KISS bassist / vocalist Gene Simmons has got his hands in everything from restaurants to record companies to now having a stake in a new partnership with John & Paul Janik of Rock Steady Sodas. The brothers company which is located in Niagara Falls, NY has partnered with Simmons to launch MoneyBag Sodas.  What better way to get the word out than to have Simmons make an appearance (September 13th) at the 7-Eleven on Hyde Park Boulevard in the Falls to promote the new line of sodas. 

Simmons may have a lot of bravado, but when it comes to his fans and veterans, there are few (if any) who are better to show their sincere appreciation for both of them. Simmons and MoneyBag Soda teamed up with Veterans One Stop Center of WNY (WNY Veterans); for every person that came in and made a $20 donation,  they were given a four-pack of MoneyBag Soda which Simmons autographed and posed for a photo with them. It was a great gesture by Simmons to not only get up close and personal with his fans, but to raise money for a cause that means so much to him; raising funds for veterans. The event ran beautifully. The Janiks along with the staff at 7- Eleven put on an amazing event that about 400 people enjoyed. Everyone walked away with smiles on their faces and it was hard to tell who was having more fun, the fans or Simmons himself?

After the meet and greet was finished, David "Gus" Griesinger of Backstage Axxess conducted a short interview with the KISS legend. They of course focused on both the MoneyBag Sodas, along with Gene's new book 27 - The Legend And Mythology Of The 27 Club, which will be his first publication in a new series called Simmons Books. They also talked about his current solo band (Gene Simmons Band) which are getting rave reviews everywhere they play. Lastly, they touched upon the news that KISS will be announcing a final tour that is slated for early next year. Let’s see what the Demon has to say…

The hardcover edition of Gene Simmons' new book, 27: The Legend And Mythology Of The 27 Club, will be released on October 2nd via Power House Books.

A description of the inaugural release of the new Simmons Books series follows:

The summer of 1969 was a momentous one in modern history. It was a season punctuated with change. Apollo 11 landed on the moon, thousands of young fans flocked to rock ‘n’ roll festivals like Woodstock and the controversial Altamont Freeway concert, the Manson Family cult were on a high-profile killing spree, and the first uprisings that would become the Stonewall Riots began. It was an electric summer of violent endings, new beginnings, and social unrest.

It was also the summer that a myth was born–beginning with the tragic, untimely death of Rolling Stones founder, Brian Jones. The world soon lost two more huge music stars: Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Not only did losing these three beacons of music culture seem to signal the end of a musical era, it also felt like a foreboding sign; they had all died at exactly the same age. All three had lost their lives at the pinnacle of their creative output, and all three were exactly 27 years old.

People have speculated that there could be a dastardly lineage, from the poisoning of blues pioneer Robert Johnson in 1938, through these icons of the 60s, and more recently to rebel chanteuse Amy Winehouse’s death from alcohol poisoning in 2011. Could it be a twisted fate that the world’s very best creative souls come to early, often violent, deaths at just 27 years old? Over time, this idea began to be known as, “the 27 club,” and it has persisted in the public imagination.

In 27: The Legend & Mythology Of The 27 Club, rock ‘n’ roll icon Gene Simmons takes a deep dive into the life stories of these legendary figures, without giving credence to the romanticized idea that being in the “club” is somehow a perverse privilege. Simmons wills us to acknowledge the extraordinary lives, not the sensational deaths, of the musicians and artists who left an indelible mark on the world.