Steve Appleford of the L.A. Times reports:
The sideshow at Dodger Stadium is about to begin as Paul Stanley emerges from his backstage trailer, shirtless and in full kabuki drag: bright red lips, his face painted harlequin white, a black star over his right eye. The singer-guitarist is here to perform with his band KISS but hears his name and walks over to a crowd gathered at the fence.
“Arriba!” yells one fan, and Stanley reaches over to shake hands, as dozens of cellphones take snapshots. “Let me see your shoes!” shouts another, and Stanley half-climbs the fence to swing a tasseled silver-and-black platform boot over the top. “Thanks, Paul!”
In less than an hour, Stanley and his musical partner of four decades, Gene Simmons, will lead KISS through two short sets of hooks and hard rock riffs as halftime entertainment for an ice hockey game between the Kings and the Ducks. It’s another strange gig in the ongoing saga of KISS, which long ago evolved from band to lucrative brand, ready for high-profile special events, reality TV and cradle-to-grave business ventures in the form of KISS Hello Kitty Dolls, KISS comics, books, T-shirts, action figures and restaurants as well as KISS caskets and KISS urns.
In one more way, 2014 could be the band’s most surprising year since its initial 1970s pop culture explosion, beginning with KISS’ induction April 10th into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It welcomes the hard-rock quartet into the critical pantheon that has at times violently rejected KISS and acknowledges the band’s huge impact on rock spectacle.
“I still believe the heart and soul of this is a band. The music is imperative,” says Stanley, who has produced the last two KISS albums and next month releases an autobiography, “Face the Music: A Life Exposed.” “Maybe our horizons are broader because we have an opportunity to go other places. Why not? Whether it’s a football team or restaurants, people say that’s not rock ‘n’ roll. Let me tell you what’s rock ‘n’ roll: Winning is rock ‘n’ roll.”
Being voted into the Hall of Fame is a victory that comes 15 years after the band’s initial eligibility and annual outrage from fans. But next month’s ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn also means dealing with old wounds and complications that began with the final exit of founding guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss more than a dozen years ago. In their place ever since are lead guitarist Tommy Thayer, 53, and drummer Eric Singer, 55, who both wear the makeup designs of their predecessors (designs owned by Simmons and Stanley).
“The naysayers, and some of them are loud, talk about Tommy or Eric being impostors. I think an impostor is a guy up there doing it for a paycheck,” says Stanley, back in his trailer and now dressed in his full stage regalia, with black feathers on his shoulders and medallions over his chest of a guitar pick, a feather, a star. “We’ve never been happier.”
Any hopes for a reunion in makeup of the four founding members at the Hall of Fame ceremony ended last week with a band decision to not perform in any capacity. A statement on the KISS website read: “This is understandably an emotional situation where there is no way to please everyone.”
Negotiations with the Hall of Fame stalled, say Simmons and Stanley, who wanted to include Singer and Thayer, while the Rock Hall wanted a reunion of the original quartet in makeup.
“Imagine getting onstage and playing with a lineup that does not exist,” says Simmons, 64, comparing the situation to a forced reunion with an ex-spouse. Both have bad memories of years of substance abuse by their former partners but say they are happy and proud to accept the award with the former members. Putting the original quartet in makeup was “a nonstarter,” says Stanley.
Simmons and Stanley questioned whether the former members were up to performing. Reached via email, both Criss and Frehley are working on solo albums and say their problems with drinks and drugs are behind them. Frehley has been sober for seven years.
“We should of been able to work it out as grown men; it’s a shame we couldn’t,” writes Criss, who also survived a 2007 breast cancer scare.
“My guitar playing, singing, writing, performing and producing skills are as good or better than the past,” Frehley writes. “For years, Gene and Paul have been trying to minimize my contributions to the band, even though I designed the famous KISS logo … and designed the trademarked makeup for the Spaceman character.”
All four said they were open to joining the night’s traditional jam session at the end of the night. “That’s what the celebration is all about,” Frehley writes.
Long before being voted into the Rock Hall as a band, Simmons and Stanley were outspoken critics of the rock institution and its rules. “We had issues before this happened. It doesn’t turn into a love fest now,” says Stanley, but acknowledged, “There are some people who are angry or hurt by this, and I don’t want to see that.”
The controversies over the Hall of Fame and newer members wearing classic makeup are issues mainly for older fans with an emotional attachment to the original band. [Bassist Gene] Simmons calls up a photo on his computer from a stadium show in Stockholm, then another from Lima, Peru. Both show ecstatic young fans in the front rows.
“Can you see the faces? That’s about 90,000,” he says of the crowd. “You see a bald head in there? You think they … about Ace and Peter? They’re going, ‘Who?’ We’ve been around 40 years, and only two members stayed there the whole time, never quit, no drugs, no booze. KISS is bigger than anybody in the band.”
Read more at the L.A. Times.
184 Responses
Eddie you and all of your staff Jim and Don are the best. Thank you for everything.
Unmasked still sold more then monster & sonic shit together look guys Ace & Peter Are not in the band today all because Gene & Paul Don’t want to PAY Them what they want , It has nothing to do with ACE doing drugs thats all just gene & paul covering up the fact they don’t want to PAY them anymore or deal with them thats fact , so ” you” the so called “fan” can go Fuck Ace for not wanting to be in” Kiss” really ? is that what you think that help kiss get on the map and was there doing it , If Gene & paul Never Got ACE & PETER BACK in 1995 Kiss would only be playing casinos right now they use Peter & Ace when they need more cash and fame or to even get a tour going no one wanted to book Kiss for show’s no ticket sale Before ACE & PETER came Back its true and gone with them after that it”s called CHEAPER LABOR & Yes Men …now on to kiss being a cover band now which so many so called real kiss fans can’t get a grip on is Yes it’s a cover band now anytime you have someone playing apart of something they had nothing to do with or there was someone from the start doing it first before you did it and they ask you to do it after them just like them … It’s called covering it ……got it look it up in the DICTIONARY now the test if it’s not original doing it.. it’s what ??? I Know It hurts a lot of real KISS fans to say it ..But Gene & Paul do it for the Fans not the Cash or the brand “
Chris, you are brutally wrong. Unmasked, though one of my favorites was a commercial bomb. Monster debuted at number 2 on Billboard. To say Unmasked outsold Monster and Sonic Boom put together is just…bizarre. Also, Ace was paid quite well for his touring. He wasnt just tired of the politics, he was tired of the road and concerned about hhis own addictions. He wasnt forced out. Read his book. You do read?
Unmasked sold 700,000 in 1980 when people, if they wanted to listen to an artist, paid for their record. Sonic Boom and Monster have probably sold around 250,000 between them (and the extra disc in SB means it gets counted twice), chart positions are completely irrelevant now.
Just so I understand your theory on a cover band, are you calling AC/DC a cover band?
I understand how some fans feel about the last two albums. Sonic Boom was good but Tommy basically tried to play like Ace. Monster however might be the worst Kiss cd ever (yes I am aware of Unmasked and The Elder[they both have their own charm in their weakness]) There is nothing remotely good about any of the songs on Monster. Also did anyone see the tour with the Crue? Wanna talk about going through the motions. Kiss does not draw in North America any more. That is why they will package the 40th anniversary tour. So they can draw a croud. It backfired in 2012 as the Crue destroyed them. It is a shame but it is the reality. The last Kiss Record to sell why Pyscho Circus because (even through 3 of them didnt play on it, yes Gene didnt play bass, Bruce Kulick did.) It featured the original lineup. Facts not fiction people!
Haha. “Facts not fiction”? Monster is in my top five favorite Kiss albums of all time. I think it is a classic Kiss CD. Everything you said in there is opinion only, with the exception of the sales figures (and even that is subject to; releasing CDs in 2012 is very different than releasing CDs in 1998 in terms of sales).
Bill I agree with you 100% about Monster being completely awesome and I loved Sonic Boom too but Monster is truly a beast of a rock album. One their bests in my OPINION and we are not alone Bill. Many many fans love Monster and Sonic Boom and are proud of all the new music released from our favorite band when so many bands have stopped recording all together. Ironic isn’t that a band blamed all the time for not being about music has created and released more albums in the last few yrs than almost all their peers. Kiss has sold respectively in today’s music buying climate. Certainly sold more than most hard rock and metal acts minus the few exceptions that outsell them. Anyways I love all lineups of Kiss and the drumming and guitar work on MONSTER is awesome and Tommy of you all would give it a few fair spins would know Tommy plays in his Own style. Love that my favorite band that has gotten me tbru so much traumatic things is still around to pick me up and tell me I can do most anything. Kiss now is doing that for my young cousins and my friends’ children. I’m proud of being a Kiss fan and am not letting the hall of Shame event ruin what 40 yrs has given me. Respect each other for our likes and dislikes but my friends there is room in this world to be fans of old Kiss and current Kiss, of Ace and Peter’s releases and Kiss with Gene,Paul,Tommy,and Eric. I support and continue to be moved positively by both.
What a great heartfelt post man.
Monster one of their best? Yikes.
I’ll take The Elder & Unmasked over Sonic Boom & Monster ANY day of the week. I’ve listened to Monster over and over……..there’s not one tune on it better than either Under The Rose or Naked City. While the era in which The Elder and Umasked were released, yeah at the time big let downs, still there’s at least 5 killa tunes on each which is more than I can say for Monster, SB isn’t all bad, but it’s painfully obvious that Paul was trying to recreate a formula that the original four used in the beginning. While Thayer is quite talented, his tunes don’t even compare to Ace’s best Kiss tunes over the years or his solo work. Obviously just an opinion battle here though.
Just think if we put all our anger and energy that go’s this whole kiss issue and put it towards the important issue of the world like hunger. Remember music is a venue that allow us to escape our daily struggles that we face. We all need to just listen, take in and learn. That’s all! Anger, discontent and all those other non sense emotion really do not matter in the end, Gene and Paul will do as they please know matter how pissed off we do get, in reality we are just wasting our time because they will do as they please just like our Government our voices are never heard. What we call in justice Gene and Paul call it a pay check. So the more we argue on this forum and any other the more money go’s into there pocket so the less we talk about this the less money Gene and Paul make. Our silence speaks much louder than our voices