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
Ok, the real Elliot is back. the fake Elliot can go away
Just saying hi
now that’s piling on (lol)
cordially,
the original Elliot#1 (c)2014
…Wait…, Elliot Easton? From The Cars?
I think Paul nailed it, Ace & Peter could never drive that band like Thayer & Singer in 2014. He knows it and said it. To the couple doofusses who said Stanley never said the current band was as good as the 70’s band: there it is bro. Gotta collect locally on the $ on won on that one.
Of course I state the above and then do my own little research and find out that Paul just keeps playing with foolish fans like myself. Again I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed
the original Elliot #1 (me) is having an identity crisis. I challenge any im”posters” to post anything that is of the same caliber as my previous work. here’s one: Thayer drives paul to macy’s to shop for curtains. singer has such technique when he pulls on his lapels. he’s the vest.
sincerely,
anonymous
WHO?
I have to go to a Halloween party at my girlfriend’s parents house tomorrow and I already have the costume and makeup to go as King Diamond. But if a mask of that photo of Paul was available, I might change my costume idea. I laugh every time I see that photo. Dana, please never post a different one unless, of course, you come across a funnier one.
Going as King Diamond to your girlfriend’s parent’s house…hysterical.
May be some. Day they’ll make a Halloween mask a some horror movie will use it for their horror movie like John Carpenter used the William Shatner mask for Micheal Myers
just a question for Eddie or Dana or anyone else who wants to answer, why are people still going to see kiss ? paul ‘s voice is gone now and both he and gene just kind of sway a little and move their legs up and down….
Well, they are in their 60’s and can still bring it. I saw them in Charlotte, NC, with Motley Crue in an outside venue in The summer when it was 100 degrees. Paul and Gene gave us everything they had and it was awesome. The played through the heat with energy and showmanship. True professionals. I hope when you are in your 60’s you can do every physical thing you could do in your 20’s.
As much as I am disgusted by Tommy and Eric impersonating Ace and Peter and do not support the current version of Kiss, I do have to give Paul and Gene a lot of credit for some of the things they do. Paul, at the age of 62, is still jumping around, flying over the heads of audiences members, smashing guitars, giving inspirational speeches and in amazing physical shape! Gene, at 65, is still breathing fire, splitting blood, flying in the air, singing great and challenging us to be strong, hard working, independent people. These guys are definitely not the typical senior citizens you’d see down at your local community center playing bingo. They are an inspiration!
Absolutely.
bobbyyd: I have a better question, why does Kiss still think they can charge full price for a half assed performance musically/vocally…?
Hey Joe,
great question and i have no good answer , i have a couple of opinions i’ll share though, # 1
their hardcore fan base will always blindly come out to see and defend kiss , even if they were playing in wheelchairs lip syncing rock n roll all night – # 2 just pure greed , # 3 at this point the show is so big with so much great pyro it is a must see event – {the show and make up now with gene and paul not able to fully deliver a kiss show overshadows the music – } i have seen kiss 6 times and i was as big a fan as anyone , but what they have now become is just an awful mess i wouldn’t see them for free-
I gave up after ’09. The final coffin nail was watching CopyCat sing Beth.