Peter Criss will emerge from a long period of inactivity this year with the release of his first album since 2007’s One for All.
“I want to let the Kiss Army and all my rock fans know that my new ‘rock’ album will be coming out this fall,” Criss tells Rolling Stone. “I’ve got some really great players on it: Michael McLaughlin, John 5 on lead and rhythm guitar, Billy Sheehan, Piggy D [Matt Montgomery] on bass, and Paul Shaffer on B3 and piano. I am on vocals, drums and percussion. I also have great backup singers, like Dennis and Sharron Collins and Cathryn Manning from the Cat 5 Band.”
Criss served as the album’s co-producer alongside Barry Pointer, who has worked with Ozzy Osbourne, John 5, Mötley Crüe, Steve Stevens, Pearl Aday, and Dolly Parton.
“I had an absolute blast doing this album, and everyone was so much fun to work with — they were just amazing,” says Criss. “I will be doing a more in-depth interview closer to the release date in the fall.”
Criss is the original drummer of Kiss, and he co-wrote and sang their 1976 worldwide hit “Beth.” He left the group in 1982 after years of tension with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. The drummer released a trio of under-the-radar solo records in the Eighties and early Nineties before returning to Kiss for their 1996 reunion tour. But the old issues with his bandmates eventually resurfaced, including their use of studio drummers on the albums, and he left the group once again in 2004.
Criss last appeared onstage with the group when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, though they didn’t perform. “I never thought this could happen in my life,” he said that night. “I’d like to thank the band: Mr Stanley, Mr. Simmons, and the one and only Spaceman, Ace Frehley.… In and out of makeup, I’ll always be the Catman.”
Three years later, Criss played an event billed as his final concert at New York’s Cutting Room. The setlist mixed solo songs with Kiss classics like “Strutter,” “Hard Luck Woman, “Rock and Roll all Nite,” and, of course, “Beth.” The evening wrapped up with a cover of Gene Krupa’s “Sing, Sing, Sing.”
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There was widespread speculation that Criss and Frehley would join Kiss when their farewell tour wrapped up at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Dec. 2, 2023, but the reunion didn’t materialize. “I’m still sad about Ace and Peter, who even today can’t enjoy the fruits of their labor,” Simmons said earlier this month on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast. “They were equally as important as Paul and myself in the formation of the band and those first few years — there’s no question about it. It was a four-wheel-drive vehicle.”
Additional reporting by Andrew Daly.
