Metal Anarchy

During an appearance at the “KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas” event, Thierry Coup, creative director for the KISS avatar show, further discussed the venture. According to him, “the band is going to be as real as it ever was.”

Coup said the following about the avatars, which are being created in cooperation with his own JOCOUP Creative and Swedish investment company Pophouse Entertainment:

“When we did the MSG moment at the end, it was really to spark the idea of what was going to come in the future, and to really tell everyone that KISS is only done with the first chapter — the first 50 years. The next 50 years is about to start. Now, we’re right in the middle of developing the real avatar [show], which takes about two years. We are developing the stage and taking this energy and this incredible KISS explosive theatrics and shows into the future.”

He went on to say the avatar show is seeking to capture the “DNA” of a KISS concert:

“Many, many years ago, what blew me away was when I went to my first KISS concert. It just changed my life. I knew KISS’s music, but you don’t know KISS until you see them live. It took me into their world… For me, to be lucky enough to be involved with creating this avatar show, it’s like a dream come true. When Pophouse came along a couple of years ago asking me, ‘Do you want to create the biggest, most incredible tour in the world and blow it up with pyrotechnics,’ [I said,] ‘Yeah, of course — I’m in. Count me in’… The past 30 years, I’ve been creating big, crazy, immersive shows [and] multimedia shows. If you’ve flown with Harry Potter or ridden with Mario in his Mario Kart or been chased by a dinosaur at Universal [Studios], I was probably involved with that. For me to be asked to do this, it’s fantastic. I love KISS, [and] I love KISS’s music. I think there’s no better band to really go into the future like this and keep inspiring new fans.”

Coup continued:

“The band is going to be as real as it ever was. They’re a little younger than they are today, but that’s all about really taking everything we know about KISS, about the band members, looking at archives, working with the band about who they really are and who they were, and bringing all that to life so when you see them, this is not just going to be animation or recreation. This is KISS, with all the love, the energy coming to life.”

He also added:

“KISS is going to be back on tour. This is what we’re creating — the band is going to be back, but bigger. They were already bigger than life — they’re superheroes — and what we’re doing is bringing the stage to another dimension, being able to explore things that could not be possible. With the technology today, we are able to do a lot more, but it’s all true [to] KISS. KISS has innovated — they’ve always looked forward; they’ve never looked backwards — so we are doing the same thing. We’re working with Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons], so we know what their dreams were. They were able to achieve a lot of that, but now we can take it to a new level. Really, we want everyone – new and old fans – to come to this show, to this real-life KISS concert, and feel like, ‘Oh my God. This is KISS.’ This is kind of passing the torch to the next era, the next generation. I want to see every kid walk in this show and feel the same [way] I felt the first time you went to a KISS show — ‘Oh my God. This is incredible. I want more. I’ll never forget this moment.’ Creating that moment that we all felt the first time we went to those concerts, that’s what I’m in for; that’s what we’re all in for with Pophouse. We’re super-excited about it.”

Manager Doc McGhee chimed in as well:

“When we looked at how we were going to end the career of KISS, it was like, you look and you see [LED] ZEPPELIN and you see all the rest of them that just kind of fade away,” he said. “As we’re looking, I went, ‘I don’t know what we can possibly do,’ until this technology came from Pophouse. This was three years ago [when] we found Pophouse. I flew over to Sweden, and they showed me this whole thing they did with ‘ABBA Voyage’. It was perfect. We always wanted to do the Marvel [Comics-like], going-into-the-future [ending], to keep them immortal. With their makeup and everything else, they look the same in 1974 as they do now with makeup — a little fatter, but that’s what spandex is for. [We thought], ‘Wow, this would be unbelievable if we could be the first band to ever do this.’ It just was a match made in heaven, and now, with the technology of today, we can do it. The best part is with KISS, it’s like, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. All of our shows, we put 100 pounds of shit in a five-pound bag every night. We spend a lot of money doing this stuff — for the fans, and for us, because we want to be over-the-top. This technology can even do it further than what we did before.”

[via Blabbermouth]