Gene Simmons has started referring to the world as “Planet KISS”.

The band’s bass player feels “proud” that his group have put their name to over 3,000 different commercial ventures and thinks they are gradually taking over the globe.

He told BANG Showbiz: “This is Planet KISS, we’re all living on it and I hastened to add we’ve already trademarked Planet KISS.

“We’ve got the KISS golf course opening in Las Vegas in a month – there is a lot going on and I’m proud of it all.”

But the veteran musician struggles to comprehend why some bands fail to endorse their own products, particularly as the KISS “empire” has so many branded items.

He said: “The KISS empire really has become that, and it’s unfortunate that a lot of bands have neglected to take care of it, because what we do is actually call it ‘the music business’, it’s not called ‘music’, and intrinsically we understood that at the beginning.

“So, the KISS empire stretches over 3,000 licensed products, everything from condoms to caskets; we’ll get you coming and we’ll get you going.

“Across the street from the Hard Rock, and the KISS coffee houses are now a new franchise, and you can’t imagine, there’s a KISS Hello Kitty deal that launched in 90 countries just now, back to school items, bed sheets and all that.”