On the March 14th edition of The Classic Metal Show, keyboardist DEREK SHERINIAN called into the show to talk about his latest release, Molecular Heinosity. During the conversation, the topic of his involvement on the KISS Alive III tour came up. Sherinian explained that he acted as the off stage keyboardist to “reinforce” rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley’s playing throughout the set, as well as playing samples and sound effects.

The Classic Metal Show: From looking over your catalog of music, the one release that really stuck out to me was Kiss Alive III. What did you do on that one?

Sherinian: "On the KISS tour, I was the off stage keyboardist. As you know, KISS doesn’t have a keyboardist. My main function was to double Paul Stanley’s parts, his rhythm guitar parts, with a guitar sounding keyboard patch. You know…Paul’s a great performer and he’s running around stage a lot, so I was reinforcing him there. I was singing background vocals, and I was triggering samples and sound effects."

The Classic Metal Show: When do do something like that, is it difficult to be the “off stage keyboardist” instead of letting your presence be there?

Sherinian: "Well, of course I want to be on stage, but the bottom line is that it’s KISS, and they are what they are. It was a great opportunity. I wanted to be exposed to Gene Simmons and learn as much as possible. It was a fun tour. Those guys have a lot of fun and it was three or four months, or something like that. It was the only time in my career that I’ve been off-stage. I figured that it didn’t hurt, and I’m honored to be part of Kisstory, as they say. I was on Alive III, then I also played on The Ramones tribute record where Kiss played a song. They included me playing keyboards. It’s all good."

View the video of the interview below. The Classic Metal Show is heard live on Saturdays from 9p-3a EST at www.cmsradio.net.