Robin Leach of the Las Vegas Sun spoke with KISS frontman Paul Stanley. Excerpts from the interview appear below.
Las Vegas Sun:….it’s the first time you’re playing a residency at the Hard Rock, but why is it the icing on the cake?
Stanley: Well because it’s new territory for us, and what KISS has always been about is going against the grain and really doing things in our time and when it feels right for us. There was a time where quite honestly everyone thought of Las Vegas as an elephant burial ground.
It was the more glittery branch in Missouri for some people, but it’s so unique. There was also a time where the best food you could get was a $1.99 prime rib. Now if I want a great meal, I go to Las Vegas. You can’t get a comparable meal in Los Angeles to what you can get in Las Vegas.
Everything has changed so much, and it’s always seemed like a perfect fit for us to be in Las Vegas, but for a lot of reasons, it just wasn’t meant to be. Now the planets have lined up, and everything is as it should be, and we will come in and do what we do.
We are doing a KISS show in Las Vegas, we are not doing a Las Vegas show with KISS. We are a rock and roll band, and we will do what we do — better than any band at this point.
Las Vegas Sun: Are you changing the tour show?
Stanley: Completely different stage. At this point, our influence is so widespread that virtually any rock band you go see live is doing the KISS show. The only thing they can never be is KISS. Anybody with money can buy pyro, can buy lasers, but you can never be us. So for us to come into Las Vegas, we’ll set a different level honestly.
It’s an amazing thing for us to be able to go into a smaller venue and not downsize. Usually going into a smaller venue means doing a smaller show, but because this show isn’t portable and because this show is a permanent installation, we can do things that we couldn’t when you have to break the show down every night.
Las Vegas Sun: In terms of rock and roll, Motley Crue is calling it quits on its current world tour. Are you saying KISS will not call it quits and go on maybe with other musicians?
Stanley: Oh, totally; absolutely. We are unlike any other band. We are closer to an army. We are closer to a sports team. I’m not foolish enough to think that I’m the only person to do what I do. The Yankees continued without Babe Ruth. Time marches on, and if you’re part of a movement or part of a commitment to a cause, then when you’re time is done … look, if you fall in battle, someone picks up your gun and runs.
Somebody has to carry the flag, and that’s what KISS is about. KISS is about a lifestyle and self-empowerment and going against the odds and believing in yourself. I guess enjoying the fruits of hard work. That’s not singular to me. People who said that was not possible in terms of KISS are already 50 percent wrong. The lineup is now 40 years on, and two of the members are not the original members, but they are far better at this point than the original members.
Read more at the Las Vegas Sun.
source: lvsun.com
198 Responses
Read all the way down to the end. And then SMACK! He just had to get it in.
LOL, yup. I was thinking exactly the same thing. I read the first few paragraphs and thought ‘wow, no dig yet’? And then there it was.
Exactly DR, Paul just won’t stop, his mouth is running like diarrhea now! Like most Kiss fans, for the longest time I was on the fence, in the middle of this bullshit tug of war between the original 4, but now, because of Paul’s nonstop bashing of Ace & Peter, I’m completely on Ace & Peter’s side. In the past, A & P have f**ked up and made mistakes, difference is, Paul & Gene are still f**king up and making mistakes. For God’s sake P & G STOP the f**king bashing already! It’s uncalled for, unnecessary, and unproductive, leave what’s left of the Kiss legacy ALONE! You know I just thought of something, maybe as crazy as it might sound, maybe this is what P & G want to do, maybe their plan is to destroy the legacy, so everybody will buy into the “new Kiss” of the future, in the future, with no original members, whatever. They’re not fooling real Kiss fans, the only ones they’re fooling are themselves. Paul has to know by now, that all, or at least most Kiss fans are sick & tired of the bashing shit, so why else would he keep doing it? Somebody want to give Paul directions on to the high road. 😉
Doug, as you know I’ve been a take it or leave it guy with KISS. I don’t care about the present and have sided with The Demon on a lot of topics. Buy it or don’t, I don’t really care and enjoy arguing with those who either don’t know the real history of the band, or simply choose to invent their own. But Paul Stanley never ceases to amaze me. If reporters ask him about Ace and Peter, then we should be prepared for his answers and not be surprised that he can’t take the high road. And then there’s interviews like these where he goes out of his way to take a shot. After reading his book, I think I understand him a little better. I don’t necessarily agree with him, but understand the genesis of his bitterness. But clearly this dude has more money and security than he needs cause he clearly doesn’t give a rats ass about how he comes across these days. He’s making Gene look humble. Dude basically exhalted himself as the Babe Ruth of Rock. It’s going past tragic and starting to get comical.
DR…this has been going on since 1983…ORRR his antics with taking personal issues/jabs at people is something that started as a young child. I didn’t need to read his book, (though I did) to already know what I knew. Paul has a serious emotional situation going on within his head. He CONSTANTLY needs VALADATION…I love Paul. EASILLLY in the top 5 of frontmen in rock. But he needs therapy/counsiling. And all the Ace?Peter haters can say what they want but they owned everything they were guilty of…Paul and Gene will never do that…serious control issues
doug, I think you just came up with the plot for kiss’ “phantom” sequel.
Which elliot is this?
Is this the original Elliot whose favorite Kiss song is Charisma? 😉
Your thought is interesting, for once a different angle, but on the other hand I think they really need this legacy to make at least some people accept the new Kiss, if that happens, buy ticktes, because it is said that Kiss is a great band in concert … so I rather think that these old men have personality issues, just like so many others, regulars, but being in public on the one hand make sit look larger than life and on the other hand gives them too much of a forum to live out their issues and avoid any kind of therapy or urgency to change.
Wow guitarslinger, what a great post….I love these kinds of stream of consciousness things….but it’s only 11:30 am, and you’re already having some thc for breakfast? That doesn’t make any sense, but I get what your saying. LOL..no, really I understand exactly what you meant.
There this S.O.B. goes again trashing Ace & Peter –
Paul lives in an alternate reality and really believes that Scab Kiss is the band that’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“Virtually any band you go see live is doing the Kiss show.” Really Paul? Wow, your character should be known as the EGOchild.
This makes me want to puke. Every band wants to be like Kiss? Kiss is better than any band? I admit Kiss has one of the best stage shows, no question about that. But to say every band wants to be like Kiss onstage is a farce. And besides the stage show, the music itself is most important! I.E. if you can’t sing anymore, explosions, smoking guitars, big screens, etc do not magically make your voice issues unnoticeable Paul. The last time I went to a Kiss show was 8-30-12 in Cincinnati, OH. I didn’t walk away from that show saying wow I was blown away as I had many times in years past. I walked away thinking how awful Paul sounded. It was bad, very bad. My wife and I cringed dozens of times during the show and especially during Love Gun as Paul’s voice was so out of key and cracking. It felt like listening to nails on a chalkboard. I am currently reading Paul’s book via the local library for FREE because I refuse to pay a dime for anything Kiss anymore these days. Paul says the book was written to inspire others. Yeah if you want to inspire people how to bash people with insults, name calling and defamatory comments. Paul’s book is nothing more than the same story that’s been told hundreds of times via Kiss home videos and interviews. What to me was once the greatest band in the world has turned into one of the biggest heartbreaking disappointments in rock and roll history since the truth has been revealed about the true character of all four original members. It’s a damn shame.
Grim…absolutely SPOT ON….It has now become ever so clear that Paul & Gene really BELIEVE that the Rock and Business world can not be run without them and Kiss. They truly believe this. And these embarrassing and in my opinion DIS-RESPECTING comments like this…”look, if you fall in battle, someone picks up your gun and runs.” only shows Paul is playing out a real life Walter Mitty. Kiss isn’t at war with any1….nobody has died….you play with guitar’s NOT GUNS…that is yet another brain washing comment to sell. Now I’m POSITIVE there are the few internet meatheads out there that will stand by these dumbass idiotic comments (3 sides of the coin) but Paul is just out right embarrassing himself and this once amazzzzzing great band!!!!!!
If I had a dollar for each time Paul or Gene have mentioned the phrase “the band we never saw on stage” to emphasize what they achieved, their unique stage show, I would probably be a millionaire myself …
Yawn…. who cares.
you cared enough to comment, silly!