Courtesy of KISSonline.com, an excerpt from an interview with KISS drummer Eric Singer conducted by Illinois Entertainment is available below:

This is no place for modesty. Kiss drummer Eric Singer describes the band as a piece of Americana, like Universal Studios or Disneyland.

"Whether it's going to Mount Rushmore or Yellowstone Park or the Statue Of Liberty, I say KISS is one of the Wonders Of The World. Maybe I'm biased because I'm in the band, but I really believe that you gotta see KISS at least once in your life. Even if you don't like KISS or don't know anything about them, I guarantee when you walk away from the show you're going to go, 'That was a lot of fun - I'll never see anything like that again.' I always say, 'It's rock 'n' roll meets the circus coming to town!'"

Appearing: September 3rd at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.

Although old-school KISS Army members may not be a fan of the new 'Cat', Singer has actually been in and out of the band since the early '90s, when they started hitting hard rock's radar again. Before and after he has played with folks like Lita Ford, Gary Moore, Black Sabbath, Badlands, Alice Cooper, and Paul Stanley's solo tour back in 1989. The tragic loss of longtime KISS drummer Eric Carr, who died of cancer in 1991, prompted Stanley to recommended they bring in Singer. He played on 1992's Revenge, a record that shot KISS back up the charts via MTV's then-popular "Headbanger's Ball." Singer also played on Alive III, Unplugged, and Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions, as well as the home videos X-Treme Close-Up and Konfidential.

The circus has been hitting towns for the past year since the band's first studio album in 11 years, Sonic Boom, came out in October of last year. It rewarded fans with its Destroyer-era beefy tongue-in-cheek riffs and lyrics, encouraging the hordes of KISS concertgoers.

On the recording of Sonic Boom, Singer says it was Stanley who brought up the idea of going back into the studio. "I think what happened was he started thinking, 'Hey, this band sounds really good, we get along really good . . .' and when things are good you get inspired to do things. He also saw that the audience was getting younger, and I think things changed. Three years ago, I didn't think we'd do another record. In fact, I didn't think we'd be doing as much touring as we've been doing. But we started working on ideas while we were on tour; sometimes Paul or Gene [Simmons, bass] or Tommy [Thayer, guitar] would work on some riffs and when we got back to L.A. we'd go into the studio and record them.

"We did [Sonic Boom] the old-school way, playing together live to analog tape. Obviously we used some digital technology and modern stuff once we recorded basic tracks, because then it's easier to work. But it was done in a more easy, non-pressure, organic kind of way. I'd say it was probably about the easiest record I ever had to make, in the sense of not feeling pressure, like, 'O.K., you gotta do all your drum tracks in two or three days then you're done, later.' We took our time. It was a real pleasure to make. It was well-received, and we've had a blast the last year playing all these shows and we've already been talking about going into the studio and doing another record."

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