KISS’ PAUL STANLEY ON HIS SINGING VOICE, “IF YOU WANT TO HEAR ME SOUND LIKE I DID ON “KISS ALIVE!,” THEN PUT ON “KISS ALIVE!”
Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone reports:
Paul Stanley joined the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast to talk in depth about Kiss’ just-announced End of the Road world tour (which they’ve said will mark the end of their touring career) and much more. Highlights from the interview appear below.
On the End of the Road really being their farewell tour, as opposed to their 2000 tour being dubbed a “farewell tour.”:
“Let’s put it into perspective and try to at least get a sense of what’s different. The farewell tour took place 19 years ago. The farewell tour was at the end of the time that we had brought back the two original members [guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss] and it was such drudgery and so difficult and so unhappy that it just seemed like ‘let’s put the horse down.’ And after the tour was over, it didn’t take me very long to realize I didn’t want to say goodbye to the band; I wanted to say goodbye to two members. So that was the differences. We’ve had 19 years of the band. The band has never been better, happier… But with all that in mind, it’s time to think about an end.”
Discussing the possibility of guest appearances by former members:
“I really can’t say. This will be a celebration of KISS and not any individual lineup or any individual members. I wouldn’t rule anything out but it’s not the crux of what we’re doing… and I’m not being coy either. I don’t want to mislead anybody, really that’s not something that’s been given a lot of thought at this point, the majority of our time has gone into what is the stage going to be, what is the show going to be, and we’re actually in the midst of toying with setlists now.”
Stanley responded to the odd swipe Simmons took at him, regarding his singing voice, onstage in Australia:
“Look, Gene and I have been together, I think, 47 years or something around that. He’s out having a great time. He’s doing these – most of them are free concerts, and when he charges tickets they don’t sell a lot of tickets –and I’m sure he’s trying to keep it light for the couple hundred people or whatever, and that’s great. I was just with Gene, obviously, day before yesterday and we have a bond that is enviable…You do come to terms over time with your own mortality, and every singer that I know, probably the first thing we all say to each other is, you know, ‘is this becoming tougher for you?’.. I’ve been doing a lot recently to make sure that my voice is in great form. [But] if you want to hear me sound like I did on KISS Alive!, then put on KISS Alive! “
To listen to the entire podcast with Paul Stanley, please click here.
source: rollingstone.com
I love how he continues to bash former members. He has said Peter can’t play drums anymore. I guess he should rejoin the band and tour and if fans don’t like it simply put on KISS Alive. Is that really the new barometer?
What a joke.
You couldn’t play me to listen to him croaking through the set. Change the setlist? You mean include “It’s not that easy being green”
I hope they keep the same members, same setlist and play to secondary markets. Not a prayer of them selling out arenas without including Ace or a co-headliner.
I hope they do NOT. I saw that horrible performance by Peter on the Kiss/Aerosmith tour and it was embarassing. The tear-drop. Please. Kiss is bigger than any one member, and if Peter can’t respect the institution that is Kiss, then he doesn’t belong there. I’ll take Ace, but I have absolutely ZERO interest in seeing Peter on stage again.
Me me me me me me, I, I, I, I…Paul, we know you read these, regardless of what you think of Eddie Trunk. That being said, it’s robbery that you have been charging full price for people to hear you suck. I don’t feel sorry for you at all, as you should have left “the party” when it was high time to do so. Instead, you dragged the Kiss name through the mud. I have been a fan since 1976, 7 years old. It’s embarrassing. Very much so. The Kiss Army took a hell of a lot of shit from everyone around us, but we defended Kiss because we loved you guys, it was like family to us. Now and for the past 10 or 11 years you have been slowly declining in your singing ability, but you are and have been more concerned with acting like Dorian Gray and giving absolute credence to all the bastards that gave us shit for defending you. Now, when someone says “Kiss sucks”, I say yep, they do. Thanks to downtuned songs that make Shout It Out Loud sound like Black Sabbath and Paul Stanley talking his way through the set. Cha-Ching, Stanley. Hope your satrisfied, because fuck all if I am going to bother to see Kiss anymore. Bring in Ace and Peter and I will be there for those legends. So pissed.
HAHA. I can’t fathom how you can say “Paul sucks” and in the same breath yearn for the abysmal latter day performances of Peter Criss. Ace I’ll give you, but Paul – even in compromised form – is still ten levels above what Peter was at the end. To whit, when I saw Peter, I was convinced that there was a second drummer behind the stage, because he was so out of it that it didn’t even look like he was playing. I have never once ever felt that way about Paul Stanley, and look forward to seeing him one last time (in makeup).
dana,
Thanks for posting this rolling stone interview!
Paul Stanley is the absolute epitome of pomposity – and he’s also a dick
That what I’ve been doing since the last reunion tour
Listening to Alive 1&2. Gratented not all singers can sing like they used to I get the remark and in a way it’s true
But the comments about Farewell tor just get rid of ace and Peter and the comment about a bond with Gene that’s enviable I don’t envy that bond. To me he comes off as a prancing jerk and if his idea of great show for farewell tour is listen to him Gene and the two pretenders then I rather sit at home and listen to their music of their hay day and save my money.
Say goodbye to one of the great frontmen of all time. You will never see anyone this good ever again. The 1980s material was basically his solo band and it produced some great songs. He’s carried this torch nearly 50 years. Maybe he is a dick but he’s our dick. The people’s dick. God bless you Paul Stanley. Whenever I get depressed I listen to Shandi and then I get ever more depressed. Nah just kidding.