KISS - THE MUSICAL!

Rock veterans Kiss are set to start working on a semi-autobiographical stage musical about their lives.


Bassist and co-founder Gene Simmons will meet Stephen Trask, one of the co-writers behind camp stage-show and recent feature film hit 'Hedwig And The Angry Inch', this week start creating a story for the musical.


At present, he is unsure what direction it will take, whether Kiss will write new songs or whether any band songs will feature at all.


&quotClearly, some of this (musical) will be biographical, but we'd like to concentrate more on the magic and what it all means," he told US website www.sonicnet.com, adding that no Kiss members will feature. &quotWe're going to take four young guys who just finished being embryos, who are entering their early 20s. It's all about this wild-eyed innocence," he added. &quotTo me, the most interesting thing about 'Peter Pan' is not when the kids go to Never Never Land and meet the pirates, it's when they're in their bedrooms and 'Peter Pan' first comes in and they're learning how to fly. That's the most wondrous moment. After that, you sort of know where you're going."


Simmons stressed that the show won't be a chronological history of the band. Instead, he hopes to capture the essence and spirit of rock and roll. He also said the theatrical rockers would be taking their lead from Abba.


"'Mamma Mia!' has the right spirit. It's not really about Abba, it's more about the music and what it does to people. Clearly, some of this will be biographical, but we'd like to concentrate more on the magic and what it all means.

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