Peter Criss returns to Detroit, celebrates first solo album since 2007

Peter Criss did more in Livonia than greet fans and sign records. The founding KISS drummer used a two-day appearance at Rock City Music Company on April 24 and 25 to put a spotlight back on his self-titled album, Peter Criss, and to make a long-absent return to a city that still treats him like part of its rock DNA.

That mattered because this was not just another nostalgia stop. It was Criss’s first visit to Detroit in more than 20 years, a gap that gives even a small public appearance real weight for KISS followers who have tracked the band from the early club days through reunions and all the baggage that followed. Detroit has always had a special claim on the KISS mythos, and Criss’s return connected him directly to that history again.

The album at the center of the visit is Criss’s first solo release since 2007’s One For All, and it was described in late-2025 coverage as his first solo album in 18 years. Blabbermouth reported a December 19, 2025 release date, with contributors that include Billy Sheehan, John 5, Mike McLaughlin, Paul Shaffer, Matthew Montgomery, who records as Piggy D., and co-producer Barry Pointer. For drummers, that lineup says plenty: this was built as a rock record with enough muscle behind it to make Criss’s name matter beyond the KISS catalog.

FOX 2 Detroit followed up with a full interview on April 28, tying the appearance to Detroit Rock City and to the city’s long memory for Criss. In that interview, Criss said coming back felt “almost like coming home,” a line that fits a player whose identity has always been tied to feel more than flash. Criss was never the busiest drummer in the arena-rock lane, but his swing, pocket, and loose-handed personality helped give early KISS its human pulse.

The recap video that surfaced around May 1 captured the visit with a documentary feel, but the bigger story is simpler: a veteran drummer with one of rock’s most recognizable faces can still command attention by showing up in the right room with a new record and a history worth revisiting. For a classic-rock drummer, that is not a small thing.