You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best…The Hottest Band In The World…KISS!

Take a minute to think about it… How many KISS fans had been given chills down their spine by the sheer listening to this famous intro, only seconds before their favorite band hits the stage and gives a performance that would be permanently engraved to their memory? On the 30th of January, 2008 KISS celebrated 35 years of constant presence and Rockpages.gr decided that it was the right time for… not just another special article. You see, it would be too easy to put down on paper (or more likely on word processor) some milestones in KISS’ career. However, we wanted to give to the entire KISS Army a gift to remember and cherish for all 2008! 30 noteworthy KISS-related figures that have been connected at a point in their lives with KISS turn back the hands of time and remember their KISS experience. Every 10 days we will be adding the recollection of a different KISS-related figure, like Jim Vallance, Bob Gruen, Robert Fleischman, Jay Messina etc. Sit back, relax and enjoy this Rocket Ride that will keep us company for the rest of 2008!

Special Feature by: Sakis Nikas

PHIL ROBERTS (“Detroit Rock City” Movie Poster Illustrator)

Rockpages.gr: First of all, how did you get the job of designing the poster for the movie? Was it Gene Simmons who came up with this business proposal?

Phil Roberts: I'm known around Hollywood movie advertising for caricature posters, "Hot Dog, the ski movie" was my big break beating Jack Davis for that job. And so my friend in print/marketing division at New Line Cinema recommended me to Adam Rifkin when he and Gene weren't seeing any photo shoot posters they liked. I also was working as a sketch artist doing all the preliminary layout designing for the posters that were going to be a photographic solve. I was already familiar with the film by doing all the sketches for that stage of developing the advertising. The photo posters just weren't cool and interesting enough, not enough of an edge. Adam had always saw this poster as something like "It's a Mad Mad World "(Monty Python ) look. Adam and I got together; hit it off right away sharing the same sick humour and jokes. So it was easy to put all his humour to visuals with all the characters in the movie.

Rockpages.gr: The whole concept of the movie poster was entirely yours or did someone from the band or the management gave you some directions?

Phil Roberts: It was Adam's vision for the overall concept, Gene agreed with Adam's intuition and just wanted to see anything with life to it (out of frustration with the studio maybe) and it was on Adam's tab... Let him run with it. Then I took the ball and ran with it putting as much social and political humour I thought I could get away with. Poster art is meticulously scrutinized and censored before it goes to print (for public consumption and legal reasons). The public will never see the best posters that are done in Hollywood; I've seen so many of the most brilliant visual ideas gone into the trash out of fear from the studio executives...it's a shame. That's why I call this craft of poster illustration "disposable art". As I worked up sketches for the painting, Adam and I were always bouncing ideas off each other for the poster...

Rockpages.gr: Would you like to tell us a little bit about the first "politically incorrect" version of the poster?

Phil Roberts: The first painting I completed had all the movie stars, politicians, icons of the late 70's with all the humour that goes with it. Once the painting was done (in a week, we're running up against the movie release date deadline...of course), that's when I met Gene Simmons at New Line Cinema for a presentation meeting to the president of marketing. Gene loved it immediately and told Adam he was buying the original. The President said yes to the artwork with the first few minutes of seeing it, besides it's hard to say "No" to Gene Simmons. Then the studios legal department got a hold of it, the painting, and said it would be impossible to get legal releases for every movie star portrayed in the poster and so I was asked to re-paint the entire background with random people (over the weekend). The final printed art has all the producers, directors, friends and ex-girl friends of mine in the background. I like to immortalize my friends when I can. Because the studio was running out of time, there was no choice but to print it without questions.

Rockpages.gr: How you would characterize Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Adam Rifkin as persons?

Phil Roberts: When I first got to shake Gene’s hand, he paid me the smoothest nicest compliment I've ever heard. Coming from a very tall dark man dressed in all black oozing with a confidence that shocks you with chills left me wondering if I was shaking hands with the devil or a god. His charm rendered me speechless, not from being star struck...I've met many stars in my work, you have to keep your cool, Gene was just so forthright and genuinely nice. Adam Rifkin is down to earth, "Mad Mag" funny with an excitement for his work that is infectious and inspiring to be around and work with, love collaborating with him. Paul…I only got to meet briefly at the premiere party. It was the second movie poster I've painted with Shannon Tweed, "Hot Dog, the ski movie" and so she was happy to hear I was doing this one. Shannon shares the same amazing smooth charm as Gene, and do I have to mention "drop dead gorgeous"...they're a great match for each other. She has what it takes to handle him. They're great company to be the presence of and to have worked with. One of my best experiences of working in Hollywood. Having an enjoyable experience and likely the people you're working with is few and far between in Hollywood. I've been doing this for 25 years and have the scars to show for it.

Rockpages.gr: What did you think about the movie? Was it something that you expected?

Phil Roberts: If you knew Adam, the movie is exactly him. The movie is exactly what it is a summer comedy of Rock Roll teenagers on a vision quest to "KISS"dome manhood. It released against some very tough competition at the box office, if it had opened any other time it would've had a much better opening weekend (that's the studios bad judgment...what are you going to do, it's out of our hands). I still to this day have teenagers come up to me and say it's one of their favourite Rock-n-Roll movies, it's become a cult classic to a new generation of young KISS fans...that blows me away. I'm stoked to have created the image for that. Right place, right time, right talent, right people...I'm very grateful!

I want to thank all of you out there who dedicated some of your precious time to read these articles. We started off by interviewing 10 people, then 5 more were added…and we ended this Special with almost 45 KISS-related figures! It was a labor of love and due to the great response that we had all these months, we are thinking about a follow-up…time will show!

Sakis Nikas