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, for one, have spent my last dime on any kiss product….I am tired of the 2, maybe 3, good songs (emphasis on the word MAYBE) that are produced with every album……Id love to support Ace and his solo stuff if he makes it around my area but no more of my dollars will be spent in support of this band….
Look at the net worth of ex Kiss members, most are well below what you’d expect. Robert Hunter was a major force in the Dead, his lyrics made the band sing-a-long compared to jam time. Kulick on the other hand should get nothing. Vinny is still throwing tunes at Swift monthly hoping for the house payments if recorded. Look at Gene in his sex video, he’s more out of shape than Ace.
They should have never sold the rites to there makeup to gene and Paul ..
Paul’s wig. LOL
Dear Kiss Fans –
Why are we still talking about Ace and Peter? I have loved this band for 35 years and I have no issues with KISS less Ace and Peter. As a matter of fact, Creatures, Lick it Up, Animalize and Revenge are better than any 70’s studio KISS albums (except maybe KISS). You are stuck in a time warp. If anyone saw the HITS Tour or the Revenge Tour then you know what I am talking about. If the RRHoF was truly paying tribute to our band, they would be bring Bruce, Eric C, Eric S and Tommy along with the rest. The HoF wanted to shut us up so they could go about their business. Ace and Peter helped create something special and then dumped all over it. It is like having to stay with your wife even if she keep cheating on you cause you own a house together. I have played with talented drunks and it is NO FUN! It is even more SAD. One last thing, no one cares how many EAGLES there are. Or who was the original bass player in The Heartbreaks. No one is telling Springsteen to break up The E Street Band cause Clarence is dead and Steven is on tv. Do we really care that Wolfie is playing bass with VH? Are we upset that Iron Maiden has had 3 vocalist? Judas Priest has had 2 and multiple guitar players. Do we care who Batman or Superman are as long as the movie is good? How many Bonds has there been. KISS is more than just a band. It is a music act. KISS I went to sleep in 1979, but the dragon still breaths fire. Just sit back and have fun with it.
This ⤴️
Creatures yeah(BTW Gene did NOT play base on every track) is solid but your view that LIU, Animalize, & Revenge are better than anything they did in the seventies is INSANE to say the least.
Great music is GREAT music.
NOT very many bands make their best music 10 albums into their career.
When looking at music, it’s NOT living in the past………IT’S CALLED REALITY.
You obviously do not get it. Comparing Kiss to The Eagles and E street band? WHAT are you talking about? Kiss and the Beatles are the only 2 rock bands in HISTORY that each had members that were instantly recognizable and had equal fan adoration. The 31 flavors concept. A RARITY. You sound like Paul in your post. And I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if you ARE Paul lol
Not this⤴️
Easily one of the best posts on this subject ever. Unfortunately…way to much common sense for the average Ace and Peter knuckle head to understand.
Uhh Chuck “why are we still talking about Ace & Peter”???? BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THEY STILL MATTER…..DUHHHHHHH —– wow you seriously can’t teach stupid on here….Joe in The Cuse
Evidently not as much as some of you want to believe. 40 years and Ace and Peter were part of less than half of it. So evidently it didn’t matter to a lot of fans. They still sold albums…some better than others, they still toured…some better than others and they continue to do so today without Ace and Peter. So while important to the beginning of Kiss’s career and important at various time through out, and no argument that Kiss is bigger with Ace and Peter it still doesn’t change the fact that Kiss has survived without them.
The bigger question…the one that many of the Ace and Peter knuckle heads won’t address is…would Kiss have survived without Gene and Paul. Well, we all know the answer to that…NO. Yet they “did” without Ace and Peter. So really…who mattered more. You don’t even have to teach a “stupid” person that.
That is only because the singers are the one members of the band – always! – that appeal most to the audience because for the general audience the song, thus also the singer, is much more important than, say, the guitar solo and who’s drumming. In each band th singer will th song and the band a ‘face’, that is inevitable. Guitar players might think the songs are there for the solos (I am one myself), but in fact that is not true. So in this case accidentally Gene and Paul are the ones without whom the band would not be recognizable,you can make Tommy sound almost like Ace, but weher is on who could sound like Gene’s or Paul’s voice?? Some major bands have tried to find a new singer with a similar voice, but in the end there is no way no do it. But it does not mean what you intended to say, that G and P were more important seeing a band and a band’s chemistry and power from within!
will give, sorry …
Yeah people do care.
Don Felder is amazing. Wolfie while no offense to him or Eddie is NO Michael Anthony, especially when it comes to harmonizing vocals.
Three vocalists in Maiden? Paul, Bruce, & WHO? Blaze was a pimple on the ass of Maiden history.
And YES fans DO CARE.
one question for you then? Why isn’t their set list comprised of songs from those albums? If we are to believe your take. I get music is subjective to the listener but those comments border on insane. The non makeup Kiss was a second rate “’80’s band”. Again spend most of the 80’s playing theatres or half filled arenas.
That was my thought. Probably 80% of their setlists are pre-1980.
Of course it is for a good reason, and the reason is to prolong (part of) the success of the reunion as along as possible to keep the cash flowing. Paul says A and P did not/were not able to learn more songs during the three tours, what an obvious lie. Actually, they did “Into the void” and one song from the non-make up era that I presently do not remeber the name of (> Kissology 3), so what? They themselves could be blamed for that looking at their setlist from 2002 until now … the real reason even back then surely was to keep the atmosphere of the reunion and the revival of the classic period alive (for the same abovementioned reason), not that A and P would be so deranged as tonot being able or willing to learn two more songs they once knew. It’s all hypocracy!
I Loved Kiss 1973 – 2000!
I think Kiss passed on in 2001!
I am so tired of hearing about the stupid Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and Paul and Gene’s rants, I wish it was over and done like Kiss in 2001!