KIX Singer STEVE WHITEMAN On Retirement: 'I'm Loving It To Death'

On the latest episode of "Steve And Rik's POTcast", the podcast hosted by Steve Whiteman of KIX and his friend Rik Parks, Whiteman opened up about KIX's decision to call it quits in 2023 after more than 45 years. Asked how he is enjoying retirement, Steve said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm loving it to death. I was so ready to get off the road, I was so ready to stop performing, 'cause my talent level had gone down, my mobility had gone down. I thought I left a hell of a legacy, and I wanted to go out where people would remember me being good and not some used up rock star."

Steve went on to say that the quality of KIX's live performances was always paramount to him and his bandmates.

"We recorde[ed] every single show and we watched 'em in the van on the way back, on the way home," the singer explained. "And in the beginning it was very telling and it was very helpful because it pointed out — like if we did something very cool, like when we dropped to our knees the first time, everybody goes, 'Oh, that was cool. We gotta do that from now on.' And we would just fuck around at soundcheck and do crazy shit, and every once in a while, something, a gem would come up and we'd go, 'Oh, we gotta put that in the show.' And then we'd watch the videos back. And it wasn't just to critique the band; it was to critique the sound, it was the lights, it was the whole damn show. So it wasn't like we were just looking at ourselves, 'Oh, I wasn't good there.' Or, 'Oh, that sucked.' Or, 'Keep that in the show.' It was the whole production that we watched. It helped."

KIX played its final concert in September 2023 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The show, which was announced four months earlier, featured a special setlist along with appearances from KIX's former guitarists Ronnie Younkins and Brad Divens.

Back in August 2023, Whiteman told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about KIX's decision to retire: "Well, if ever the world was shouting at a band to get the hell out, it's us. I announced [in 2022] to the band and to our agent that at the end of 2023, I was done, that my wife was retiring. I've been doing this since I was, like, 13 years old, and I'm sick of all the travel and all the B.S. and the only thing I really enjoy is getting on stage. And to be honest, I'm not as good as I used to be, and I know that, and I don't wanna go out sucking; I wanna go out being pretty good. But age takes its toll. And all the things that happened to Jimmy [ Chalfant, drums] — Jimmy with a heart attack, and then when he just collapsed in Leesburg, Virginia and literally died on stage. And thank God for [KIX bassist] Mark [Schenker] and [guitar tech] Brandon [Dull] who knew how to get him back until the EMTs got there. But I could have stopped right there."

Whiteman also admitted at the time that he was no longer able to deliver KIX's material the way that he was able to earlier in the band's career. "My voice, I used to… I never had a break," he said. "I had a four-octave range and I never struggled hitting anything. I've had to pretty much totally change the way I sing. Luckily, I was a vocal coach, so I knew how to — I don't wanna say 'fake' things, but change things so the fans really wouldn't know that I'm not singing like I used to. And there are nights, out of the past couple of years, where I've come off stage just humiliated because I can't sing 'Don't Close Your Eyes' like I used to, or I can't sing 'Cold Blood', and these are the songs that the fans are out there waiting for. And that's when I started to think I don't wanna do this if I can't do it well anymore."

In May 2023, Whiteman confirmed to Metal Edge that Chalfant's health scare — he collapsed onstage in November 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest — expedited his decision to stop playing shows. "For sure," he said. "When Jimmy collapsed, that put a whole new perspective on things. It was the sort of thing that got me thinking, 'How much longer do we want to do this?' And if I'm being honest, I was ready to give up and go home then and there. But everybody rallied and pushed me to keep going and finish the dates we had booked. That's when we decided to go until September [2023]. We knew we had these summer dates, and Jimmy — once he felt good enough to get onstage — put his foot down and said, 'September [2023] is it for me.'"

The Baltimore-based act, which formed in 1977, announced its plan to call it quits during an appearance on May 7, 2023 at the M3 Rock Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion.

KIX was founded in 1977 and released its first, self-titled album on Atlantic Records more than 40 years ago. Their breakthrough came with 1988's "Blow My Fuse", which sold nearly a million copies, thanks to "Don't Close Your Eyes". The band continued to ride the hard-rock wave until 1995, when KIX took a hiatus. Nearly 10 years later, KIX reunited and started touring regionally. A 2008 performance at the Rocklahoma festival led to more gigs and the release of a live DVD/CD called "Live In Baltimore" in 2012. In 2014, KIX released its seventh full-length album, "Rock Your Face Off", the band's first studio effort since 1995's "Show Business". The album debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's Hard Rock and Metal chart, in the Top 50 on the Billboard 200 chart, No. 5 on the Independent Albums chart, No. 11 on the Top Internet chart, No. 17 on the Top Rock Albums chart, No. 27 on the Indie/Small Chain Core Stores chart and No. 33 on the Physical chart.

KIX released "Can't Stop The Show: The Return Of KIX" in October 2016, a two-disc DVD/CD set that entered the Billboard Top Music Video Sales chart at No. 3 and rose to the No. 1 position, the band's highest-charting debut and first No. 1 ever in their 35-year history. The 71-minute film offered an in-depth look into KIX's decision to record their first new album, in almost 20 years.

In 2018, KIX celebrated the 30th anniversary of their biggest album, "Blow My Fuse", with "Blow My Fuse Re-Blown", a two-disc set with a remixed/remastered version of the album, along with the original demo recordings for all 10 songs. The reunion with longtime collaborator Beau Hill for this remix sparked the initiative to revisit "Midnite Dynamite" and take a similar approach to updating KIX's legacy.

On the 35th anniversary of the release of "Midnite Dynamite", KIX released "Midnite Dynamite Re-Lit" in November 2020. For "Midnite Dynamite Re-Lit", KIX partnered with Hill for a blistering update of the fan-favorite album.