U.S. music blog Blabbermouth reported on Thursday that Gene Simmons of KISS is “launching” a classic rock festival with Canadian promoter Chuck Varabioff.
In fact, next summer’s Titans of Rock festival in Grand Forks, B.C. is nothing more than a rebranding of Varabioff’s annual CannaFest.
“Now that cannabis is legal my trademarked name and logo are now illegal,” Varabioff explained in a Facebook post earlier this year. (Federal law prohibits marketing material that might appeal to children, like CannaFest’s cartoon marijuana leaf.)
The Titans of Rock name and the partnership with Simmons were announced following last August’s festival, which featured acts like Cheap Trick, Brett Michaels and Vince Neil.
This year’s festival is scheduled to take place Aug. 6 to 8. The line-up is scheduled to be released soon but tickets and passes, ranging from $125 to $1,000, have been on sale for months.
Titans Of Rock will be hosted by Simmons, who will be on a break from the KISS End of the Road World Tour. The 70-year-old rocker is married to Canada's Shannon Tweed.
Varabioff opened the B.C. Pain Society cannabis dispensary in Vancouver more than five years ago and, last month, opened Grand Forks Cannabis.
Blabbermouth reported that the pair are planning “a classic rock festival series, in Canada and the United States.” According to the festival website, Varabioff and Simmons are “actively seeking suitable locations across Canada to expand to.”