GENE SIMMONS' 'Alter Ego' Box Set To See Light Of Day This Year

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons' long-promised box set of previously unreleased solo material, which has apparently had several different working titles over the years — including "Monster" and "100" — will finally see the light of day in 2009. Responding to a fan's letter in the letters section of his official web site, Gene writes, "I've always written 'outside' stuff, but KISS is KISS. And that means the outside stuff winds up on solo albums, or I keep it in the drawer. This year, I plan on releasing 'Alter Ego', a box set of unreleased songs...about 150 of 'em. You'll hear more 'outside' stuff. "

Simmons' sophomore solo album, "Asshole", sold around 13,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release back in 2004 to land at position No. 86 on The Billboard 200 chart. Like Gene's 1978 self-titled solo album, "Asshole" featured a number of outside songwriting contributions and guest appearances. Bob Dylan and Gene co-wrote the album's "Waiting For The Morning Light". Frank Zappa and Gene share co-writing credit on "Black Tongue" and the Zappa Family, Dweezil, Ahmet, Moon, Gail and Frank Zappa himself sing and play guitar on the song. Other guests featured on the album include Dave Navarro, ex-KISS members Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer, Simmons Records/Sanctuary Music Group signing BAG, as well as Gene's longtime live-in Shannon Tweed and their two children, Sophie and Nicholas.

Simmons' video for his version of the PRODIGY track "Firestarter" can be viewed below. The clip was filmed in April 2004 in Los Angeles with directors Mark Klasfeld and Tony Perossian.

(Thanks: Deucenews)