MoneyBag Soda partnership brings Gene Simmons to the Falls

NIAGARA FALLS — Gene Simmons paid a visit to Niagara Falls State Park and the steps of City Hall Sunday, highlighting his partnership with a staple local business.

On Sunday afternoon, the KISS bassist took in recognition of Rock Steady Sodas, his business partnership with brothers John and Paul Janik, third generation soda producers, along with their business partner and longtime friend Chris Haick.

“Our partnership with Gene is nothing we could have ever dreamt of. As die-hard KISS fans our entire lives, John, Paul and I met Gene in 2017 and the rest is history,” Haick said.

As Simmons recalls it, his arrival in the Falls Sunday were under different much circumstances than when KISS first visited the city on tour in support of their album “Destroyer” in April 1976.

“Look, the first time you’re on your best behavior, you’re coming into a new town, and you’re trying to impress and do all that kind of stuff. And we were lucky that, in some ways, we were able to hide behind, I don’t know sort of what a knight in shining armor (has). You can’t tell what he’s feeling like, what the facial grimaces are like, and so on. So we had an advantage in that,” Simmons said.

Simmons appeared to be very enthralled with the experience Sunday, often documenting it on his cell phone that sported a case with the artwork of the KISS album “Rock and Roll Over.”

“I’m interested in people, as you can tell, I love the sound of my own voice … Nothing to laugh at. I’m serious about myself,” Simmons remarked.

It was Simmons’ “interest in people” that got Simmons and the Janik brothers on the subject of the soda business when they met at a 2017 comic convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

“They told me the story of their father, who started the soda business before any of you were born,” he said. “And about how they they grew up and learned the nuts and bolts of this magic thing, this American soda thing that rules the planet.”

After a series of follow-up emails and phone calls, the two sides blended their respective visions and MoneyBag Soda was born. The following year, Simmons visited Niagara Falls for the first time to celebrate the launch of the product.

Now seven years later, they recently sold their one millionth bottle.

Simmons attributes the company’s success to his business partners.

“When the brothers Janik call me, I answer the phone, and when I talk, when I want to find something out they’re immediately there,” Simmons said.

Simmons was also recognized by Mayor Robert Restaino and North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylec with keys to their cities. A portion of Main Street between Pine and Cedar avenues was also temporarily renamed Gene Simmons Boulevard.

“These types of partnerships, these things that come together when you have people like Gene Simmons willing to lean in with a product that they believe can really make a difference in the market, then you have magic happening,” Restaino said.

On Monday, Simmons and his band will perform at West Herr Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, with ticket proceeds going toward the theater’s expansion project. The show is Simmons’ only scheduled live performance in North America this year.

“Gene and his entire band is going to put on a fantastic show, bring in a lot of people and a lot of money that will go towards our future expansion there,” Tylec said.