The Strombo Show welcomed Gene Simmons for an intimate exploration to celebrate his Gene Simmons' Vault. This is the unedited, full conversation. He opened up about his thoughts as an immigrant toward President Trump, his relationship with all members of KISS, along with his thoughts toward feminism and more. A few excerpts follow:

On another KISS record:

"When and if it's the right time, I would wanna figure out a different business model because I refuse to stick it on clouds and shmouds and all this stuff where it's just like a puff of smoke that's gone. I want to feel, I want to see the art, I wanna feel the thing in my hand, I refuse to play by a broken down system that in a lot of ways is highway robbery, the artist, by the way it doesn't affect me. I'm a rich son of a bitch and all that okay okay okay, the new little baby bands, how do they earn a living? How do you write your songs and, how'd you quit your day job and really do this full time. You can't."

"It's crazy because the fans refuse to pay money for the records, and that means you're killing the new bands, you're killing them, you're not giving them the next Elvis or Elton or whoever you think is great, a chance. We had a lot of chance, we had record companies, they gave us millions and we could tour and do all that stuff, new bands have to go back to living in their mother's basement. That’s unfortunate."



On Halloween:

"We used to go through Beverley Hills and they used to do cobwebs through the entire street and I remember walking down the street one day, so help me god true story, without makeup or anything, just walking with the kids, and coming on the other side was a young mother and her very small child dressed just like me with makeup, which was in the days when the Demon was wrestling, and she comes over and she says 'Sweetheart, that's Gene Simmons,' and the little kid said, and he's dressed like me in KISS makeup, 'who?' She said, 'Y'know, that's the Demon, he goes 'nooo,' because the kid put on the Demon makeup because of the wrestler who's dressed like me, he never heard of KISS or anything. But I got him later mwahaha."



On Peter Criss' final tour:

"There's no such thing as final. Yknow every band says goodnight, but if they clap long enough you come back and do it again."

"I haven't spoken to him in a long time, but I think he's far happier now, not everybody is designed to run a marathon, y'know being on the road is tough because everybody around you will try to drag you into darkness, and if you're not careful it's easy, and I'm too involved with myself and delusionally in love with myself that I'm not interested in other people's assessment of life, I know what's good for me."



On Paul Stanley:

"He's the best partner, I mean if I was gay I would do him, in front of you and your children."

(Picture by Vanessa Heins)