True Fanatic The Hard Rockers Of Kiss Wrote The Soundtrack For Most Of Richard Terzieff’s Life
Until this year, Richard Terzieff had never seen Kiss perform in makeup.
Unlike many of us who never had the opportunity to see the band live and in full costume, Terzieff is a longtime Kiss fan and a full-fledged member of the Kiss Army fan club.
Kiss, which formed in 1972, performed in makeup for seven years. It was what added an element of mystery to the band, whose music was just three-chord hard rock. In 1979, the band scrubbed off their makeup and revealed their faces. Shortly afterward, two members left the band. Now the original lineup’s back, greasepaint and all.
So no wonder Terzieff is excited about Kiss’ swing through the Northwest this weekend.
By the time the rock combo plays the Spokane Arena tonight, Terzieff will have already attended the band’s Portland and Seattle shows.
“It’s really throwing wrenches into what I’m doing,” says Terzieff, a local record-store owner worried about losing some business over the weekend. But Kiss takes precedent.
This may be Kiss’ first visit to the Pacific Northwest with all four original members in 17 years, but it also might be their last. And Terzieff isn’t going to miss a riff.
Funny enough, he was so excited about the reunion of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley that he interrupted his honeymoon in New Orleans in July to catch the sold-out Kiss show at the Superdome.
“It was unreal,” he says. “The music had a slower groove to it, kind of like the albums did. It wasn’t quite as fast as some of the live stuff.”
His favorite portion of the night: “The cool thing was Gene, right after he (regurgitated) the blood, I knew he was going to fly. But I thought it would be the typical thing where he would just (Terzieff demonstrates some swooping motions) … All of the sudden, boom, they shot him straight up to the rafters. Up there he did ‘God of Thunder.’ “
Kiss has been Terzieff’s musical companion ever since he was introduced to them by some childhood friends. Just listening to the music was all it took to get him hooked.
“I can remember riding around in fourth grade on my bicycle singing ‘Tomorrow and Tonight,’ ” recalls Terzieff, 28.
His passion for the band didn’t just stop with the music. Kiss’ devil-may-care attitude, mystique and flair for shaking things up also made him run out and seize all 30 of their albums, which have sold 75 million copies combined.
Kiss has always played a major role in Terzieff’s life. The band accompanied him to school every day all the way through college. Where most boys would display snapshots of scantily clad women in their lockers, Terzieff posted magazine photos of his idols, Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter.
The band was there for him on both good days and bad days, whether it was a song spinning through his head or the band playing on the stereo. In essence, all of his achievements, experiences and memories were probably touched in some way by Kiss.
There hasn’t been a time in Terzieff’s life that Kiss hasn’t been his favorite band, though he’s a big fan of Roger Miller and Buddy Holly, too.
Although it’s hard for him to single out his favorite Kiss release, “Lick It Up” from 1983 is among the preferred albums in his collection.
A vast assortment of Kiss memorabilia, records and autographed photos, magazines and posters are littered all over his North Spokane home. The greatest concentration of Kiss booty is displayed downstairs.
Dozens of photos, most of them of Kiss and virtually all of them autographed, blanket an entire wall of his recreation room. Some of the pictures are of Terzieff posing with various Kiss members.
On another wall is a colorful mural of the band painted by a friend, Dave Magee, whose Kiss renderings have been published in various books and comics. In one corner sits a Kiss pinball machine, one of his most prized pieces next to his Gene Simmons signed-edition ax guitar - a rarity.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Kiss posters and illustrations adorn the walls, from ceiling to floor, in the hall leading to his music room. There are posters of Kiss with makeup and Kiss without.
Over the years, the fan has traveled near and far to be around his heroes. Terzieff attended three official Kiss conventions last year, where the band signed autographs, chatted with fans and played an acoustical set. In 1991, Terzieff flew to San Francisco for an industry-clogged Kiss concert, introducing drummer Eric Singer into the band.
So what’s his fascination with the band?
“It’s an attitude,” says Terzieff, who admires their love-or-hate-‘em reputation.
Terzieff says that most Kiss fans have a favorite band member, sort of how people have preferred superheroes.
Of the four Kiss members, Terzieff identifies most with Simmons, although he isn’t a womanizer nor does he trash hotel rooms. He even dresses like the singer, makeup and all, on special occasions.
“I’ve always been a huge Gene fan. I respect him,” he says.
Some of Simmons’ qualities he sees in himself.
“Business-wise, I definitely see that. (Simmons is the president of the Kiss empire, Kiss Inc.) Believing in yourself is probably the biggest. And his philosophy of a man with a thousand faces, I was always that way anyway. There’s a lot of facets in my life.”
Terzieff truly is a man with a thousand faces. He is a husband. He is the treasurer of a police substation. He is involved with the Wishing Star Foundation, helping gravely ill children attain their wishes. He teaches a business class to elementary-school children. He owns a business. And every once in a while, during a “Midnight Madness” party or for Halloween, he is Gene Simmons.
Whenever a new Kiss album comes out, Terzieff throws a “Midnight Madness” party at his North Side record store, Recorded Memories, where fans can listen to and purchase the album the night before it’s available to the public.
Even in the early ‘90s, when Kiss wasn’t the most popular band in rock, hundreds of people, many donning costumes, would line up outside his store.
Terzieff may be a huge fan but he’s not fanatical. Becoming too obsessed with the band would spoil its appeal.
“Most people think I’m the biggest fan. And in a lot of ways, I think I am. But I’m not like one of those fans that knows the third song of side two of duh-duh-duh-duh-duh and how long it runs.
“If you get so far into it, something’s wrong. It’s like Star Trek fans that can all of a sudden (recite) every line ever rehearsed.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Kiss performs at the Spokane Arena tonight at 8. Tickets are $39.50 and $29.50, available at the Arena box office.