Producer Toby Wright (Alice In Chains, Fear Factory) was recently interviewed by Sakis Nakis of Rockpages about his work on the 1997 KISS album Carnival Of Souls; an excerpt follows:

Lots of KISS fans were surprised by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley’s decision to record a - more or less - grunge album. I guess that it was Gene who wanted to be up to date with what was going on musically at the time. Did they ask you specifically to recreate a certain sound? Did they tell you that they wanted from you a sound similar to Alice In Chains or Smashing Pumpkins?

Toby Wright: "Yes (laughs)!"

What did you tell them? Did you say: “Alright, guys, let’s do this” or “C’mon, guys, you are KISS... you don’t need to follow any trend?”

Toby Wright: "That’s exactly what I told them... the second part. I remember getting into a big argument with Gene about the direction of the album. He said he wanted to be like that 'bald guy!' And I said: 'what bald guy?' Gene said: 'the one that he is on the top of the charts'. Of course, he meant Billy Corgan. I remember telling him: 'Listen, Gene... you are a legend. Why you wanna follow anybody’s footsteps?' Eventually his point of view was that he wanted to sell more records. Immediately, I got back to him and said: 'Make a great record and it will sell.' Carnival Of Souls was a bit of a departure from the KISS sound and that’s why they hired me on Bob Ezrin’s recommendation. I was very successful on that genre. Personally I don’t believe in genres. It’s all about music and this 'genre stuff' is nonsense for radio people and music journalists. I just produce music (laughs)."

Carnival Of Souls was the band's final album with guitarist Bruce Kulick. The only single released from the album was "Jungle". None of the songs on Carnival Of Souls were ever performed live as Gene and Paul focused instead on a reunion tour with original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.