Kiss Forum

Sleaze Roxx: People who listen to instrumental albums are a different breed than the average fan would you agree?

Michael Angelo Batio: Oh, absolutely! Gene Simmons said it best to me. He said “If you don’t know who you are, no one is going to know who you are.” This was back in the ’80s when I was still this [an] up and coming musician, well before Nitro. He said, “Your guitar playing is light years beyond the rest. I like your look, I like your style and I think you have everything that you need.” He went on to tell me that KISS was KISS before they had a deal. He was telling me that they had a good sense of self. I have a good sense of self and he saw that back then. I have worked with different singers, but when I do my instrumental albums, I try to make them different from my last one. Ultimately, I need to make it me. When I perform I do ‘master classes’ before the show and I’m grateful that I’m doing really, really well. This is working a lot better for me than touring, sitting on a bus and going on to the next show. I’ve already done that. I like this!