KISS Recording Cover Of 'Venus And Mars' For PAUL MCCARTNEY Tribute Album

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons revealed during a recent interview with Weekender that the band has recorded a cover version of "Venus And Mars" for an upcoming PAUL MCCARTNEY tribute album.

"Venus And Mars" is the fourth album by WINGS, the group McCartney formed after THE BEATLES' dissolution. It was McCartney's first solo album for Capitol Records after he re-signed with the label.

Simmons and KISS are out on tour and proudly showing off their latest new and improved lighting and pyrotechnic spectacle. Once again on the road with Simmons and Paul Stanley are current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer — both of whom dress up like co-founders Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, respectively.

The Pulse of Radio asked Simmons what it feels like to turn around and see the spitting image of his former bandmates — yet it's someone else. "Y'know, we still have a tug of the heart," he said. "It's like your drunken dysfunctional father who was a bum and you finally had to get rid of him — but you still remember the beginning when he was a good dad. Ace and Peter are beloved, as they should be, for the beginning. For helping launch the band — if you don't mind me saying so — that changed the face of rock and roll, literally and figuratively speaking. But equally as important part of the beginning of KISS, it's also important to know that with them in the band today, KISS wouldn't be around."

The last time the original members of KISS performed together was in the spring of 2001, on the Australian leg of their Farewell tour. Frehley left the group after those dates, saying afterwards that he took the word "farewell" seriously. Criss claimed that his contract with KISS wasn't renewed in March 2004. Both charges have been disputed by Simmons and Stanley.

Out now is the ultimate music insider book "And Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records", co-written by the label's co-founder and executive vice president and managing director Larry Harris. According to The Pulse of Radio, Harris explained that a perfect example of spending money to make money was how, in an unprecedented move, Casablanca promoted KISS as a star attraction starting with their 1974 non-hit self-titled debut. "Radio people have told me that if it wasn't for what Casablanca committed and did for them, because the money we put into them when they weren't selling any records and into the gigs was unbelievable," he said. "To make them headliners in markets that (we) first walked into with hardly any airplay at all — was never done. People were looking at us like we were crazy."