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Ace Frehley is Not Impressed with the KISS Avatars

Author Erica Banas // Rock Music Reporter

Well, shock me! Ace Frehley doesn’t have very nice things to say about the new KISS avatars.

Frehley said in a new interview with Rock Antenne that he’s not quite sure what the new era of KISS will do, as far as shows go.

“It kind of looked like it, you know, was geared towards children, and it’s not rock and roll,” said Frehley. “I get up on stage without backing tracks, plug my guitar into a Marshall and go.”

Regardless of whether the avatars are meant to be marketed to children, it appears the overall purpose is for KISS to live forever. The KISS avatars were unveiled as the “new era” of the legendary band following their final show ever.

The video below was played after KISS left the stage at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 2. In the clip, Paul Stanley is heard saying, “KISS Army! Your love, your power has made us immortal. The new KISS era starts now!”

Per KISS’ official website, “The KISS avatars were created by visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic using their advanced performance-capture technology, gathering every nuance of KISS band members’ face and body performance in exact detail.”

Industrial Light & Magic was founded by George Lucas in 1975. Since its founding, the visual effects company has over 500 film and TV credits. Among them are the many Star Wars properties and the various titles within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Additionally, the “new era” of KISS is working with the Sweden-based Pophouse Entertainment Group. The company isn’t new to the music world. It’s responsible for ABBA Voyage, the acclaimed digital concert honoring the iconic pop group.

Basically, the options are essentially limitless for the KISS avatars. Keep scrolling to see our ideas of how we think they should be utilized.

KISS Avatars: 5 Ways We'd Like to See the 'New Era' Utilized

  • A Stint at the Las Vegas Sphere (Obviously!)

    Clearly, a concert experience will happen with the KISS avatars. Having them debut at the Las Vegas Sphere just makes sense. After all, the KISS World Museum is located in Vegas. Plus, the videos that have been released from U2’s residency at the Sphere are just mindblowing.

  • Personalized concerts

    In a promotional video from Pophouse that featured Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, it was revealed that AI technology would be utilized with the KISS avatars that would allow the avatars to react to some stimuli. The example given was someone in the crowd at the digital concert yelling “I love you” would lead to the Stanley avatar to yell “I love you” back. So, why not give people the option to commission a personalized concert? Sure, that would have a hefty price tag, but clearly, anything is possible here.

  • A new KISS video game

    The technology used to create the KISS avatars is incredible. You know what wasn’t incredible? The 2000 video game KISS: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child. It was a first-person shooter based on Todd McFarlane’s KISS: Psycho Circus comic book series. As you can tell from the clip below, the video game hasn’t aged well, so a new one would be a great opportunity.

  • A KISS/Star Wars crossover

    Sure, this one seems like a long shot, but considering the George Lucus connection with Industrial Light & Magic, it wouldn’t be completely unheard of. It’s not like it would be worse than the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special!

  • An epic remake of 'KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park'

    Okay, if the Star Wars crossover is a long shot, then a remake of KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park is probably unthinkable. However, the silliness of this idea was one we couldn’t resist. Paul Stanley said of the film in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “I embrace it like an ugly child … We were sold the idea of the film in a sentence that was virtually, ‘A Hard Day’s Night meets Star Wars.’ Well, it was far from either.”

    Clearly, the time is now to right this wrong!

Erica Banas is a news blogger who's been covering the rock/classic rock world since 2014. The coolest event she's ever covered in person was the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Sir Paul McCartney inducting Foo Fighters? C'mon now!) She's also well-versed in etiquette and extraordinarily nice. #TransRightsAreHumanRights

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Author Erica Banas // Rock Music Reporter
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