The OC Weekly spoke with KISS frontman Paul Stanley about his new autobiography, Face The Music: A Life Exposed.
In it the singer recounts many stories including one that claimed drummer Peter Criss went on a racist rant at a Chinese restaurant and quitting the band for a few days and crawling back. “[Peter] didn’t crawl back,” Stanley says. “He swallowed his pride and pseudo machismo and came back. But part of the dynamic of the band was to have to pragmatically deal with the fact that two of the guys were often times more interested in sabotaging the band, sabotaging [bassist/vocalist] Gene [Simmons] and I, than doing the right thing. And they (Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley) also wanted equal say when they didn’t do equal work.”
He continued: “Part of what we gave the public was the myth that the four of us did everything together and contributed equally. That was something we wanted to maintain in the spirit of the bands that we loved and pictured doing that. The problem was that the guys in the band began to believe it themselves!”
When asked what it is about he and Simmons that they have managed to stay together over 40 years, Stanley said: “It’s hard to define and distinguish between friendship and brotherhood. I certainly see him as a brother, although we don’t always agree on how to treat your brother. At the end of the day, I know he will be there for me and me for him. My issues have always been more rooted in participating evenly and equally and still ending up with a equal share of money. I didn’t want it with Peter and Ace, why would I want it with Gene? He wasn’t doing his job and he was off doing other things and being paid for those things. I felt like if he wasn’t going to do his job and gonna go elsewhere. It was like he took less here or he gave me some of what he was doing elsewhere. That was an ongoing problem. But look, at this point we made the life for each other that each of us could only have dreamed of, and those lives have very little in common. I’m sure Gene would no more want to live my life than I live his. But there’s a bond there because we made it possible for each of us.”
source: ocweekly.com
192 Responses
Paul, please be quiet. Thank you.
Whatever Paul marketing attention again wow. Kiss said farwell tour how many years ago. Ill give Metallica credit for calling out bands that did a farewell tour and than comeback. Metallica said when that day comes to hang it up they will.
Metallica can park the tour bus anytime now…
All of you “fans” get over yourselves. I’ve had a lot of misplaced frustration and even anger with Kiss since the hall of fame fiasco, but i’ve finally realized, its all of their A-hole fans . The worst, most entitled fans on earth. Any reason is out there for your wars and anonymous rants and insults on youtube and here. This article is here for traffic purposes only, and im done with this website. Dont like kiss anymore? Then go lose weight and focus on something else, and btw kiss dont need Def Leppard to sell 8- 10,000 seats, which is fine in this economy. Its the FANS that ruin this experience.
C’mon Pete…..I’m taking this all in as good fun. I’m actually finding it hysterical….no biggie. Joe in The Cuse
If you come across MILKMONEY on your boulevard of broken dreams tell him “All is forgiven” and God be with you both.
Good post…many on this site are the problem…the funny thing is these idiots think they are agreeing with Eddie Trunk if they bash Paul and Gene…Even Eddie doesn’t hate this band as it is, he just has issues with the makeup and the fact that they don’t acknowledge him…Eddie, the problem is these idiots are a reflection of you, so when Paul or Gene hears some of the despicable posts it seems like you run an anti-KISS website. I mean really it’s the same idiots over and over saying the same tired shit and Yeah I got sucked in again to this conversation…opinions are fine, but the constant outright bashing of Paul Stanley is absurd and has no place…if you don’t like it, don’t go and don’t buy albums…
* apologize for one my grammar and typos ..I was riding in a cab and very unsteady… Also massive clarification in the sentence that speaks of Ace now coming up with stuff he all of a sudden remembers now that Paul’s book is out…I want to clarify I know and believe 100% that Ace is sober now , I might to now come up with stuff that took place when he was is an alcohol and drug induced haze was my intent. I didn’t want for a minute as a Kiss and also an Ace fan take away the importance and the awesome courage it took to get sober. So please if this could be printed under my original pending comment or if not it is my wish to strike both from being printed as to avoid making a point that was phrased wrong admittedly by me the first time. Thanks Eddie and Dana for the wonderful work here. As we always say we don’t have to agree on everything a band does to be fans of same bands. Thank YOU
Chad,
I removed your original post. Hope that gives you some peace of mind.
Cheers,
Dana from ET.com 🙂
its amazing how great a band was and still is but how they destroy each other with childish remarks are they adults or teenagers
They have the make up, the personas, so they can forever stay teenagers!