Latest Drum News
By Paul Rogne
The 76-year-old Peter Criss brought in the New Year the only way he can – loudly – with not only one but 2 drum solos.
Peter was the third member to join KISS in 1972, he introduced the bands only top 10 single with “Beth” that he wrote with Stan Penridge and Bob Ezrin. “Beth” reached #7 on the US chart, it achieved a gold record certification from the RIAA on January 5, 1977 and received the “Favorite Song” award at 1977 People’s Choice Awards.
By 1979 it was obvious that there were tensions between Criss and the rest of the band. After the recording of the KISS solo records in 1978 Criss further withdrew from the band. The first studio album after the solo records was Dynasty and Peter only played and sang on one song, “Dirty Livin'” which he wrote with Stan Penridge.
After the solo records it was agreed that the producer that worked on Peter’s solo record, Vini Poncia, would produce KISS’s next two records. As the story goes Vini approached Peter about bringing in a different drummer to record the next 2 albums (Dynasty – 1979, Unmasked – 1980) and Peter who was mentally no longer a part of the band agreed to it. The drummer of choice was Anton Fig who had previously recorded on Ace Frehley’s solo record and who now “ghosted” for Peter.
In 1980 after the release of Unmasked Peter did the necessary press and it was announced that Peter had left the band when in actuality he was fired. The exact reasons why Criss was fired from KISS were never disclosed, although it was obvious that his relationship with his bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley was not good at the time. Eric Carr replaced him the same year.
Peter perused a solo career with the release of 4 solo records. In 1995 Peter joined KISS for the MTV Unplugged series which at the time was presumed to be a one off. In 1996 KISS announced the original line up would reunite and tour for the first time since 1979. In 1998 KISS released the first studio record of the original line up titled Psycho Circus, this proved to be a reoccurrence of bad blood. Peter once again was sidelined on the record with drummer Kevin Valentine taking over with only one exception, the song “Into The Void” that Peter drummer on.
In 2001 Peter left KISS due to contractual disagreements and was replaced by Eric Singer who replaced Eric Carr in KISS after his death. Cooler heads prevailed and Peter rejoined KISS in 2002 and stayed with the band until 2004 when he left the band for a third and final time. KISS choose not to renew his contract and the era of “KISS with Criss” ended for the final time.
Peter makes personal appearances but announced in 2017 that he will no longer tour.
You can visit Peter’s website at www.PererCriss.net
