Ever wondered how a headlining band finds their opener? Apparently, it’s not as complicated of a process as one might think. Just ask Adam Siska, bass player of pop-punk bank The Academy Is…., “Man, I’m not

entirely sure how it all went down, but what I’ve been told is that Gene Simmons was looking for a young band to open and his kids were listening to us one day and he must have liked what he heard. So his people called our manager and it took us about an eighth of a second to agree.”

If you’re thinking this is a big break for a small band, you’d only be partially right. “This is a great chance to get our music out to a whole new audience” explains Siska. “We’ve been doing this for almost a decade, but we haven’t had the chance to reach an audience like this before. That’s a good thing.”

The band has had success with its first three albums: Almost Here, Santi and Fast Times at Barrington High. They hope the Kiss gig is only the next step. “We’ve really gone from boys to men through these albums. Each one sounds different, and I think we keep getting better.”

Siska and the group also understand the magnitude of the moment. “If we’d have been given a gig like this five or six years ago, we would have ruined it. Probably been kicked off the tour. We weren’t ready, and we wouldn’t have appreciated it the same way.” Adam goes on to say that, “now we can enjoy ourselves, put on a good time, and really understand how far we’ve come since we started. We definitely have a great appreciation for what we’re doing right now.”

Even though the group is opening for Kiss, the true Academy fans shouldn’t expect a toned or stripped down show. “No way” explains Siska. “The show is the same energy, the same fun we always do, just

a little shorter. We want the fans coming in to really get ready and hyped up for Kiss and we feel there is no one better to do that than us.”

The group is also using the experience to develop new material for their fourth album. “We are always writing, always recording. We want to use this experience to really springboard the rest of the year and beginning of 2011. Our fourth album should really be our best yet.”

The band also does something that not many of their counterparts do well, if at all. Give the fans access. Through the band’s website, the band broadcasts TAITV (The Academy Is…..TV), which is the bands version of reality TV. “I know everyone says this, but we started doing it before YouTube was even around” says Adam. “When we were young, if The Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana would have let us see what they did during the average day, it would have been must see TV. We just want our fans to really feel like they are a part of the group. Because they are.”

And Saturday night (Aug. 28 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre), you’ll have the chance to do just that.