Original KISS drummer Peter Criss has released the following statement: "To KISS fans, "It's disappointing to have to say to you, the fans, that as of today, [original KISS guitarist] Ace [Frehley] and I have been denied a performance with [fellow KISS founding members] Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley] for our Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. Tickets go on sale on Monday, February 24, and I wanted to make sure that fans understood that no original performance, in or out of makeup, has been offered to us before they purchased their tickets. This is disgraceful, and I feel bad for the fans who were looking forward to the four of us being inducted together. "God bless, Peter Criss The Catman" The 29th annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Thursday, April 10 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The television broadcast will premiere on HBO on May 31. In a 2012 interview with "The Opie & Anthony Show", Criss revealed that a power struggle, with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley on one side, and Peter and Ace Frehley on the other, led to his departure from KISS. "I could start feeling [Stanley and Simmons] wanting the power," he said. "The more we were going up the ladder of future and fame, the more it was kind of swaying to Mr. Simmons and Stanley. Ace and I were kind of not getting our musical [ideas] in. It's funny I wrote the biggest hit the band [ever had] [the 1976 ballad 'Beth'], and meanwhile, I was kind of always getting put down for this stuff. So it was always a battle." According to Criss, he and Frehley were extremely close, which is why it was especially hurtful for the drummer to learn that Frehley was making more money when the farewell tour ended in 2000. "[It] broke my heart when [Ace] broke my heart," he said. "In the book, I tell the story, but towards the reunion, towards the end, I was devastated, man. I couldn't believe what went on. And it was again about the old M-O-N-E-Y. Money, money, money. Power, power, power. It never was enough for those guys."
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