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
I can see Paul’s point on not inducting all members of Kiss, but being a fan of the Grateful Dead I have to add this. He keeps commenting on the “commune of Grateful Dead members” that were inducted, yet the Dead only had 1 more member in their history than Kiss has had. He makes it seem like hundreds of people played in the Dead, and I think has even said “hundreds”. Personally, I’ll be glad when it’s all over with. But then, if people quit asking them about it, maybe they’d quit talking about it. Nah, probably not.
Well that’s his point… They let in. 11 Dead members but don’t want to give KISS more than the founding four. Four is still less than 11 if I recall.
Luke, at a couple of different points in the Dead career, there were 7 people on stage that comprised the band. They never have been a four man band. Five people in the band were the least amount and that was for a brief time in the early 70’s when one of their drummers took a break, and before the new keyboardist’s wife joined on to do backing vocals. Othewise you are looking at a band that has always been 6 or 7 people comprising the band. This has never been a band with hundreds of members and bass players being replaced each year, a new drummer, etc, etc, but instead a band that replaced keyboardists a few times due to death and differences.
Not my point. What difference does it make that the gratefuldead have 7 people on stage? KISS had about 10 over their forty year career. So who came up with 11 members of the Dead but only 4 of KISS? If the Dead had enough important members that they needed 10 slots, fine. But why can’t Eric Carr be in? Why not Kulick? These are people who have had major milestones in Kiss-tory. Who makes the rules that KISS only needs four slots?
And I am not getting into the writer getting in. I mean gimme a break. A writer should go in as a writer, not a band member. If you don’t perform on stage, you are not part of the band. You are a consultant, a producer or writer. NOT band. I don’t care how important you are to the band. There have to be some limits. But let’s not turn that into an arguement lol. This thread is about KISS
Sadly the Ace and Peter fans clearly could care less about the other guys…I credit Paul for at least fighting for Carr, Kulick etc… At least he’s saying…Eric Carr, Bruce, Singer…those are important guys in the history of the band. Without a doubt Eric Carr is…without him Kiss probably never continues. I totally agree with Paul…they should all go in. It doesn’t negate Ace and Peter’s contributions in any way…no original four, no Kiss period. Further if people really want to be mad…be mad at the RRHOF for ignoring them for a decade and half and then…as Paul points out, putting stipulations on exactly who was or wasn’t important in the 40 year history of the band. Kinda like going to your birthday party and not be allowed to open your presents.
@JB
I believe you’re throwing everyone into a group. I believe KISS should go in as a band as a whole,(Pauls View as well) but KISS is NOT the only band to have this happen to them.
That part is really a MUTE point.
Now, WHY are they getting inducted? BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC THE ORIGINAL FOUR MADE. PERIOD END OF STORY.
All these people talking about what they did post Ace & Peter, OK let’s wipe out EVERYTHING Kiss did with the original four. Guess what….NO HALL OF FAME.
That’s not taking a side, it’s the freaking truth and Gene & Paul’s pomp-ASS views on the whole deal don’t exist today without what the original four did.
It IS that simple.
Agree, Scott McGee. I don’t even feel like explaining the ignorance level upon which this Stanley fella operates when it comes to the Grateful Dead. The only position in the band they replaced was the keyboard player a few times, and Mickey Hart rejoined the band after a break. And Robert Hunter (that is the “writer’s” name Paul spoke of) was an extremely important force in all of the Dead’s success because as much as people focus on the jams of the Dead, the lyrics are what brings those jams home.
These dudes are milking this for all that it is worth. What a sham.
Oh, I cannot stand his talk anymore, he just so self-important and always twisting the truth to meet his current ends – He thinks he is so smart when it is so obvious he is deceiving. He and being objective? Haha. The only one out there possibly being more of a hypocrite and idiot is the one who believes all that crap and buys the book. Every word he says screams: I will take revenge for the disenchantment of my person in Ace’s and Peter’s book!
I think Tommy and Eric deserve to be in there but not in Ace and Peter’s makeup. Induct the four originals with their makeup, Eric Carr in his makeup, and Bruce Kulick, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer without makeup. Vinnie Vincent and Mark St. John weren’t around long enough to make a difference.
Vinnie Vincent saved their asses when they needed it the most. He was a talented guitar player and songwriter. Hell, he still wrote for KISS after he was kicked out. Please explain to me how Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer deserve to be inducted into the Hall OF Fame? Especially Thayer, who has done nothing but impersonate Ace Frehley for twelve years.
Uhh if it wasn’t for Vinny —— Gene & Paul were F. U. C. K. E. D. And that is a absoult FACT!!—–Joe in The Cuse
He did save their butts and no doubt woulda been invited like Kulick and the other guys had he half a brain. However, do you still wanna hang out with someone who’s trying to junk punch time and time again or are you eventually going to say dude, enough. GTFO. I mean how many times can you sue somebody and still be welcomed to the party.
Tommy did order one helluva pasta dish for peter..lol
Drag!