KISS Army 'General' on Gene, 2005
Between 1974 and 1975, Bill Starkey and his friends effectively started the KISS Army by relentlessly barraging radio stations with demands to play the band and by frequenting malls and drive thru restaurants in full KISS make-up.
On Bill's 19th birthday, the band's management - having gotten wind of Starkey's
efforts - offered Starkey the opportunity to be the President of a National KISS Fan Club. What follows are some interesting stories that Starkey has to tell about his experiences with Gene Simmons.
Enjoy!
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For the 'Hotter Than Hell' tour, my buddies and I were on the floor - about 10 people back from Simmons. Gene took the boom mic stand and picked it up with one hand and thrust it over the crowd, wanting us all to yell into it. It just made us even more crazy. Simmons looked so threatening and larger than life.
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After KISS arrived in Terra Haute in 1975, Gene was put into a limousine with an interviewer from a radio station. During the interview, the wheel came off the limo and that's how the interview ended. Gene got out of the limousine and started posing for people on downtown Wabash Avenue while they switched cars.
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The first time I heard Gene talk, I was a bit disappointed. We thought he would be this big bad-ass but he is really intellectual. It was funny to hear him talk because you expect him to be very imposing. But Peter was the one who was actually the most imposing. Peter was "Fuck this and fuck that" and it was hilarious. We more expected that from Gene. To hear these guys actually talk was a cool experience. I couldn't believe how big they were. Their leather costumes had a strange stench to them, I don't know why.
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When KISS visited the local radio station in Terra Haute, Gene picked up the mic and started doing some DJ stuff and read some advertisements over the air. It was really a scream! Then the DJ turned the microphone over to me as the President of the KISS Army. I made an ass of myself by ridiculing the DJ who had previously refused to play the band's records, saying "KISS is here…….so now tell me they suck!" The DJ and KISS were really taken off guard by this and looked at me like I was crazy.
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"KISS Alive!" had just been released and I went backstage and got to meet Bill Aucoin for the first time. He was such a super nice guy, very friendly, very professional, very low-key. I was backstage with Aucoin and the band starts coming through. It was so awesome to be standing next to these guys! I looked at Gene's bass and he said, "I've got four of these basses." I was trying to create small talk with them. They took me upstairs to the side of the stage where I'd be watching the whole show. During the concert, Paul got up and made a big speech about Bill Starkey and the KISS Army and I had no idea that I was going to have to get up on that stage. I walked out and they gave me this plaque with my name on it. Ace put his arm around me, Waring Abbot shot a picture, and that was it. It was just one shock after another.
At the end of the show, management gave me an address where the after concert party was going to be held. 10 rooms on the 4th floor of the Sheraton had been reserved and I would get to see the band without their make-up. I'll never forget sitting at the back of this room when KISS made their appearance without their make-up on and it was somewhat of a bizarre disappointment. I was sitting at this table eating pizza and I'm not the kind of guy who's going to get up and go from table to table. I just basically stayed at my table. Ace was playing pool and he kept accidentally hitting my friend Jay in the back of the head with a pool stick. Then Gene came over to the table and started eating pizza with us. He said, "Now that you've been in front of 10,000 people you're not going to speak to me anymore, is that it?" I started laughing because Gene didn't understand that I was just really shy. Then he bent over and whispered to me: "You know, we're not all pricks in this business." Gene was great. He was a riot. We were just floored that he was like he was. We expected him to be really bizarre, but he was more like an intellectual comedian.
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The next morning I got to have breakfast with KISS. The waitress asked Paul what he would like to have and he said "Money". We all started laughing. Ace sat quietly, eating the food that Paul didn't want off of his plate, which I thought was really weird. After breakfast, gene was in the lobby entertaining my mother and little sister. He gave my mom the key to his hotel room but at the time was checking out of it - - so I still have the key; it was just kind of Gene's way of being funny.
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In 1976, I was invited to New York to a KISS pool party. Bob Ezrin was there and I was interviewed by David McKee from Rolling Stone magazine. Peter and Paul got in the pool while Gene sat there in his black leather pants. I was sitting at a table with Cadillac High football Coach Jim Neff and eventually Gene comes over and sits with us. In typical Gene humor he says "Where did you guys go tonight?" and Jim's wife says "We went to see this guy puke blood and breathe fire" and Gene's eyes got real big and he says "Oh my! Where was that at?" Then we're going around the table introducing ourselves and when it gets to me Gene says "And you are?" I said, "I'm the guy who started the KISS Army". And Gene goes "Oh…oh yeah." And everyone just kind of laughed. I was 19 years old and kind of crushed, like "Oh man! He forgot already!" I was 19 and was in New York and hoping I could be at gene's house with him showing me all his KISS stuff. I wanted him to show me all around New York. I wouldn't expect that now - - but at 19, that's what you're thinking. Instead, I just hung around with Coach Jim Neff.
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In the summer of 1976, I realized I wasn't going to get paid for any of this and that I had to get a real job. Aucoin management continued to send me free merchandise and reserve concert tickets for me. Backstage in St. Louis, I complained to Bill Aucoin that Gene hadn't recognized me earlier in the day and instead had gone straight over to this girl with big tits. Bill laughed and said, "Why don't you get big tits and maybe Gene will recognize you". After the show, Gene asked me to stick around with them because they were going to go on the air with one of the local radio stations there - - but I couldn't do it because I had to be at work the next day. But Gene still wanted to hang out, so we went to his hotel room and I showed him the KISS scrapbook that I had just started to put together. It was cool - - just sitting on the edge of this bed with Gene going over my scrapbook like I would with any other KISS fan. Gene was just really super nice to me.
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By 1977, my time with the band was getting less and less. The people in Terra Haute were asking me "Weren't you supposed to be the guy handling this thing? Wasn't this thing supposed to be headquartered here? Who are these people handling the fan club now? They're not even KISS fans - they're a corporation, right?" By this time, KISS didn't need me. They were so big, they didn't need promotion. They didn't need me to greet them at the airport or take them to the radio station to talk about the new album. It wasn't necessary. My friends were telling me, "You sure got lost in the shuffle. You were somebody at the beginning but now you're not needed."
When KISS played Terra Haute in 1977, I got a very bad vibe from the band like they really weren't in the mood for me. I brought a DJ friend along with me because he wanted to interview Gene. The band looked really tired and I could see that Gene really didn't want to do the interview but he invited us over to his dinner table and we talked. Eventually the conversation got around to the KISS Army and why it was now headquartered in Los Angeles. Gene said L.A. is where it should be and started saying a bunch of negative things about Terra Haute. I think it just wasn't a good day to be talking about something like that. Looking back, gene and KISS had so many things constantly going on at that time - - I'm not sure how many true details of the KISS Army they even knew about. I think it was too much too soon for all of them. In any event, I was angry and drafted a letter to each band member saying "I made the KISS Army, and I can destroy it." The new Road Manager saw the letters and was pissed. He kicked me out of the backstage area and said he could sue me for threatening the band like that. A year and a half earlier I had been brought backstage and treated like a prince and two years later I'm out on my ass. I drove home in tears.
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Almost 20 years later, having had no contact with the band, I went to a KISS Konvention in Indianapolis. Gene had done an interview with a local radio station in Terra Haute and said "Mike Sharkey started the KISS Army". I thought 'Well, that's close'. I went o the the Konvention and was told to hunt down Tommy Thayer. Tommy just couldn't believe he was talking to the guy who started the KISS Army. He said, "Come back at 6:30 and I'll see if I can get you together with the band. I think they'd be really happy to see you." Sure enough, Gene asked me to come up on stage and sit in his chair. I mean, come on, it was great - - what can I say. That was a high for several years. I've been on stage with KISS twice now. Who can say that?
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Looking back now, who could have imagined that a little groundswell movement that was started back in 1975 could have grown to such huge proportions - - to such notoriety that people in the music industry will still say that the KISS Army is one of the most dedicated die-hard groups of fans you will ever find. We were just a bunch of kids doing what we thought was cool and fun.

Between 1974 and 1975, Bill Starkey and his friends effectively started the KISS Army by relentlessly barraging radio stations with demands to play the band and by frequenting malls and drive thru restaurants in full KISS make-up.
On Bill's 19th birthday, the band's management - having gotten wind of Starkey's
efforts - offered Starkey the opportunity to be the President of a National KISS Fan Club. What follows are some interesting stories that Starkey has to tell about his experiences with Gene Simmons.
Enjoy!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For the 'Hotter Than Hell' tour, my buddies and I were on the floor - about 10 people back from Simmons. Gene took the boom mic stand and picked it up with one hand and thrust it over the crowd, wanting us all to yell into it. It just made us even more crazy. Simmons looked so threatening and larger than life.
------------------------------------------------------------------
After KISS arrived in Terra Haute in 1975, Gene was put into a limousine with an interviewer from a radio station. During the interview, the wheel came off the limo and that's how the interview ended. Gene got out of the limousine and started posing for people on downtown Wabash Avenue while they switched cars.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The first time I heard Gene talk, I was a bit disappointed. We thought he would be this big bad-ass but he is really intellectual. It was funny to hear him talk because you expect him to be very imposing. But Peter was the one who was actually the most imposing. Peter was "Fuck this and fuck that" and it was hilarious. We more expected that from Gene. To hear these guys actually talk was a cool experience. I couldn't believe how big they were. Their leather costumes had a strange stench to them, I don't know why.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
When KISS visited the local radio station in Terra Haute, Gene picked up the mic and started doing some DJ stuff and read some advertisements over the air. It was really a scream! Then the DJ turned the microphone over to me as the President of the KISS Army. I made an ass of myself by ridiculing the DJ who had previously refused to play the band's records, saying "KISS is here…….so now tell me they suck!" The DJ and KISS were really taken off guard by this and looked at me like I was crazy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"KISS Alive!" had just been released and I went backstage and got to meet Bill Aucoin for the first time. He was such a super nice guy, very friendly, very professional, very low-key. I was backstage with Aucoin and the band starts coming through. It was so awesome to be standing next to these guys! I looked at Gene's bass and he said, "I've got four of these basses." I was trying to create small talk with them. They took me upstairs to the side of the stage where I'd be watching the whole show. During the concert, Paul got up and made a big speech about Bill Starkey and the KISS Army and I had no idea that I was going to have to get up on that stage. I walked out and they gave me this plaque with my name on it. Ace put his arm around me, Waring Abbot shot a picture, and that was it. It was just one shock after another.
At the end of the show, management gave me an address where the after concert party was going to be held. 10 rooms on the 4th floor of the Sheraton had been reserved and I would get to see the band without their make-up. I'll never forget sitting at the back of this room when KISS made their appearance without their make-up on and it was somewhat of a bizarre disappointment. I was sitting at this table eating pizza and I'm not the kind of guy who's going to get up and go from table to table. I just basically stayed at my table. Ace was playing pool and he kept accidentally hitting my friend Jay in the back of the head with a pool stick. Then Gene came over to the table and started eating pizza with us. He said, "Now that you've been in front of 10,000 people you're not going to speak to me anymore, is that it?" I started laughing because Gene didn't understand that I was just really shy. Then he bent over and whispered to me: "You know, we're not all pricks in this business." Gene was great. He was a riot. We were just floored that he was like he was. We expected him to be really bizarre, but he was more like an intellectual comedian.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning I got to have breakfast with KISS. The waitress asked Paul what he would like to have and he said "Money". We all started laughing. Ace sat quietly, eating the food that Paul didn't want off of his plate, which I thought was really weird. After breakfast, gene was in the lobby entertaining my mother and little sister. He gave my mom the key to his hotel room but at the time was checking out of it - - so I still have the key; it was just kind of Gene's way of being funny.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1976, I was invited to New York to a KISS pool party. Bob Ezrin was there and I was interviewed by David McKee from Rolling Stone magazine. Peter and Paul got in the pool while Gene sat there in his black leather pants. I was sitting at a table with Cadillac High football Coach Jim Neff and eventually Gene comes over and sits with us. In typical Gene humor he says "Where did you guys go tonight?" and Jim's wife says "We went to see this guy puke blood and breathe fire" and Gene's eyes got real big and he says "Oh my! Where was that at?" Then we're going around the table introducing ourselves and when it gets to me Gene says "And you are?" I said, "I'm the guy who started the KISS Army". And Gene goes "Oh…oh yeah." And everyone just kind of laughed. I was 19 years old and kind of crushed, like "Oh man! He forgot already!" I was 19 and was in New York and hoping I could be at gene's house with him showing me all his KISS stuff. I wanted him to show me all around New York. I wouldn't expect that now - - but at 19, that's what you're thinking. Instead, I just hung around with Coach Jim Neff.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the summer of 1976, I realized I wasn't going to get paid for any of this and that I had to get a real job. Aucoin management continued to send me free merchandise and reserve concert tickets for me. Backstage in St. Louis, I complained to Bill Aucoin that Gene hadn't recognized me earlier in the day and instead had gone straight over to this girl with big tits. Bill laughed and said, "Why don't you get big tits and maybe Gene will recognize you". After the show, Gene asked me to stick around with them because they were going to go on the air with one of the local radio stations there - - but I couldn't do it because I had to be at work the next day. But Gene still wanted to hang out, so we went to his hotel room and I showed him the KISS scrapbook that I had just started to put together. It was cool - - just sitting on the edge of this bed with Gene going over my scrapbook like I would with any other KISS fan. Gene was just really super nice to me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
By 1977, my time with the band was getting less and less. The people in Terra Haute were asking me "Weren't you supposed to be the guy handling this thing? Wasn't this thing supposed to be headquartered here? Who are these people handling the fan club now? They're not even KISS fans - they're a corporation, right?" By this time, KISS didn't need me. They were so big, they didn't need promotion. They didn't need me to greet them at the airport or take them to the radio station to talk about the new album. It wasn't necessary. My friends were telling me, "You sure got lost in the shuffle. You were somebody at the beginning but now you're not needed."
When KISS played Terra Haute in 1977, I got a very bad vibe from the band like they really weren't in the mood for me. I brought a DJ friend along with me because he wanted to interview Gene. The band looked really tired and I could see that Gene really didn't want to do the interview but he invited us over to his dinner table and we talked. Eventually the conversation got around to the KISS Army and why it was now headquartered in Los Angeles. Gene said L.A. is where it should be and started saying a bunch of negative things about Terra Haute. I think it just wasn't a good day to be talking about something like that. Looking back, gene and KISS had so many things constantly going on at that time - - I'm not sure how many true details of the KISS Army they even knew about. I think it was too much too soon for all of them. In any event, I was angry and drafted a letter to each band member saying "I made the KISS Army, and I can destroy it." The new Road Manager saw the letters and was pissed. He kicked me out of the backstage area and said he could sue me for threatening the band like that. A year and a half earlier I had been brought backstage and treated like a prince and two years later I'm out on my ass. I drove home in tears.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Almost 20 years later, having had no contact with the band, I went to a KISS Konvention in Indianapolis. Gene had done an interview with a local radio station in Terra Haute and said "Mike Sharkey started the KISS Army". I thought 'Well, that's close'. I went o the the Konvention and was told to hunt down Tommy Thayer. Tommy just couldn't believe he was talking to the guy who started the KISS Army. He said, "Come back at 6:30 and I'll see if I can get you together with the band. I think they'd be really happy to see you." Sure enough, Gene asked me to come up on stage and sit in his chair. I mean, come on, it was great - - what can I say. That was a high for several years. I've been on stage with KISS twice now. Who can say that?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking back now, who could have imagined that a little groundswell movement that was started back in 1975 could have grown to such huge proportions - - to such notoriety that people in the music industry will still say that the KISS Army is one of the most dedicated die-hard groups of fans you will ever find. We were just a bunch of kids doing what we thought was cool and fun.



