Credit: Mark Weiss
Throughout 2018, Kiss singer/bassist Gene Simmons has been celebrating the release of his massive box set The Vault, which contains 10 CDs of previously unreleased music recorded from 1966 to 2016. Simmons has been hand-delivering copies of the collection, which costs $2,000, to fans who purchase it at a series of events dubbed the “Gene Simmons Vault Experience” that are being held in cities around the world.
“It’s the largest box set of all time,” Simmons boasts to ABC Radio. “It’s 40 pounds, about three feet tall, contains over 10 hours of unreleased tracks. Literally, if you sat down without a poopy break, you’ll be there for over 10 hours.”
He adds that his Vault collection features 167 tracks, plus “all kinds of bells and whistles in it, including bits of memorabilia from my personal collection.” The package also features a huge hard-bound book packed with rare photos, a Gene Simmons businessman action figure, an “In Gene We Trust” collectible coin and more.
Speaking about The Vault‘s musical highlights, Gene says, “[There are] three Bob Dylan-Gene Simmons-written songs, including the songwriting session with Bob and I. Joe Perry appears on a track. The Van Halen brothers and I team up for three. All the Kiss members…are all over the tracks.”
So far, Simmons has hosted 20 “Vault Experience” events and more than 20 others are scheduled into November. At the events, each fan and a guest get a one-on-one meeting with Gene, and Simmons also takes part in a Q&A and playback session, and may perform too. Gene has welcomed a number high-profile guests at various events, including fellow founding Kiss members Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
The Vault currently can be ordered exclusively at GeneSimmonsVault.com.
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