The guest house-office of Gene Simmons' hillside home is an archive of all things KISS, with cabinets full of thousends of slides, boxes of magazines and fanzines, and portfolios containing over two decades of clippings and photos, not to mention numerous handmade artifacs from fans. It's all in organized disarray. "I save everything. There's a system only I understand," says Gene, pointing to a page torn from a book and asking, "Did you know that I'm in Firestarter, the Stephen King book ?" and reading a line from it,"...escorted by a guy who looks just like Gene Simmons" He remembers nearly everything - dates, places, who opened, and who he slept with - and in the rare instance he doesn't , he has a diary, block printed in a precise, minuscule hand, to remind him. A lesson plan for KISS 101 - which is actually pretty fitting, as the fire-breathing Demon once taught sixth grade.

G : For how long did you teach, Gene ? GS : Six months. 
G : Not long. Did you hate it that much ?  
GS : It's not teaching I disliked, I was at the wrong place. 
G : The students didn't want to learn ? GS : No, How do you expect the young mind to learn in the middle of broken homes ? This may be awful for the liberal white mind to grasp, but if I were black or Hispanic I'm not sure I'd want some middle class teacher coming in and telling me about the reality of education and trying to intill in me a value system, because standing in front of me is everything I don't have. There's something to be said, though there are exceptions to every rule, for a young child from the ghetto looking up to a well spoken young black teacher and saying "I can be like that".
G : You can make a bigger impression now than as a teacher. You're more of a role model as a rock star.
 GS : I think so. Certainly there are more people who've done better in life because of KISS with me being a musician than my guess is would have done with me as a teacher. No question. There are certainly more multi-millionaires because of KISS.
G: Including yourself. GS : Oh yes. I had a realization that while my intentions were in the right place, they were misplaced. Better a weel-educated young black or Hispanic teacher shows the young impressionable mind by example, " I came from here and I became successful. You can too". 
G : Did you go to Spanish Harlem on purpose or were you sent there ? GS : It was the great white jewish guilt complex. I thought the troubles of white racist America were somehow my fault and I should do something about it. 
G : Where did that come from ? You weren't even born here. GS : I know that, I bought into the American dream, hook, line, and sinker. I still do. G : What else did you get from the teaching experience ? GS : A better appreciation of the teaching experience than anybody gets out on the street. People think teachers have a short work day. 8:30 to 3:00. If you hate homework, don't be a teacher. It's a selfless, thankless job. It's underpaid. The highest paid people should be public servants, cops, firemen, and teachers. More than politicians. Cops put their lives on the line every time they walk the street.
G : And the schools are dangerous too. GS : You bet.
G : You have a close relationship with your mother don't you ? GS : The best
G : Did she support you when you told her you were going to be a musiscian ? GS : I' ve always been fairly responsible, always had my own money, always saved up for stuff and never asked her for stuff. I lent her money to buy a house, I lent the band money, I lent Bill Aucoin money to pay his contracts. When the band got together i had 15 grand in the bank, an enourmous amount of money in those days. A big cushion. Back then you could buy a volkswagen for 3500 dollars and 7000 - 10000 dollars was a good living. If I wanted to take two years off I could've. I paid rent for the band every month. I paid for my own college education. 
G : Did you work your way through school ?
GS : You bet your ass I did. I was a lifeguard at the Pines hotel, i was a butcher's assistant, a delivery boy, anything you can imagine. At college I had a typing service , 50 cents a page, I typed everybody's term papers.
G : How fast were you ? GS : 90 a minute - now probably 75.
I used to be a dictaphone typist for Kelly Girls. There were no guys except me. Then they changed it to Kelly Services. Dictaphone typing, you have to be fast and accurate. By the time I decided to do music i already had my degree in teaching. I always made my own money. While i was still in school I was making 25 grand a year as an assistant to the director of a research and demonstration project. In those days, the early 70s, making 500 - 600 dollars a week was a lot of money, equivalent to over 1000 dollars today.
G : You'd been playing music all along ? GS : Playing in bands, writing songs. And publishing my own fanzines. 
G : Did you do the drawings yourself ? GS : some I did, some I didn't. This one (with 20 cent price) goes for 60 dollars. I saved some but some are gone so I have people looking for them. One is called Faun, one is Tinderbox, Cosmos and Cosmos Stileto. Did it myself, just like KISSTORY.
G : So you were in the publishing business 25 years ago. GS : Longer, you're talking 1964. I cranked it out myself, did the hexograph, the mimeograph, went to the printing houses, electrostencil, rexograph. KISSTORY is just a larger version. 
G : But you always had in mind to do something with music ?
GS : No, initially it was horror movies. I was fascinated with Lon Chaney Sr., the idea of changing your persona, becoming this man of a thousand faces vibe. I liked the name and wrote a song called "Man of a Thousand Faces" and formed a company called that. I think everybody is that potentially, it's whether they know it or not. You walk and talk and act a certain way when you go to a funeral and you're a completely different person when you go top a party. All those are different faces but it's all part of the same thing. You act differently when you're with your parents than with your lover, with your enemy than with your friend. Nothing diluts or detracts from the other, it's all part of the same picture and I always found that fascinating.
G : Do you do anything specific to warm up and prepare for the show ? GS : No. No mental process. I put on the makeup and go out there. 
G : How do you spend days off the road ?
GS : Answer phone calls and faxes and all that. On days off you always end up doing a lot of interviews, there's always some radio promotion. When I do get some time to myself I like attractive, intelligent, positive people surrounding me.  
G : Ever see the cities you're in ?
GS : Doesn't appeal to me at all. I'd rather see movies or on a rare occasion go to a museum or a library. 
G : you're not a sightseer ? GS : No, I couldn't care less.
G : After the show, is it a letdown or a high ? GS : It's like a fully, like you're digesting a full meal - all you can do is lay back and go "Ahhh" Sometimes you get the encores at the hotel if you want that, too. 
G : So nothing's changed that you're in a long-term relationship ? GS : No, I don't think it matters. You've got to be honest about everything and I refuse to take that marriage vows.
G : I know you're not married, but isn't there some commitment ? GS : There's an emotional commitment but you can never commit everything, and the person that commits everything has nothing for themselves. The only kind of relationship you can have in my opinion is a realistic one, which is you cannot control another human being, period. Expect nothing from another human being. Women and men fail at relationships because there are expectations. It's not unconditional love, it's conditional - "I love you but if I catch you with anyone else I'll kill you."
That's not love. I refuse to live by those rules. You have to love yourself first, you can't live for anybody else. My children, yes. Your mom and dad want you to do certain things, but you say past a certain point you have to do what you want. It's too bad if they get hurt. Your happiness comes first. They have to respect your freedom, that you're a grown human being. How can a person you've only known a year, two, five, 10 whatever, expect anything more than nothing ? i fsomeone takes a dollar from me I'll scream bloody murder but if I give somebody a dollar, I give it gladly. It's freedom of choice. 
G : So it's only on your terms ? GS : You betcha. 
G: Isn't that selfish ? GS : Of course but life should be about that. How sad is a tiger in a cage ? It aint a tiger anymore. Women love the same thing about men that makes them wild. What happens when he becomes domesticated ? She starts looking at the mailman and the delivery man. If people want to get married, go ahead. It's not for me. Nobody else's definition of a relationship means squat to me. I will not live by anybody's rules or concept of what a relationship is. Life is what you make it. I will let no woman or man define what happiness is for me. 
G : You realize you do have an unorthodox view.
GS : That doesn't matter. Unorthodox can be the right thing, not the wrong thing. I refuse to be a sheep herder.
G : Looking back, would you change anything ? GS : Absolutely not, without hesitation. I have no regrets. I'm every bit as proud of our failures as of our success, because our failures made made our success possible. There is no school of rock and roll, only the school of hard knocks. There's no way to learn except through your mistakes. A child only learns to walk by falling down. Every step, even if it's backwards, enables you to go forwards, if you learn by your mistakes. It's ironic, looking back on it, every once in a while it hits me - initially I thought the big thrill was the girls and the money, in that order. Once you sort of satiate that physical and emotional and mental need, the greater truth of being in a rock and roll band really emerges. This may sound cornball when you read it and we actually hit on it without really realizing it - we wouldn't be here without you, the fans. There's an emotional payback we gwt being in KISS that you you can't get in any other job. When I get up there on stage, I'm certifiable, you can put me in a straitjacket, I'm aware that my mind has gone one step beyond. I'm gone. I'm aware I'm a lot more powerful. And also that my fears about my own mortality do not exist. I'm afraid of heights, I'm scared to death of fire.
G : And you can breathe fire and fly above the stage. GS : at 8' a second. When I'm superman, nothing that bothers me as Clark Kent affects me. But getting back to the payoff, the girls are nice and the money's nice, that's always gonna be there and it's a fringe benefit. The payback is emotional and no matter what anybody who goes to a KISS show gets, when I look into the eyes of somebody who's crying or having the time of their life, you can't buy that feeling anywhere.We're as close as you can get to being gods walking the face of the planet. The point was hammered home when we were doing the press conference and a fan, a grown man, came up and dropped to his knees and started kissing my dragon boots. It was a bit scary. This was a grown educated man. But that's extreme. The payback is having an emotional connection that goes beyond music. You look in the face of someone in the audience and it's"WOW!"
G: Is that an addiction to have that ? Would you go crazy if you didn't have it anymore ? GS : Absolutely. Everybody wants to be loved.
G: Do you think about what you'll do to replace that one day ? GS : You bet. I went through that when we first took our makeup off. I tried to find happiness in the arms of something else, i thought this was fleeting and I was losing it and KISS was continuing anyway and I was trying to find pleasure, satisfaction, and fulfillment in acting, Simmons Records, managing Liza Minelli, anything. But it diluted who I was in the band. And I wasn't getting that kick. All these other mistresses didn't provide it. I was lost. I was successful in all these areas. Movies paid very well, Simmons Records. But it didn't have the emotional kick. The irony is people keep talking about the money, and the money's always there - I do well with money no matter what I do, but without the emotional payoff it's not worth it. Money takes care of itself. I'm lucky that way. Somehow someone sends checks.
G: Can you project ahead 10 - 15 years ? What do you forsee ? GS : I can't, i don't think anybody has a clue. Who the hell would have thought it would have gone on this long ?.