The manager of KISS has confirmed the group are in talks to launch a TV talent show to find replacements for frontman Paul Stanley and guitarist Gene Simmons – when the duo eventually retire.
It has long been rumored that founding members Stanley and Simmons hope to keep the band running when they decide to quit – but both men have been evasive when asked about whether any new members have been signed up and if the takeover will happen after their current world tour.
The rock veterans are the only original members left in the band, which was marred by the departure of Ace Frehely and Peter Criss and the death of Eric Carr in 1991 – the group now includes replacements Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer.
However their longtime manager Doc McGhee insists that there are indeed plans to replace all four band members and keep KISS alive for a new generation – they are close to signing a deal to find their replacements through an American Idol-style TV show.
McGhee says in a new TV documentary about the band, “I believe that KISS can go on forever. I believe that there is a way – and we are talking to people and we’re pretty close to getting it done – about finding the four new members of KISS.”
As our own Eddie Trunk reports in his Trunk Report, despite the fact that this article is dated 2008, Eddie writes, “the plan and closer than ever to happening…maybe two years away from launching.”
source: starpulse.com
192 Responses
While I think having a KISS without Gene and Paul is possible, based primarily on the theatricality of their shows. I don’t think that it would be successful long term as anything other than a Las Vegas tribute show primarily because I don’t think the fans would accept any new music from the group and they would be forced to stick to the classic KISS catalog and performance style.
This has been done before…. anyone remember ROCKSTAR: INXS? Not exactly the successful relaunch of the INXS brand that I am sure they were hoping for… I hope that KISS does not evolve into this, but am glad that I can say I have seen almost every incarnation of KISS up to this point and I won’t feel obligated to see this “tribute band”.
Oh great , another tribute band … As a big kiss fan, this is embarassing
My thoughts are that if Kiss wants to own the rights to tribute a tribute band of themselves, then why not?? Very smart move, all about money of course, but who cares at this point?? If they continue to tour as they are today, they will begin to really embarrass themselves so one and done is fine with me. There are more Kiss tribute bands than probably any other band ever, so if they want to treat it as a tribute, but make new music I will judge it by how it is put out there in terms of its seriousness and the music quality…
Sorry to rehash the recent Hall of Fame debacle, BUT…If Gene and Paul are initiating this extension of the band based on the idea that “KISS” is bigger than any individual member(s) and maybe the legacy will be for “the fans”, then why didn’t that same philosophy cross over to a 10 minute “grin and bear it” performance at the RNR HOF celebration? You know? For the fans?!?!?!
This stinks of hypocrisy and BS.
Ok then, find 4 young guys who we only get to see in makeup. Keep their faces hidden. But for this new Kiss to work, it has to be 100% HANDS OFF by Gene & Paul. No managing, no producing albums, no keeping them from doing drugs, NO NOTHING! Just sit back & collect a check. Otherwise, they will ruin it. I don’t even want Doc MacGEEK involved.
My vote for manager is Ed Trunk.
That just won’t work. All the attempts at repeating history, repeating the mystique, repeating the reaction from the fans, the surprise, the shock, the criticsm and the ridicule, the guts to do something unprecedented, are doomed to fail, the success of a certain band is the result of a totally complex system of music, behaviour, reactions, media, decisions, personalities, quarrels and struggles, etc etc. – the rise of Kiss (like that of many other influential, iconic and unique bands, espeically in the 60s/70s) is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and its value, especially to us the fans, is almost entitrely based on the selfsame principle, that it cannot be replaced or repeated, that it IS and WILL BE unique, that is what brought us onto it, that will be what remains in people’s memories.