Photographer Ross Halfin On The Road With KISS
June 17, 2008, 16 years ago
Photographer Ross Halfin (LED ZEPPELIN, IRON MAIDEN, AC/DC) was hired to shoot KISS at the 2008 Download Festival on June 13th. View Halfin's Download photo gallery here. A diary from his journey is as follows:
"Paul (Stanley), Eric (Singer) and I spend the day at the Imperial War Museum, which I haven't been to in years. See all the tanks, guns, uniforms, and including a Chinese executioners sword (good for chopping off PRs heads), Mein Kampf (Hitler's take on what's wrong with people like me) and a big Holocaust exhibition covering two whole floors. It is sobering. I've been to Auschwitz three times but this is still upsetting. Paul summed it up best, in that you owe it to the people who were there to stay and read and see what happened. People soon forget what the Nazis were about.Went out to dinner with all of KISS to Hakkasan (which was my idea). I had forgotten Gene Simmons is a philistine when it comes to food - he wants a hamburger well done - so I got 'What is this, cat's eyes' etc. He wouldn't eat anything. Gene did manage to hold court all night - all about Gene. Eric Singer, who claimed to be a vegetarian, tried ostrich and venison while Gene looked horrified and turned up his nose.
Brian Johnson, singer of AC/DC, was there. He came over to the table and told us AC/DC had just finished a new record. His accent was so strong I could barely understand him. 'Where's he from, Scotland?' asked Eric. 'Nearly - Newcastle...
'Drove back to the hotel with Paul, Jimmy Page rang me and they had a chat about things guitarists chat about.
Off for a bit - more Kiss in Paris next week."
