MINI-KISS Perform In New York City: Photos Available

February 3, 2005

MINI-KISS, a tribute band featuring little people (from 3-foot-11 to 4-foot-4 in height) covering KISS songs, in full make-up, while playing fake wooden guitars, performed in concert at the Cutting Room in New York City on Saturday (Jan. 29). Check out pictures from LFI.

MINI-KISS is the brainchild of KISS fan Joey Fatale, who came up with the idea to form the group six years ago when he was moving and sorting through old albums.

"I still have the first KISS album. I was looking at it, and I thought 'Imagine four little people dressing up just like KISS.' It just hit me. It hit me out of nowhere," he told Reuters.

The line-up has changed since the early days and the quality has gradually improved, Reuters reports. Fatale said they used to lip-sync the songs and mime with plywood cutout guitars.

"Now we have real guitars. I went out and bought mini guitars," he said. However they're still practicing and for they moment they still rely on a backing track.

"I want to start playing for real; if we do that we're going to be phenomenal," Fatale said.

In another departure from the original all-male KISS, two of the four in MINI-KISS are women. Drummer Kerry Robinson, who takes on the persona of Peter Criss, says she is normally rather shy and retiring but the stage show liberates her.

"I just go for it," she said backstage at New York's Cutting Room club. "I feel like I have a mask on. It's not Kerry, it's mini-Peter."

After playing parties and bars for several years, Fatale says his proudest moment came when they were invited to play at a magazine launch party for original KISS wildman Gene Simmons.

"We got a call from a friend that I know that said, 'Do you want to play for Gene Simmons?'," Fatale said. "I was like 'Hell yeah — the god of rock and roll, without a doubt.'"

"He didn't even know, I don't think. He was surprised. We came out, we performed and he just loved it."

"He has probably seen tons and tons of KISS tribute bands, but he's probably never in his life seen a little people KISS tribute band," Fatale told Reuters.

"That's what's so cool about what we're doing. And I think also, in my head, we're keeping KISS still going." Read more.

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