From the Promoter

Promoting their latest album, Monster, legendary rock group KISS is coming to Canada as part of Monster Tour 2013. And evenko and Live Nation are thrilled to present KISS at the Bell Centre on July 29th, and also in Saint John on July 31st, in Halifax on August 1st, and in St-John's on August 3 and 4.

January 2013 marked four decades since Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, then members of a band called Wicked Lester, joined up with drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley to form KISS.

Forty years later, having racked up 28 U.S. gold albums along with 100 million in world sales, Simmons and Stanley, with longtime members guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, return stronger than ever. Released through Universal Music Enterprises, Monster is the 20th studio album in their historic career.

The 12-song (plus bonus track), straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll album features collaborations from all four members in an effort that shows KISS at the top of its game. Monster is the group’s first studio album since the band’s 2009 smash success, Sonic Boom.

“We weren’t interested in making just a great KISS album, but a great rock album that lived up to the bands we loved growing up...,” explained Stanley.

Monster represents KISS’ nod to the music that first inspired them to pick up their guitars and flame-throwers and don makeup to entertain millions. With the same lineup that also played on 2009’s Sonic Boom, Monster is a true KISS band effort, with all four contributing to the writing and everyone getting a turn at lead vocals. This is an album that immediately does for the new century what great KISS discs like Destroyer did for the ’70s, Creatures of the Night the ’80s and Revenge the ’90s.

“In many ways, this band started as a fantasy and evolved into a flesh-and-blood entity,” said Stanley. “The fact is, we’re not cartoon characters. We’re real people who have spent 40 years doing what we believe in. The makeup of those personas is part of what we are, but underneath, we’re human beings.”

“We’re about authenticity,” said Simmons, the mastermind of not just the band’s music but a multi-million-dollar merchandising empire that includes everything from coffee- table books to coffins. “The KISS Army is ruthless. They’d skewer us if we put out records that weren’t great. We pushed ourselves on this album, to make not just ourselves but our fans proud...”

Promoter