Kiss bassist Gene Simmons says he was once paid millions of pounds to speak at a royal event.
Simmons was recently interviewed by UK website This Is Money when he was asked if he’d ever been paid “silly money” to attend an event.
Simmons replied: “Yes. There was a royal event I had to speak at for an hour and they paid me millions of pounds. It is not proper to say which royal family it was, but they just wanted me there. God knows why. I did not even perform, I just spoke.”
He was also asked if he’d ever struggled to make ends meet, to which he answered: “No. I have never lived above my means. I washed dishes and picked up garbage, but I never struggled to make ends meet.
“If I was down and out, I never knew it at the time. I always had a job and could pay my way.”
And, asked what the first thing he’d do if he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK government, Simmons said he’d “keep the UK in the European Union.”
He added: “I understand Europe is a mess, but remaining in the EU would be better for the British economy.”
Kiss are gearing up to kick off their End Of The Road tour, which will get under way at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on January 31.
So far, Kiss have dates scheduled across North America, Russia, Europe and the UK, with further shows expected to be revealed in due course.
Kiss End Of The Road 2019 North American tour dates
Jan 31: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Feb 01: Portland Rose Garden Moda Center, OR
Feb 02: Tacoma Dome, WA
Feb 04: Spokane Arena, WA
Feb 07: San Diego Viejas Arena, CA
Feb 08: Fresno Save Mart Center, CA
Feb 09: Sacramento Golden 1 Center, CA
Feb 12: Anaheim Honda Center, CA
Feb 13: Glendale Gila River Arena, AZ
Feb 15: Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, NV
Feb 16: Los Angeles The Forum, CA
Feb 19: Corpus Christi American Bank Center, TX
Feb 20: Dallas American Airlines Centre, TX
Feb 22: New Orleans Smoothie King Centre, LA
Feb 23: Memphis FedEx Forum, TN
Feb 26: Oklahoma City Chesapeake Energy Arena, OK
Feb 27: Kansas City Sprint Center, MO
Mar 01: Milwaukee Fiserv Forum, WI
Mar 02: Chicago United Centre, IL
Mar 04: Minneapolis Target Center, MN
Mar 06: Sioux Falls Denny Sanford Premier Center, SD
Mar 07: Omaha CenturyLink Center, NE
Mar 09: Grand Rapids Van Andel Arena, MI
Mar 10: Moline mark Of The Quad Cities, IL
Mar 12: Louisville KFC Yum! Center, KY
Mar 13: Detroit Little Caesars Arena, MI
Mar 16: Columbus Nationwide Arena, OH
Mar 17: Cleveland Quicken Loans Arena, OH
Mar 19: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Mar 20: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Mar 22: Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, NY
Mar 23: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Mar 26: Boston TD Garden, MA
Mar 27: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Mar 29: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA
Mar 30: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Apr 02: Quebec City Videotron Centre, QC
Apr 03: Ottawa Canadian Tire Centre, ON
Apr 06: Raleigh PNV Arena, NC
Apr 07: Atlanta Philips Arena, GA
Apr 09: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Apr 11: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Apr 12: Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, FL
Apr 13: Birmingham BJCC, AL
Aug 06: Sunrise BB&T Center, FL
Aug 08: Charleston North Charleston Coliseum, NC
Aug 10: Charlotte PNC Music Pavilion, NC
Aug 11: Bristow Jiffy Lube Live, VA
Aug 13: Virginia Beach Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater, VA
Aug 14: Newark Prudential Center, NJ
Aug16: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Aug 17: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Aug 20: Brooklyn Barclays Center, NY
Aug 21: HersheyPark Stadium, PA
Aug 23: Darien Center Darien Lake Amphitheater, NY
Aug 24: Saratoga Springs Saratoga Performing Arts Center, NY
Aug 27: Syracuse St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview, NY
Aug 29: Cincinnati Riverbend Music Center, OH
Aug 31: Indianapolis Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, IN
Sep 01: St. Louis Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, MO
Sep 03: Des Moines Wells Fargo Arena, IA
Sep 05: Little Rock Verizon Arena, IN
Sep 07: Bossier City CenturyLink Center, LA
Sep 08: San Antonio AT&T Center, TX
Sep 09: Houston Toyota Center, TX
Sep 11: Albuquerque Isleta Amphitheater, NM
Sep 12: Denver Pepsi Center, CO
Sep 14: Salt Lake City USANA Amphitheatre, UT
Sep 16: Oakland Oracle Arena, CA
Kiss End Of The Road 2019 UK, European & Russian tour dates
May 27: Leipzig Messe, Germany
May 29: Vienna Stadthalle, Austria
May 31: Munich Konigsplatz, Germany
Jun 02: Essen Georg-Melches Stadium, Germany
Jun 04: Berlin Waldbuehne, Germany
Jun 05: Hannover Expo-Plaza, Germany
Jun 07: Solvesborg Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden
Jun 11: St Petersburg Ice Arena, Russia
Jun 13: Moscow Dynamo Stadium, Russia
Jun 16: Kiev NSA Olympic Stadium, Ukraine
Jun 18: Krakov Tauron Arena, Poland
Jun 25: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Jun 27: Oslo Tons Of Rock Festival, Norway
Jun 28: Trondheim Rocks Festival, Norway
Jul 02: Milan Ippodromo San Siro, Italy
Jul 04: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Jul 06: Iffezheim Rennbahn, Germany
Jul 09: Birmingham Resorts World Arena, UK
Jul 11: London The O2, UK
Jul 12: Manchester Arena, UK
Jul 14: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, UK
Jul 16: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK
