Kiss' Gene Simmons, aka Chaim Witz, aka the demon/dragon
Demon wide open
07.11.2022
Demon's mother from the Kiss group survived the Holocaust, but he himself hid his Jewishness for a long time. Now it has stopped: Gene Simmons stigmatizes Kanye West for anti-Semitism and drowns for Israel.
The legendary Gene Simmons, the Demon from Kiss - or the Dragon, as teenagers in the Soviet Union preferred to call him, is sure that Jewish roots are an obstacle to fame. “I was forced to become a chameleon to hide my Judaism. I said to myself: yes, you are a Jew, and that's okay. Now shut the fuck up, because no one cares. Keep dressing British and thinking in Yiddish,” Simmons said in a recent interview.
The history of one of the main provocateurs in the world of rock music is best documented by himself. Simmons has written at least three versions of his biography and the history of the band Kiss - and in them he claims, among other things, that he slept with 5,000 women. But today, Demon is already over 70, he is happily married and more and more talks about what he was silent about or mentioned in passing - what it was like to be a Jew in a metal scene where prejudice and anti-Semitism reigned.
“I was born Chaim Witz and I realized that this does not work. To most Americans, "Chaim" sounds like the sound of a cat coughing up its fur. I decided that I wanted my own name - one that I would choose myself. And I became Gene - probably because of Gene Barry, an actor from the 50s. He then seemed cool to me, ”the musician admitted.
He moved to the US from Israel with his mother in the early 50s when he was just a child. Feri Witz's father did not go with his family. The mother later filed for divorce and reverted to her maiden name Klein. “I liked Klein more than Witz, but that wasn't it either,” Simmons said. “I was Gene Klein from fifth grade until I graduated from college. When I started playing in a rock band, it was very clear to me that the Jewish name is not heard by the masses in America - and throughout the world too. So in 1972 I became Simmons. I don’t remember where the surname came from, but it seemed terribly American to me.”
Kiss was born in New York in 1972 when Simmons met Paul Stanley - aka the Starchild - and then recruited Peter Criss - aka the Cat - and Ace Frehley, aka the Cosmonaut or Space Ace. Simmons said that Stanley's example greatly influenced him: “Paul was not called that either: his real name is Stanley Bert Eisen, he is from Manhattan Jews. But he said, "I'm Paul." And I thought, "That's very smart." I don't take it personally. I accept the facts. I understood why Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan and T.Rex's Marc Bolan was Mark Feld."
Later, Paul Stanley, in his memoirs, stated that in the 70s Kiss was torn apart by anti-Semitic conflicts. According to him, Frehley and Criss did not miss the opportunity to remind the other two members of the group about their Jewishness. Simmons did not comment on this, but admitted that in the early days of Kiss, he preferred to tell everyone that he was Greek. Greek or Italian. Jews have the opportunity to hide behind someone else's identity, and I took advantage of this, ”said Simmons.
In the 70s, the Kiss logo was seen as similar to Nazi symbols. The last two letters – once painted by Frehley on a band poster and everyone thought it looked cool – reminded many of the SS insignia. In a number of countries - for example, in Germany - the runic letters "Es" on the records of the group were changed to standard SS. And in the Soviet Union, propaganda spread wild rumors about the group: supposedly the very name Kiss stands for “Kinder SS” - “Children of the SS”. “The problem arose already during the first foreign tours. The press and spectators began to call us "Nazis". Ridiculous, right? My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and these people are shouting at me from the audience that I am a fascist,” Simmons said.
His relationship with his mother, who died in 2018 at the age of 94, also remained a closed topic for many years: “She had no education, but compared to her, educated people looked stupid. In the concentration camp, she learned a lot about life. She didn't say, “Hey, you changed your name, why? You draw a stupid mask on your face and stick out your tongue, why is that?” She was concerned about other things: “Don't expand, don't drink, don't smoke, associate with people who are better than you. Maybe you'll learn something that way." Simmons claims that thanks to his mother, he did not try drugs, tobacco and alcohol - despite the reputation of a badass rock star. The demon is known for blowing fire from its mouth on stage, sticking out its tongue - "I got it from a tyrannosaurus rex bitch" - and spitting blood.
Kiss has sold over 100 million albums since its inception, and Simmons is one of the pillars of this gigantic rock empire. He owns over 5,000 licenses for restaurants, food, and even condoms with the band's logo. “I am an entrepreneur in the classical form. And the real difference between an entrepreneur and anyone else is the ability to monetize. But, of course, here, too, people have not forgotten to remember where I come from. Sometimes I heard to myself that "I am a vile Jew-acquisitive." And then I said: “Wow, take it easy: another Jewish money-grubber was on the cross, and you are praying to him,” Simmons said.
With Simmons and Stanley remaining the backbone, Kiss is now wrapping up their final world tour, End of the Road. In November, she will give a concert in Tokyo, in December - in Mexico City, and later plans to close the tour with a big concert in New York - the city where it all began. “It’s a tough job to carry makeup and boots on a 15 cm platform. If Mick Jagger were in my place, he would just fall face down on the floor,” Simmons jokes. He claims that after the tour, "the band will stop touring forever: hang costumes on a nail and wash off stage makeup."
Claiming he's quitting music, the 73-year-old Simmons seems to be getting more and more interested in politics, in an area where it has to do with Israel and the Jews. In 2011, the Demon visited his historical homeland for the first time since emigration - together with his wife and ex-Playboy model Shannon Tweed and two children. He admitted that he "feels at home" in Israel and called the musicians who advocated a cultural boycott of the country "fools" - including Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. “You'd better pay attention to Arab dictators and extremists,” Demon said in his politically incorrect manner.
Simmons later criticized Obama for calling for Israel to return to the 1967 borders, and in October 2022, he spoke out strongly against the anti-Semitic statements of rapper Kanye West . “Kanye speaks like a very offended and not quite sane person. Yes, I understand: African Americans have been tortured physically, mentally and culturally for centuries. But he's talking about people who have gone through this history much earlier,” Simmons said. - Do a little research. Who's standing next to Martin Luther King on the march in Birmingham, along with Jesse Jackson and all the rest? Rabbi with Torah in his hands. He stands right there in front, knowing full well that when he gets back up north or to the East Coast, he will be tortured by people who have a different point of view.”