Many have suspected that Gene Simmons is an individual whose eye is always lurking on or around the bottom line, but his latest wheeze to squeeze yet more money out of Kiss fans really does seem to take the biscuit: he’s charging fans $12,495 for the dubious pleasure of working for him for one day.
He discussed the idea in a recent interview with Carl Craft of 95.9 The Rat. It seems that, rather than employ an extra roadie, Simmons has decided to stretch the definition of a meet and greet.
As previously reported, as well as hanging out with the Kiss man, the lucky individual who pays for ‘The Ultimate Gene Simmons Experience’ will get to share a meal, is introduced to the audience and, er humps the band’s gear around for a day, too.
"When I was a kid and I went to see Hendrix or somebody, of course I enjoyed the show and really got off on it - we talked about it forever and stuff - but I didn't know what it was like,” Simmons explained to Craft. “What's the beginning of the day like? What's it like to sit and have breakfast or lunch with my favourite rock stars, and then get in the limo, go to the gig, set up the drums, do soundcheck, and then be on stage with your video, 'cause nowadays everything's on video. You can't take a poop without a camera coming in under the stall. And then you get pulled up on stage to sing along with them.”
All well and good, but why charge fans such a huge amount for the privilege? Insurance, it seems.
"It's crazy out here. So, I can't even, if I wanted to do roadie for a day with 10, 20, 30, as many people (as we would like). So we do one, because the insurance costs for that are astronomical. And so this ain't cheap. It's not for everybody. And for that one person, you do have to pay premium numbers. That's just life.
"It's also exposure, financial and legal exposure. Somebody has a bad experience, and they sue you and it costs you hundreds of thousands of dollars. You need insurance for everything. Do you have a car? You've got insurance. Everything in life, apparently… In fact, you buy anything - a tool - they give you insurance. Would you like the one-year or three-year? Everything's insured."
So why do it at all? Ever the businessman, Simmons has calculated that there are Kiss fans out there with a spare $12,000 who actually will go for this. And he’s probably right.
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