That would be a cool one for me. I think I’ve brought it up a few times (laughs) but somehow it didn’t really resonate with everybody. When we do the Kiss Cruises though we get to play more of the deep cuts, but the main set – there are just so many songs that we have to do – the classic standards, especially if they’re part of the show, that takes up about 80 or 90% of the song space right there.
Mark: It’s an impossible task pleasing everyone. As a fan of the band before you joined was their a particular album from the original make-up years that most resonated with you?
Tommy: Well I was a fan of the band from the very beginning, in the early days when in a lot of ways Kiss wasn’t even really that well known. They were this band from New York that were considered edgy, or even dangerous! It was like “Who’s this guy spitting blood?” and all that. But I think probably it would have to be ‘Dressed to Kill’. That really resonates with me in a special way. But then ‘Kiss Alive’ was the one that was really the ground-breaker, that really started things really taking off. So I’d say ‘Dressed to Kill’ with ‘Kiss Alive’.
Mark: I think I’m with you on that ‘Dressed to Kill’ for me nailed down what they’d tried with Hotter than Hell’ and the first record – there’s something special about that one.
Tommy: I think those first three studio records and Kiss Alive that was really it as far as establishing what it was all about and those records have a very special place in my heart.
Mark: Kiss has always had a wonderful connection with Australia, songs have charted here that haven’t elsewhere and for a country with such a small population we can pack out Arenas with the best of them. But it must be special for you particularly as your second ever show and first official show with the band was such a huge one!
Tommy: It really was, that was my coming out, that was my first official show as teh lead guitarist with Kiss in Melbourne at the Kiss Symphony Show with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. We were doing a documentary, we were recording a live album, we were recording a DVD, and I have to tell you I was under pressure! I was a little beside myself, a little stressed out that week!
Mark: I can imagine!
Tommy: It was a crazy time, of course coming in there were a lot of eyes on me, but somehow I made it through.
Mark: And a few years later on the next visit we got to see Kiss Up Close and Personal where we got to see Kiss in a small theatre! Two great shows I got to see living in Melbourne at the time.
Tommy: Yeah, 2004 we did those shows I think we called them ‘In Your Face’ or something like that.
Mark: I was just checking out your guitar lessons this morning on the Gibson App!
Tommy: (laughs) Did you learn how to play the guitar solo to Detroit Rock City yet? I really detailed it there for everyone!
Mark: I sort of have two left feet when it comes to playing guitar, as a I result I can only play bass badly.
Tommy: You get that Gibson App and keep working on it! You’ll be playing ‘Psycho Circus’ before you know it! I’ll check!
Mark: (laughs) I might have to grab one of your signature Epiphone Guitars to do that!
Tommy: They’re not that expensive!
Mark: I have a mate who is grabbing one from you in Melbourne, he’s glad of the two extra years he’s had to save for it!
Tommy: I’ll bring a few with me! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) You’ve know Kiss for a good few decades and as part of the Kiss organisation you’re produced DVD’s events and so much more, can you remember what it was like right at the start of that relationship where you sat down to write with Gene on ‘Hot in the Shade’?
Tommy: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. For those that don’t know I had a band back in the 80’s called Black ‘N’ Blue, we put records out and we got a slot as an opening act with Kiss on their Asylum tour in late 1985 in the US. We got to know Gene and Paul, it was at the time of Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr, and anyway we approached Gene to see if he would be interested in producing our third album that we were doing called ‘Nasty Nasty’ which turned out to be nasty, nasty (laughs). And of course he said he would love to do it so the relationship just evolved and progressed from there. And soon he asked me if I was interested in writing songs with him – he was working on songs for ‘Hot in the Shade’ like you mentioned. So we ended up writing a couple of songs, and I was doing demos with them and you know, all kinds of different things, juts getting to know them more. And the whole thing just kept evolving. And then suddenly Black ‘N’ Blue had run its course and I needed a job and they hired me part time to work in the Kiss organisation. At the time it was ‘Kisstory’ – the none pound coffee table book. But that led to a lot more things and they gave me a lot of great opportunities to get involved. And it all turned out pretty good. Lo and behold I became the guitarist a few years later.
Mark: One of the things I most love about Kiss as a photographer is that I donlt think I’ve ever enjoyed photographing a band as much as I have Kiss and it’s not just the costumes, the lighting and the spectacle: as a photographer you feel that those first three songs the band is playing just for you. the band plays to the pit so well.
Tommy: Absolutely, especially Gene and Paul they definitely play to the photo pit! I try and get in there just a little bit but it’s tough! (laughs) There’s only so much room there at the front of the stage!
Mark: (laughs) What do you think it will feel like when you play the final notes of that final show? It’s been a huge part of your life not just paying in the band but working in the organisation.
Tommy: Well it really has, I mean Kiss has been a big part of my life, it seems like forever. I think at the real end of this, which is going to be next year sometime, 2023 it’s definitely going to be bittersweet, it will be a celebration but it will be very sad too. And for Gene and Paul it’s even more meaningful and more intense probably, you’d have to ask them. But there will be a lot of emotions and it will be kinda difficult in a way – it’s been such a cool tour and it’s gonna be tough to end it. But it’s coming, it’s definitely gonna happen, it’s not just a marketing ploy. People ask me “Is this just another Farewell Tour?” but it is legitimately. You can’t keep doing Kiss, it’s a very physical thing to do and as people get older it becomes almost impossible after a while.
Mark: Especially on those high heels!
Tommy: Oh yeah, have you ever tried ’em?
Mark: I tried a pair, there’s a Kiss cover band in Perth and I slid on your space boots – I couldn’t do it. It’s hard enough for me to hit the right chords let alone do it in those things!
Tommy: (laughs) Wearing those boots takes a lot of extra energy, it’s crazy.
Mark: There is of course a lot of speculation what will happen after that final date. Is anything set in stone?
Tommy: You have to remember Kiss is not going away, Kiss the brand, the music, the imagery that’s all gonna continue on in certain ways it’s just that the band is not gonna tour anymore. Kiss wont end so I’m sure lots of associated things will be going on, some I might even be involved in you never know. Kiss will live on no doubt about it, something as monumental as Kiss won’t go away.
Mark: Great news for Kiss fans all over the world, they can exhale now!
Tommy: (laughs)
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the creation of any album just to see how the magic happened in the studio what would you have loved to have been there for? Leaving Kiss out of the equation if you can.
Tommy: Well this is an interesting one because it was by a band that was not as big but one of the most influential guitarists in bands for me growing up was Montrose, so for me I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that first Montrose album where they had Ted Templeman producing, recording probably at the Record Plant Sausalito. I would have loved them to have been there and watched them record all those classics like ‘Bad Motor Scooter’, ‘Rock The Nation’ and ‘Space Station #5’.
Mark: You’ve got a wonderful taste in music Mr Thayer I must say.
Tommy: (laughs) OK!
Mark: I thought an interesting way to end would be to travel back in time. I dug out a music magazine from 1973 the year that Kiss were born to find out the sort of searching questions Teen Magazines asked back then (and maybe still do) it all seems to be based on listing peoples favourite things… let’s see how you compare to Mick Ronson.
Tommy: OK let’s go!
Mark: OK Tommy name your favourite movie star?
Tommy: My favourite? I’d have to go back to some of teh classic 40’s and 50’s films – Burt Lancaster, Cary Grant, a lot of the classic Golden Era ones really impressed me, you know Tony Curtis, not so much the modern day for me though there are some great actors today, but for me the best films made were in the 40’s and 50’s and I watch a lot of those.
Mark: Favourite food?
Tommy: You know nothing beats a good old hamburger! A great burger! But I really like Japanese and Asian food as well. Japan’s a special place – I really enjoy the culture and I really enjoy visiting.
Mark: And you have a date there just after Australia I can see.
Tommy: Yeah we just announced a big blow out at the Tokyo Dome at the end of November.
Mark: I’m reliably informed there will be a rather large party of Australians flying out for that one as well.
Tommy: I’m sure they will! (laughs) If the Australian dates aren’t enough, there’s always Japan too!
Mark: Keeping the 1973 theme: what was the last book you read?
Tommy: I just read this great Autobiography on the Doobie Brothers. Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston wrote it together – it’s called ‘Long Train Running’ and to me it’s really interesting reading about how they came up and all the crazy stuff they went through in the 70’s. And then Michael McDonald comes in and the band changes and then they just become bigger than ever. To me really interesting but if you’re not a Doobie Brothers fan it might not be! I thought it was a great book.
Mark: And sadly a band I’ve only had the chance to see the once. Great band.
Tommy: I read a lot of music biographies, a lot of history, but I do read a lot so it can be anything with me, a great novel, but it has to be a book in the traditional sense, a physical book. I love hard-bound books.
Mark: I’ll spare you the last few about favourite colours and star signs!
Tommy: (laughs)
Mark: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today Tommy, it will be great to see you up on the big stage in a few weeks time. You hit Perth on 2nd September – it’s gonna be a big one!
Tommy: It’s gonna be awesome, and Mark it’s been great talking to you brother. See you soon!
You can of course get your tickets here:
AUSTRALIAN CONCERT DATES 2022
Saturday August 20
ROD LAVER ARENA, MELBOURNE VIC
Support: Dead City Ruins
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Sunday August 21
ROD LAVER ARENA, MELBOURNE VIC
Support: Rival Fire
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Tuesday August 23
ROD LAVER ARENA, MELBOURNE VIC
Support: Dallas Crane
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Friday August 26
QUDOS BANK ARENA, SYDNEY NSW
Support: The Poor
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Saturday August 27
QUDOS BANK ARENA, SYDNEY NSW
Support: Battle Snake
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Tuesday August 30
ADELAIDE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, SA
Support: The Superjesus
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Friday September 2
RAC ARENA, PERTH WA
Support: Legs Electric
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Tuesday September 6
BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, QLD
Support: Wolfmother
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849
Saturday September 10
CBUS SUPER STADIUM, ROBINA GOLD COAST, QLD
Supports: Wolfmother & Tumbleweed
www.ticketek.com.au & 132 849