Brian Aberback from NJ’s Steppin’ Out magazine recently spoke with KISS’ Paul Stanley. An excerpt can be read below.
Steppin’ Out: What is the main message you want people to take from your book?
Paul Stanley: I wanted to be able to write a book that shows how you can go through unsettling times and turmoil and come out on top. There’s no substitute for determination and drive. My life has a happy ending. I thought my story was something people could benefit from. My 19-year-old read the book and I got the response I hoped for. He thought it was fabulous and very inspiring.
Steppin’ Out: From the very beginning you were faced with obstacles. You were born with microtia, a birth defect in which part of your right ear is missing, and you’re also deaf in that ear. How did that affect your musical ambitions?
Paul Stanley: It never affected my music. It affected my social interactions, how I was seen and sometimes ridiculed. Music became my refuge. Although I may not hear music the same way that someone who has hearing in both ears hears it, I never missed anything because I don’t know what things would have sounded like otherwise.
Steppin’ Out: You’re the last of the original members of KISS to write a book. Have you read the other guys’ books?
Paul Stanley: Gene’s book is understandably written from him being in the center of everything, because that’s what he’s like. The other two [by guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss] go from being questionable to absurd. When people’s recollections are tainted by substance abuse they’re not usually people an attorney wants to put on a witness stand. The few bits I read were so ridiculous that it was frightening to think that either of them believe it. For a lot of reasons I feel I’m more objective.
Steppin’ Out: You’re being inducted into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, and you’re furious with the Hall. Why is that?
Paul Stanley: They are only inducting the original members. It’s disrespectful. We never could have started without [original guitarist and drummer] Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, but this band has a 40-year history that should not be ignored. The Hall of Fame people said that inducting other members who were in the band for decades and played on multi-platinum albums like [guitarist] Bruce Kulick and [late drummer] Eric Carr was a non-starter. That’s not how it has worked with other bands. There’s a commune of Grateful Dead members in there including a writer who never played an instrument and a bass player in Metallica who had only been in the band for 7 years when they were inducted. We are in the Hall of Fame not because those people want us there but because it began to look absurd not having us there. To have a band that many pop bands site as an influence and to be ignored year after year takes a lot of effort. They also wanted to strong arm us into playing with the original guys onlhy in gear and makeup and that was a nonstarter. I’ve been doing this 40 years with total pride and confidence and it would be rolling the dice.Whether it’s official or not I will be there to celebrate 40 years of this band.
The entire interview runs April 9th at so-mag.com.
152 Responses
Oh yeh Paul we’re automatically suppose to believe the bullish*t in your book then i guess.
Considering he was sober for that entire time, yes.
Dude…Pete flat stated he was never in another band after Kiss. Umm hello Pete…what about Balls of Fire? The Keep? What, did he just forget those two…bands. I mean were talking about a guy that won’t even answer the door to his home because he’s afraid someone’s going to get him. Yeah I’d say Paul’s book is the closest of the three’s when it comes to what really happened. Of course that won’t fit the agenda of the Peter and Ace fanboys.
Looks like we’re gona have a rock and roll feud tonight!
LOL…………Awesome
I cant wait to see KISS this upcoming tour. My next show will be number 74. I loved some more than others, but ALL WERE GREAT. As a KISS fan it is disappointing that they are not going to take the roof off the place, but I get it. Screw the UNHOLY ELITE of the hall.
God shut up paul…you’re done as a musician because you’re voice is shot and you’re a miserable prick just like gene!! You and gene are the laughing stocks of the original 4! Ace was the right musician to be done with the band after the FAREWELL tour, and you guys screwed peter over!! So just be done and stick to your paintings and let gene be a business man somewhere else in this world!! Thanks for ruining an once kick ass band!!
‘screwed Pete over’. Hilarious. Outside of Ringo Star, Peter Crisscola is the luckiest SOB in the history of music. Screwed him how? By paying him $2M for a tour when he couldn’t fill a club? Fuck Pete’s legend is growing by the hour. This is the greatest thing that could ever happen to him. You conveniently forget how that cat fucked over every KISS fan there was in the early 80’s. Enjoy the good ol days like we all should. But stop martyring the dude for fuck’s sake. I’m an original four guy like most. But even I’d like to think I possess a little more perspective than the shit that is coming out of some people right now.
sounds like you’re on gene’s payroll.
Hows that Doug? Because the truth doesn’t fit your agenda? Everything DR said was the truth. Pete and Ace whine and moaned because 2 mil a tour wasn’t enough. Let’s see here…get out of bed whenever in a 5 star hotel, eat catered meals, mosey on down to the arena in a limo, put on your makeup, mosey on down to the stage…play music for an hour and half to 20k screaming fans, get cleaned up, eat a catered meal again…party/women/hotel in any particular order that you wish, all the while be waited on hand and foot by a half dozen people, fly to the next gig in a private jet, hit reset and do it all again. 2 mill to do that say 130 times…wow, must be tough to be those guys.
The problem is, 2 mill sounds a lot, to us, but how many mill do you think P and G each made at the same time?? Do not tell me they were taking a big risk, everyone could have foreseen that this tour would become absolutey huge. A cash cow. And remember, they too desperately needed the other original two to make the band successful again at a point when they were clearly on the decline for years. Listen to “Carnivcal”, do you think that grunge record would have brought back success? No way. So I think yes I see why A and P feel like they have been nobbled. And also, had Ace decided to stay after the Farewell tour, he would problably still be in the band because they know people want to see him, that is why they make Tommy look and sound like him whereas Bruce did his own interpretation at a time when there was no reason to copy the make-up era as it seemed to be gone forever, but today it is just prolonging the look and therefore succces of the reunion tours for yet another “mill”.
so JB & DR must be one in the same moron.
doug the next time you have something of value to say will be the first time. All you do is cheap shot others comments with nothing substantial to offer other than your emotions. We all get it. You think Peter wrote all of Destroyer while Ace produced it. Dude we’d all love the original four out there. But it ain’t happening. Another thing anyone who cares about what KISS does at that lame ass hall of fame should really take a step back and wonder what they’re asking for. Who gives a shit about it Doug? Would it make you feel better if they got on stage and played rock n roll all night for the two millionth fucking time? Dude it’s not 1979 anymore and Ace isn’t really from outer space and Pete’s not really a feline. Like Chad said earlier, I’m just happy my kids listen to KISS and go to the concerts instead of the fuckin Biebs for fucks sake. But that’s ok Doug. You stay bitter and hope that someone pays for this crime. After all you spent several hundred dollars over the years and so now your owed. Go listen to Destoyer and enjoy all the solos you think Ace played on.
Uhh DR. you got great points there……can’t argue with that whole post. You’re spot on, I would rather see my kid see this version of Kiss than Bieber or anything else like that. Joe in a The Cuse
DR, what in the hell are you talking about?? nevermind, nothing you say matters anyway!
only “cheap” shot your comments because they really don’t make any sense, well maybe JB as well, this is the last time I’m going to respond to either of you, have no more time for people like you.
forget about who remembers what for a moment, so ace & peter will never perform in kiss again, congratulations paul, you & gene get your way, too bad us fans don’t. all we wanted (not a reunion) was just to see our band the original kiss perform together one more time, one last time, it would have been great. reliving that magic, that feeling of, now we can all move on, have it end on a good note, but maybe that’s it, maybe you & gene don’t want anybody to move on because then nobody will still be around to pay attention to “today’s kiss”. something’s better than nothing right? well speaking for myself, maybe I would have paid more attention to “today’s kiss” if ace & peter weren’t impersonated by tommy & eric, I don’t care “if” they sold the rights to their characters or however else you & gene want to try & justify it, ace frehley & peter criss always have been and always will be the one & only spaceman & catman! now & forever! so instead of one more REAL kiss performance, we get nothing, hope you & gene are happy, because we fans are not. MOST OF US!
Ace and Peter got their way in not wanting Tommy and Eric perform at the HoF in their makeup. The only compromise is that no one is performing, regardless of lineup.