Kiss bassist rolls out $68,000 box set

NEW YORK • For US$50,000 (S$68,000), Kiss member Gene Simmons will come to your house and "kiss and tell".

The bassist and songwriter of the fire-breathing, make-up-wearing hard rockers wants to share his unreleased songs and has rolled out a box set that is among the most expensive ever created.

Dubbed The Vault, the collection comes with 10 CDs featuring 150 unreleased songs which he described primarily as solo work, but, at times, feature Kiss bandmates.

The music will come in a 17kg vault with a leather-bound book of photographs, a "non-make-up action figure" of Simmons and a medallion that reads "In Gene We Trust".

The 68-year-old said he spent three years designing The Vault. It starts at US$2,000, with Simmons delivering it to fans at meet-and-greet sessions in cities across North America and select overseas spots, including London, Mexico City and Tokyo.

But for US$50,000, he will deliver it to homes in the continental United States, with fans getting two hours to enjoy his company.

With his snake-like tongue and boasts of sleeping with thousands of women, the Israeli-born bassist shaped the image of Kiss whose concerts starting in the 1970s took on a carnival atmosphere with pyrotechnics and ample testosterone.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 15, 2017, with the headline Kiss bassist rolls out $68,000 box set. Subscribe