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GW Dave, do you ever regret missing the height of Seventies rock and roll decadence—the Kiss era?

NAVARRO I don’t really regret anything. I’ve certainly had my share of decadence. Whether it was in the Seventies, Eighties or Nineties, decadence is all the same.

GW Yes, but is it? Was decadence more decadent in the Seventies?

NAVARRO I was only a kid then. But I don’t think people were as aware as they are now that sex and drugs can kill you.

SIMMONS You know what it was about the Seventies? There was a culture of groupies. Groupies were proud. Sable Starr and Pamela Des Barres were famous groupies. If the right rock band was in town—Zeppelin or the Stones—and if a girl was with Mick Jagger or somebody like that, she was really somebody. It’s no more or less viable or credible than the girl who says, “I just married a doctor.” So what? “I just did Mick Jagger.” Same difference.

NAVARRO I’m sure I would have loved it back then. It wasn’t quite like that when Jane’s Addiction started coming up. The groupies were more picky and I was always too sensitive. I always ended up falling in love with whoever I took home. And the next morning, they’d ask me to sign something and I would feel so used. It wasn’t working for me.

GW One other thing you two guys have in common is coffins. Gene manufactures and markets a Kiss coffin and Dave has been known to use coffins as home furniture.

NAVARRO How many Kiss coffins have you sold so far, Gene?

SIMMONS Thousands. Bars buy them because they’re moistureproof, so you can put your cold drinks in there. They’re five grand a pop.

GW Dave used to have a coffin for a coffee table, although I don’t know if he still does.

SIMMONS What a great idea! What was inside?

NAVARRO There was nothing inside but, uh, you know, different things have taken place inside it. I can tell you that.

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