Founding member of KISS, PETER CRISS, has been out of the spotlight since his abrupt departure from the ‘hottest band in the land’ a few years ago, but this cat hasn’t gone away. Luckily for KISS fans everywhere, Peter is back with One For All – a pensive and personal collection of ballads, and it was with great pleasure that I sat down with the Catman to discuss his latest album and future projects.

Mitch Lafon: Tell me about One For All. How did the music come about?

Peter Criss: “The last run of the Kiss tour with AEROSMITH without Ace (who I miss dearly). I had a hard time getting through that thing, but a contract is a contract. But the reason for this (ballad album) is that I had a huge hit with ‘Beth’ for my band KISS and for me as a songwriter. It’s the 48th most played ballad in the world. Every night, I went out to sing it, I loved it. It was great! It was the thrill of my life and I realized I like singing ballads and I’m a hopeless romantic metal brain. I’m still metal man and I’ve not changed just because I’m putting out a ballad album. I just finished my rock album with my guitarist and it’s kick ass. It’ll be out next year with the grace of God. But ballads are my thing and I wanted to do something very autobiographical besides doing a book. I didn’t feel by screaming or playing it in a rock/hard rock fashion that it would explain the trip that I’m going on on this CD. It’s a trip of where my life has been and gone. The ups and downs of these last ten years of being back with the guys, losing friends, making friends, becoming idiots and making the same mistakes again, repeating ourselves in the same stupid ways... just all of it and the fans! Always the fans with me. ‘Faces In The Crowd’ is a song I dedicate to the fans for the wonderful life they’ve given me and if it sounds like I’m sticking my nose up their ass... good! Because I have a beautiful house and drive a nice car because of the fans that have bought my music. I grew up poor in Brooklyn, so I’m well aware of coming from ‘down there.’ So, I thought of all of this and I wrote two songs for the fans (the other one is called ‘Memories’). I wrote a song called ‘Space Ace’. Strictly wrote it for Ace because I felt so near and dear to him. We always were the closest and I started missing Ace a lot. I recorded a song my mother loved to sing as a kid – ‘What A Difference A Day Makes’ – so old that it’ll never go over in the world of metal and they’ll probably condemn me for it, but my mom dug it, so I sang it.”

ML: You’ve got Paul Schaffer from David Letterman’s band playing on this CD...

PC: “I’m really jazzed to have him because to me he’s a musician’s musician. I’ve also got Will Lee on bass.”

ML: Will (Lee) played on Ace’s 1978 solo album...

PC: “Yeah, we all go back. Paul and I go back to the ‘70s.”

ML: Tell me about the duet, ‘Doesn’t Get Better Than This’, with Jennifer Johnson.

PC: “She’s another ARETHA FRANKLIN. I thought about the song one night on the Lear Jet, staying at the Ritz-Carlton, we’re playing a huge arena and we’re sold out for a couple of years... it just ‘Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This’. So, that started that song. ‘One For All’ is the major classic for me because it’s about 9/11 and I’m a Brooklyn boy. I’m a New York boy. I happened to be at church and when I came home my wife said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. So, I thought it was a little plane and somebody had made a mistake. Then, I’m watching as the second plane hit and it was so surreal. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. So, this is my way as an artist to say what I thought of it and war sucks. Whether I get condemned for it...

ML: I hope not.

PC: (Laughs) “Look I’m old school. I come from the heart and I don’t come from any other place and I sure know who I am and where I’ve been. I’m just really enjoying writing music at my convenience, going down at five in the morning and playing drums... it’s a great freedom in my life right now. This is the first album I’ve ever produced and it was a nightmare. It was so many decisions and I hope I made the right ones. We had George Marino master it. We got the best of the best and I didn’t cut any corners.”

ML: You covered ‘Heart Behind The Hands’ from a Broadway musical...

PC: “It stayed with me because I auditioned for a play called Brooklyn. I had just finished a two year acting school and had just done Oz and I was really excited. It was a musical and I got hung up on the music and realized you had to act too. I passed the audition as far as the singing, but when it came to the acting well... and I lost it. I wanted to impress them so much with my voice that I disregarded the acting.”

ML: Are you hoping to get into a Broadway show?

PC: “I’d love it.”

ML: Kiss lends itself to that kind of theatrical presentation...

PC: “Look it – I went for it. It was about a vet from Vietnam that comes back strung out... it was a really cool play.”

ML: Before you mentioned your rock album...

PC: “We finished all the tracks. They really sound great and by the end of the summer, the vocals should be done and we can start mixing come fall.”

ML: Is it important to do a rock album?

PC: “I want it, Mitch. I have the time now. The band is dispersed - as far as I’m concerned – when Ace and I left there was no more band. I feel I have this time and I’m not that old yet. I look at the STONES, Aerosmith and ROD STEWART and I have this studio that I built so I’m using it. I have all this time to write songs and make music ‘cause that’s really what I want to do. For me, this is what I do.”

ML: Will you tour with the new album?

PC: “I may, but I have to decide how long would I do it. How many would I do? Where would I do it? There’s some thought to put into it, but we’re talking about it. I miss playing – trust me.”

ML: Songs like ‘Dirty Livin’’ and ‘Hooligan’ – those are great rock songs...

PC: “It got to where I was allowed to sing one song per album. I actually stole ‘Black Diamond’ from Paul because he was going to sing it, but when Eddie Kramer heard me sing it – he went, ‘No way. Peter’s got to sing this.’ So Eddie, thank his soul, got me ‘Black Diamond’. Ace got to write a song and I got to sing it. That was the deal and believe me I wanted to sing a lot more than one, but that’s what I got – so I took it. When ‘Beth’ came along I played it for Gene and he liked it, but when Bob Ezrin heard it - he loved it and he went in with the NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC and the rest is Kisstory.”

ML: How was it working with Ezrin? He really cracks a whip in there, but his genius can’t be denied. The ALICE COOPER stuff. PINK FLOYD’s The Wall. Destroyer...

PC: “I was just telling somebody that when I did this (the new album) and I took on the producing it’s because I sat next to Bob Ezrin and Vini Poncia and Eddie Kramer. I watched them album after album and I’d have to be the biggest idiot to not have picked something up from them.”

ML: Why did you decide to produce this album? It is a lot of work and it’s sometimes nice to have fresh ears in there.

PC: “Because I wrote these and they were too close to me. I don’t think I could find a guy to understand it and I had a great crew around me. I don’t know if I’d want to do it again, but I just knew this was my baby. This was about my life. It was about the fans and the band. I re-did the song ‘Send In The Clowns’ and I sung it about the band. I came home after the big thing we did in Melbourne with the 60 piece orchestra and I was a mess because Ace wasn’t there to do it. We did it and recorded it without him and that was a drag. It killed me. I had such blues and pain that when I got home I said, you know what? I wanna re-do ‘Send In The Clowns’, and so I re-did it.”

ML: You mentioned the rock album is coming out next year. Is that the game plan – an album a year?

PC: “Yeah and I have a swing album that I finished that will come out eventually. I love swing music. ‘Separately’ is this jazz thing I did. It’s got ‘Sing Sing Sing’, ‘Stompin’ At The Savoy’, ‘Bugle Boy Stomp’. We did it and finished it this year. All it needs is to be mixed. It’s all instrumental – big band, man.”

ML: How was it working on that?

PC: “It was great. It was the best time of my life. It was amazing doing that. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

ML: Well, you’ve always done it. You’ve always brought swing to your drumming. If you listen to early KISS – there’s always been a jazzy swing to it.

PC: “You’re absolutely right. But never could I play 18 bars of it or go through a whole number. So, this time... even ‘Stardust’ we did. I love that song. So, I got a chance to pick my favourite big band stuff and really show my shit. I’m really proud of this as a musician.”

ML: How about on a personal level? This would be like me doing a KISS tribute album.

PC: (laughs) “That’s funny, Mitch. It was a dream come true and it’s very fulfilling as an artist and as a kid who’s here today because of GENE KRUPA. It was like being Gene Krupa. I’m hoping it gets out there and people find it interesting coming from a metal drummer or hard rock drummer – whatever I’m labeled.”

ML: It’s hard to label you either a metal or hard rock drummer because, like I said, you’ve always had that swing in your drumming much like CHEAP TRICK’s Bun E. Carlos.

PC: “I agree with you and that’s what made our sound. And Ace playing. I was a jazz drummer first and it’s what I grew up on. Then I went through the Motown era and I was very into (hums) and you hear that on a lot of our songs from ‘Flaming Youth’ down to a few other things. Ezrin loved it and it worked in a rock situation. You usually don’t hear a jazz fill in a rock song and that was KISS’ sound and it was very unique. When you’ve got four guys that play like nobody else, it’s wonderful. It’s magic. It’s charisma; call it what you want… it’s chemistry.”

ML: I agree fully and that’s what I think made KISS stand out. There was a different sound – Ace wasn’t classically trained so the way he bent the notes had to be different than everybody else.

PC: “Right and his attack was very vicious. There was nothing nice about it. There never was and never will be and that was the greatness of him. There was no finesse. It was pure raw... and that’s what made the Frehley sound.”

ML: And that’s why you can’t copy him.

PC: “That’s right.”

ML: You mentioned Motown. Is that a sound you’d like to tackle?

PC: “On the new album there’s a couple that show my roots in Motown. I love it and it’s nice to do that. On my first solo album, I did a couple like the Motown stuff.”

ML: Speaking of solo albums, Out Of Control was a great album and I love the song ‘By Myself’.

PC: “Thank you. I wish it had got its due and Let Me Rock You didn’t get its due. I understand now why those two albums didn’t, but things have changed. I’m in a better place and I’m happy.”

ML: Back to Motown – your voice does lend itself to that sound.

PC: “Absolutely and on this ballad album I really had to work at keeping my voice smooth rather than raspy. I had to concentrate more on the singing and I think it’s really going to shock people.”

ML: Did you do all the drumming on this album?

PC: “Yes, YES!”

ML: Do you see yourself exploring all kinds of different musical genres now that you’re on your own?

PC: “I have no idea, but I’ll never stop drumming. I’ll never stop playing. I’ll never stop doing what I do and if all of that comes with it – that’s cool, but my heart is in rock ‘n’ roll.”

ML: Can we talk about Psycho Circus?

PC: “That’s a really touchy place, but you can read about it in my autobiography.”

ML: When is that coming out?

PC: “Well, there’s a lot of things I want to do in my life. I want to do some traveling – look, this ballad thing is probably a one shot deal. This is about my life so I’m not going to do it again. This is it. The rock thing – I don’t know and the swing thing – I don’t know, but I do know I want to do my book. I’m told it takes two years and I’m talking to a house now. It’s going to take that long and I’m going to do it once I’m done with these three musical projects. I’m sure some things will make the hair on your neck stand if your a KISS fan. There’s only one book about us and that’s Gene’s book and it’s not all true. The biggest mouth said something, but the other three have said nothing.”

ML: Are you allowed to do a ‘tell-all’ book?

PC: “I’m sure my lawyer will keep me in the guidelines (laughs).”

ML: And you have to assume Gene and Paul’s lawyers will keep you busy as well.

PC: “I’m shocked that he got away with a few things Gene, but I’m sure when he did it... you have to sit with an attorney.”

ML: Is that a story you’re eager to tell?

PC: “My life? Sure I am because there’s so much bullshit in stories about me that I’m fed up reading them. They’re lies or they’re wrong or they got it wrong and my wife gets so frustrated. She says ‘Babe, you’ve got to set this straight.’ I’ve got a lot of things to talk about besides KISS. My own life of going on Decca Records in my youth, growing up in gangs and gang wars and fighting... just my whole life has been amazing. So, yes I do want to do my book.”

ML: Especially growing up in the tough streets of Brooklyn. You might not even be alive right now had you not joined KISS.

PC: “You got it right, brother. It got scary around the early ‘60s. I got drafted for Vietnam, but thank God I didn’t go. But the neighborhood was tough and thank God I got to music. So, I want to write about that.”

ML: Do you think your book will be out by 2009?

PC: “Oh, absolutely. I’m definitely shooting for it.”

ML: Back to the album for a second – the ‘Space Ace’ song. Why did you find it important to write a song about Ace?

PC: “It’s my outlook about him. It’s me looking at him. It’s kind of a guy that’s been with him since he was a kid – since we were kids. Then watching him through the ten year tour and we locked in this thing and I watched his behavior and my own and all of us going through ‘space’ and it magnified my brain and I had to write about it. It’s this out of sight space song and there’s no other space jockey than Ace. I hope he digs it, but I won’t know until I get a call.”

ML: To wrap up, the album comes out July 24th and there’s www.petercriss.net to plug...

PC: “I love my site, but I have to get a little more involved on my drum page. I have so much love come back on that thing. It blows your mind what some people tell me.”

ML: Last words?

PC: “I put all my dollars, all my time, all my effort and all my heart into this. I really believe every artist no matter what you do leaves a little bit of yourself on every stage and every record. I do. There’s a part of me on every fucking KISS album you’ll ever listen to or any show I ever did. There’s a part of me on every stage.”