Getting schooled

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — That VH-1's "Gene Simmons Rock School" looks more than a bit like the 2003 Jack Black movie "School of Rock" doesn't exactly bother Simmons.

"I saw it," said the KISS bass player and "Rock School" star. "It was very good. So what?"

The new series casts real-life rocker Simmons as the guy charged with turning a bunch of young teens from a British classical-music school into a rock band, which was harder than he anticipated.

"I thought, 'Gee, that's not going to be so difficult,' " Simmons said. "And then I found out, one, they hardly know anything about rock 'n' roll, didn't know who Mick Jagger was, didn't care about KISS — how dare they? — and, in some instances, had never played the instruments that they would wind up playing in the band. . . . So it was a big job."

And the kids weren't exactly intimidated by Simmons. They didn't really know who he was.

"I had a very vague idea of what Gene did and how he was and their band, KISS," said Dudley Beals. "For instance, I knew that he wore lots of makeup and he, like, dribbled blood or something. But apart from that, I didn't actually know anything.

"I had to ask my mom, and she still had a very vague idea as well."

The show follows Simmons' efforts at auditioning kids, assigning them roles in the band, rehearsing them, preparing them for interviews and preparing them to open a show for Motorhead.

And if you're worried that he had an undue influence on the youngsters, worry not.

"I didn't really like rock music before, and I've still got that opinion now," said Rodney Vubya, a singer and pianist who was the band's manager. "I don't really think it's great music and this whole experience really hasn't affected my musical side."

GENE SIMMONS WAS a huge rock star in the '70s. He's still a rock star decades later.

Yet he's certain he would have been a complete and utter failure if he had had the opportunity to audition for a certain reality/competition TV show.

"As we all know, if I auditioned or if (Mick) Jagger auditioned — or almost anybody who makes a living doing this — auditioned for 'American Idol,' we wouldn't make it, would we?" Simmons said.

It's hard to argue with him. As he told the kids on "Rock School," talent alone isn't enough. As a matter of fact, one of the kids in the show, Rodney Vubya, is the band manager because he didn't make Simmons' cut to be in the band.

"Rod has actually got the best voice in the bunch," Simmons said. "We actually auditioned everybody for different voices, and he's got by far the finest voice. The problem is, that's not enough."