Geddy Lee Reveals Why KISS Had to Party in Their Makeup

Geddy Lee recalled the only time Rush toured with KISS, and how the bands’ after-show antics were massively different.

The Canadians opened for KISS while promoting their second album Fly By Night in 1975. In their 2016 documentary Time Stand Still, Lee and bandmate Alex Lifeson discussed how Lifeson’s fictional character “The Bag” entertained most members of the touring party – although Gene Simmons didn’t get the joke.

In 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Simmons was quoted as being astonished at the trio’s behavior after shows, marveling that they didn’t get involved with any of the women who’d come to party, and asking: “What the fuck did you do when you went back to your hotel room?”

READ MORE: Exploring the Tour History of Rush – Exclusive Interview

Lee addressed that question in a recent interview with Q104.3 (video below), saying: “Well, we were smoking a hell of a lot of pot – that’s what we were doing! And watching The Twilight Zone after doing so. So yeah, we were laughing. We were having a ball.”

He continued: “And you know, there was no competing with the KISS after-show thing. You can’t compete with that. We were like newborns. We were babes. We didn’t know anything about the industry – we didn’t know anything about the touring world.”

Geddy Lee Says Touring with KISS Was ‘a Circus Every Night’

Lee said he, Lifeson and Neil Peart would “just leave our door open, be smoking joints, and sticking our head out to look at what was going on. And you’d often see the guys in full makeup.

“They’d come home from the gig in full makeup because otherwise, how would the chicks know that they were in KISS, right? ‘I’m Gene Simmons!’ ‘Yeah, right!’” He reflected: “But yeah, it was a circus every night and it was really fun to watch.”

Watch Geddy Lee’s Interview