KISS: Fourth Volume Of 'Kissology' Series Is 'About 85 Percent Done'

The long-awaited fourth edition of KISS's popular "Kissology" DVD box set is "about 85 percent done," according to Tommy Thayer.

The KISS guitarist, who put together many of the band's previous home video collections before joining the group himself in 2002, has been compiling material for the project, which — like its predecessors — will combine never-before-seen footage, full-length concerts and rare TV appearances from the KISS archives.

Asked by Michael Cavacini why the fourth volume of "Kissology" still hasn't arrived even though it was originally due in November 2011, Thayer said: "I don't know if it was officially slated to be released then. I know we were talking about it and maybe that was the intention. It's still on hold. It's about 85 percent done. I put it together and produced what we've done so far."

He continued: "'Kissology 4', like the other Kissologies, will chronicle a certain era of the band. It will chronicle the band from early 2001-2002 up until the current date. It will also include vintage footage from the KISS archives that people haven't seen, so there'll be a cool bonus element to it too.

"Getting back to your question, I don't know if I have a good reason why it hasn't come out yet. There have just been so many other things going on, and something as important as that has to have its own window of time where it's focused on and committed to, in terms of talking about it, putting it out and doing it the right way, so the right attention is given to it. Sometimes that kind of stuff happens.

"A project like this is a little bit timeless so you have more flexibility where it doesn't have to come out at a certain time, so I guess that's why it hasn't yet. So, we're waiting to find the right time to put it out so it gets the attention that it deserves."

KISS frontman Paul Stanley said in a 2008 interview that he was taken aback by one particular aspect of the success of the "Kissology" series. "I think my biggest surprise is that 'Kissology Vol. 3' is the biggest and I thought that 'Kissology Vol. 1' would be the biggest because 'Kissology Vol. 1' is the beginning. And if you believed the loudest voices, the loudest opinions, you would think that the majority of people wanted the earliest stuff. But as it turns out, the biggest seller by far is 'Kissology Vol. 3', so once again the people who speak the loudest are not necessarily the majority."

Although KISS hasn't released a studio album since 2012's "Monster", Stanley told the audience at the band's October 29 concert at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut that a follow-up effort is on the way. Asked by Michael Cavacini when KISS will start writing material for the new disc and begin recording it, Thayer said: "I think right now it's still in the idea phase. I don't believe anything definitive has been determined or decided on yet for that. Within the band, we've talked and thrown some ideas around. So I think there's a good likelihood of that happening, especially since Paul announced it from the stage the other night. We'll see, but it would be nice to do another record."

Photo credit: Mohegan Sun / Khoi Ton (courtesy of CoynePR)