"Im
31, and I always was dealing with KISS stuff. I have never had
any other jobs. There was no time... too busy doing KISS
magazines, Expos etc... and a new KISS website."When did you first discover the magic of KISS? Have you been a loyal
follower ever since or have there also been periods in their career that
you didn't like for one reason or another?
"I always liked KISS since I got interested in music ca. 1980 and I am collecting since 1983, nonstop..."
Are you in contact with the band regularely or have you already met them in the past?
"No regular contact. Just once in a while. I have met them many times. The first time on August 19, 1987 in Munich."
When and how did you end up to sell KISS merchandise? How did you start? Where did you get the necessary money from to invest in your first stock?
"I started collecting and trading like every KISS fan / collector. Now I got
almost everything I was looking for, so I also started
selling instead of trading. I still do trade though sometimes, if
someone has something I am interested in. It just grew from year
to year..."Are you selling all the KISS stuff officially (with a permission from the band, management or whatever) or is it more like a semi-official thing? Did you have to sign any contracts to start?
"I
don't really understand the question. I sell official
merchandise, basically everybody can do that, you don't need any permission for that, you just buy the stuff from the companies who have the license... there are about 60 companies who got the license to produce KISS merchandise at the moment, the companies of course have to pay a lot of money to get those rights. All the KISS merchandise I am selling is available at www.kissfanshop.com. There are 1.200 different items available and it is growing every day."
For how long do you make a living off it by now?
"All my life."
Do KISS themselves also earn any money on your sales?
"Yes, but usually I do not buy from KISS, I buy from the companies, who pay KISS their percentage. If you buy a KISS CD at the record store, KISS
will get their percentage, but you don't pay KISS
direct, they get the money from the record company."A lot of the the semi-official videos have an incredibly good quality - how do you explain that? Were they recorded by people from the KISS crew or something? I mean, the ordinary bootleg video not necessarily comes up with several different camera recordings, so...
"The
quality depends on the source. The closer to the source the
better the quality is. From every bad recording there is a
perfect master. Many shows get filmed but never released
officially. People who really want that stuff, usually know how
to get it somehow..."From which country do you get most of your orders from? Have you already experienced die hard fans that order EVERYTHING new that
comes out with the KISS logo on?
"There are KISS fans and collectors everywhere. That's why my catalogue comes out in different languages and currencies. There are some people who collect everything although most people concentrate on certain things because collecting everything is too expensive for most people. But, there is something for everybody... cheap, expensive, rare , not so rare, old and new, great looking and not so good looking merchandise."
What kind of stuff sells the best? Videos, posters, CD's...?! I can imagine that merchandise from the make-up days is selling way better than the
stuff without make-up, isn't it?
"Everybody
wants make-up stuff. If it is a nice item and great looking and
not so expensive, a lot of people want it."Do you collect KISS stuff yourself? What is your favorite KISS period and why?
"Of course I collect. My favorite period is the make-up period, any..."
There's an incredible amount of KISS internet fansites - do you personally
care about them ? How much time do you spend approximity to check them out?
Are there any sites you visit regularely?
"I have seen a lot of them, there are some good ones but there is no real great one. I miss websites with merchandise or history about merchandise etc... There is almost nothing for a collector on the internet, so I decided to do my own website www.kissfanshop.com."
You are also going to present the KISS FAN SHOP with an internet website soon... What can people expect from it?
"This website will include everything you can imagine for collectors, not just a sales
catalogue, but also lots more... thousands of
pages of great photos, never before seen real video (footage
from Lisbon 1983, first without make-up, and lots more...), of
course daily news and much much more. I am working on it for a
year now, up to 16 hours / day. Good things take time... and it
won't be finished before 2001. You can read about all the plans
on the introduction page of www.kissfanshop.com."Anything else you'd like to add?
"Did I mention my new website www.kissfanshop.com ? Just joking... but you can also go to www.kissfanshop.de or www.kissnews.de or www.kissnews.net ... at the moment they are all the same but soon it will divide to several different pages. I would like to hear from KISS-fans from anywhere in the world. I really would like to make my website the best website for every KISS fan, no matter if you are a collector, a new fan, old fan, make-up period fan or non make-up, this website everybody can contribute! Send your contributions, t's from KISS fans for KISS fans and suggestions and comments to Gerhard@kissfanshop.com. Thank you!"