Rock Band Lives On Forever, as Avatars!

The iconic rock band Kiss concluded the last show of its farewell tour by replacing the four members with digital avatars, becoming the first American band to recreate itself digitally and, thus, “live” forever.

“What we’ve accomplished has been amazing, but it’s not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are,” says lead singer Paul Stanley. “It’s exciting for us to go the next step and see Kiss immortalized.”

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer, and Tommy Thayer now have four versions of their younger selves that are not meant to be exact copies. Indeed, Demon, the Starchild, Catman, and Spaceman have superpowers, wings, and crackling pink fingertips as superhero versions of the band members. Motion caption technology was used to create the avatars, thanks to the collaboration of Industrial Light & Magic – George Lucas’ special effects company – and Swedish conglomerate Pophouse Entertainment. Kiss could perform in three cities on the same night, across three continents. “If you think you’re going to get rid of us, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen,” says bassist Gene Simmons.