I just heard KISS’ new song “Modern Day Delilah.” It’s the first single from 2009’s “Sonic Boom,” KISS’ first new album in 11 years.

Listen to the mp3 here or download it if you like … but I have to say …

It is tough being a KISS fan these days.

I appreciate their tenacity. They refuse to go away. Love it. But “they” isn’t KISS anymore. History repeated itself after their big reunion tour in 1996 when band leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley gradually became alienated again from their 70s bandmates, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley.

By the time the band recorded 1998’s “Psycho Circus,” it was back to things as normal, with studio musicians replacing allof Peter’s drumming and much of Ace’s guitar playing. Granted, Peter wasn’t really up to snuff,so I gave ‘em a pass.

Some of the tunes had the old school KISS flavor (some just outright sucked) and my band at the time, Ultimate Fakebook, even covered the title track to show our stubborn support for the old school rocking that KISS was still putting out there.

Now Ace and Peter are gone again, replaced by Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer (who are currently wearing the Space Ace and Cat-man make-up instead of going “unmasked” like KISS was in the 80s and early 90s). Sure, they sound tight. Yes, it sounds professional. Yes, it’s “bluesy” and “rootsy.”

But it ain’t KISS. It sounds like some approximation of what Paul and Gene think will get them played on rock radio now.

It’s as stagey and fake as “Gene Simmons Family Jewels,” a “reality” show with completely scripted scenarios and contrived plot twists. (Yet I still tune in from time to time to see how my old 70s hero/demon is doing. And I think his family is cool. I’m unhealthily obsessed. After all, KISS is responsible for my entire rock “career.”)

It’s safe. It’s boring. Most of all, it’s no fun.

Yet I will probably be there for the next tour waiting for that curtain to drop so I can see Gene and Paul don the costumes and see the glorious explosions that come just after the opening riff of “Deuce.”

Sad, but true.

By the way, this post has nothing to do with movies, even though this site is all about them, so here ya go:

“Detroit Rock City” is an underrated and overlooked gem of a film that approximates all the energy and excitement of what it was like to be a rock n’ roll fan when you were a kid. Rent it even if you don’t like KISS. It’s that good.

Gene Simmons is in the new Mike Judge (”Office Space,” “Idiocracy”) movie “Extract,” which stars Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, and Kristen Wiig.

OK.

Tags: 2009, album, boom, day, delilah, download, First, free, gene, kiss, listen, modern, modern day delilah, new, paul, simmons, single, song. mp3, sonic, stanley

“Best Worst Movie” is the documentary about the phenomenon of “Troll 2,” widely regarded as the worst movie ever made. Eric caught up with director Michael Paul Stephenson, star George Hardy, and Zack Carlson from Austin, Texas’ Alamo Drafthouse at the world premiere of “Best Worst Movie” at SXSW 2009. This in-depth interview was recorded directly after the premiere, just as George Hardy and Zack Carlson had seen the film for the first time. “Best Worst Movie” is currently making the rounds at film festivals across the country, and there are plenty of clips from both “Best Worst Movie” and the cult classic that spawned it, “Troll 2,” in this video. Learn more about “Troll 2” director Claudio Fragasso and his feelings about how “Troll 2” has been received and hear about a trip to mysterious “Troll 2” star Margo Prey’s house in this interview as well. Nilbog fanatics unite! “Best Worst Movie” is currently playing at film festivals everywhere.

Read Eric’s original journal entry about “Best Worst Movie” from SXSW 2009 here.

Tags: 2, 2009, Alamo, austin, best, Best Worst Movie, clips, documentary, drafthouse, george, hardy, interview, Michael, movie, paul, premiere, Stephenson, SXSW, Texas, troll, Troll 2, Worst

I’ve never seen any of the “Fast and Furious” movies with Paul Walker, but I love seeing what those crazy Brits Addictive TV are going to do next. I posted their last remixes, of “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Iron Man,” so I thought I’d keep up the trend here. Basically, these VJ artists take video and its accompanying audio straight from the actual movie and then use as much audio from the film as possible to create a song, adding in their own touches.

Even if the movies aren’t great, the remixes usually are. Here’s their take on “Fast and Furious,” the car-chase movie that reunites Walker with the original’s star Vin Diesel. Enjoy!

Tags: Addictive TV, beat, dance, diesel, Fast and Furious, mashup, michelle, paul, remix, remixes, rodriguez, vin, walker

It may not be the most original comedy ever, but what “Role Models” lacks in originality of concept, it makes up for in the natural wittiness of its actors.

Directed and co-written by David Wain (director of “Wet Hot American Summer” and an alumni of MTV’s early-1990s sketch comedy show “The State”), “Role Models” follows the basic formula of the life-changing moment in some poor schlub’s life that happens suddenly and unexpectedly. Eventually, the tin man realizes the error of his ways and gets a heart.

What makes “Role Models” such a surprisingly funny film is in the details. Let’s start with the casting. Paul Rudd, so terrific in supporting roles in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” finally gets a movie that lets him be the leading man while showcasing his smart-ass, ultra-dry sense of humor. Rudd is the anti-obvious jokemeister. Where other actors would mug and get louder to telegraph the fact that they are doing comedy, Rudd simply torpedoes each statement with a nasty, biting remark.

He plays Danny, an unhappy promo man for Minotaur—an energy drink being sold to high schools as an alternative to doing drugs. His oversexed buddy Wheeler (Seann William Scott) accompanies Danny at school presentations in a full minotaur costume. The two get put into a Big Brother-type mentoring program after one particularly bad day at work ends with the corporate truck riding atop the school fountain.

It’s a ridiculous premise to be sure, made more ridiculous by the presence of a hard-charging reformed coke addict (played hilariously by Jane Lynch) as the head of child-mentoring group Sturdy Wings. Again, the funny is in the details. She assigns Danny and Wheeler two of the organization’s toughest cases, a foul-mouthed brat named Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson) and a teenaged social outcast named Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, proving that his McLovin character from “Superbad” was not the only role he could do) who likes to dress up as a knight and battle for a fictitious realm with foam swords in the park. They are not the most typical of troubled kids.

While the formula may be familiar, all of the comedic situations stem not from the absurdity of the situations, but from how seriously the characters take them. It’s a nice change. Despite the fact that it’s an R-rated movie, “Role Models” never panders to the level of fart jokes. Incredibly foul language, sure, but no fart jokes. It doesn’t need to pander because its actors actually elevate the material.

All that said, “Role Models” doesn’t have the deftness of touch as, say a Judd Apatow movie (although it employs about half of the actors from that same stable). It’s a sloppier movie that misses every now and then, and it doesn’t get nearly as deep with its themes or characterization. But it’s so fast-paced that it recovers from any ill-advised steps very quickly.

On a side note, I also have to add in what I am calling “the KISS factor.” My personal bias: I’ve been an unabashed KISS fan since I was six years old. Wheeler’s obsession with the titular 70s-glam heroes is a simple one. He loves the band because they get a lot of chicks and sing about it non-stop. This astute observation about “four Jewish guys from New York who dressed up like clowns” powers a lot of great jokes in the movie and make what would otherwise seem like a rote ending a lot more fun.

Tags: david, film, jane, lynch, Models, movie, paul, review, Role, rudd, scott, seann, wain, william