KISS frontman Paul Stanley was recently a guest on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” where he discussed his former bandmates drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley implying that they carried “a lot of resentment” over the fact that some of the other members of the band were more “focused” and “driven” to succeed than they were, which ultimately led them to sabotage their careers.
“It’s very difficult to move forward when two of the people are, at times, like flat tires,” Stanley explained [as transcribed by Blabbermouth]. “It becomes more of a problem when their reason for being is to foil and to throw off track what you’re trying to do. So, at some point, it really became more about trying to disrupt what we were trying to do with no regard to whether or not what they wanted to do was right or wrong; they just wanted, ‘Let’s screw Gene [Simmons] and Paul. So we’ll say no, and they’ll say yes.’ So it really became very, very, very difficult.”
Stanley claimed that he was in favor of splitting the band’s finances evenly in the early years, but that things changed once Ace and Peter started putting less effort into the group, leaving Paul and Gene to take over. This, in turn, caused a rift between the bandmembers, necessitating a change in the group’s lineup.
When asked why he thinks Ace and Peter were seemingly so intent on working against their bandmates, Stanley said, “I think self-sabotaging comes into it, because, I think, that’s been something that’s run through parts of their lives. But I also think that there was a lot of resentment. And, honestly, I don’t believe in resenting people for what they can do that you can’t. if you’re lucky enough to have people around you who can do what you can’t, make them your best friend. Everybody can’t be the best at what they do, but you can benefit from being around those people. So, look, I never wanted or expected anybody in the band to do necessarily the same amount of work that I did, but I expected them to give a hundred percent. I was all for splitting things evenly in the original lineup of the band up until those guys departed the first time, but you have to give your best.”
He continued, “I think [our] focus and drive and determination and seeing the whole picture and wanting this to be as good as it could be, as opposed to falling back on, ‘It’s rock and roll.’ Well, rock and roll is no excuse for mediocrity, and rock and roll is no excuse for not doing your job. If somebody says, ‘Oh, my playing is rock and roll.’ No, that’s just bad. You know, there’s bad and then there’s rock and roll…Look, it’s a long time ago, and it’s kind of like talking about a girlfriend or wife you had a long time ago and trying to disseminate what went wrong. At some point it really doesn’t matter.”
Stanley says that ego clashes and disagreements over songwriting credits contributed to creating an unhealthy environment and he makes no apologies for taking charge of the group.
“I don’t know the mentality that wants to sabotage what ultimately benefits you,” Stanley said. “Look, if you’re in a band that’s doing great and you’re not the primary songwriter and the primary singer, well, you should revel in what you have. You know, the idea of equality… Some have to be more equal than others. Everybody can be in car together, but somebody’s gotta drive. We’re all going in the same direction. But when people reach the point of saying, ‘Well, I want an equal amount of songs.’ Well, do we leave off ‘Strutter’ so we can put your song on, or do we leave off ‘Detroit Rock City’? It doesn’t work like that. I don’t believe that there’s any birthright or that we should expect a quota in anything. We get what we deserve, and somebody has to decide that.”
He continued: “The key to a great band or any great situation is doing what’s best for the situation, not what’s best for you. I don’t have to be right, I just wanna see the right thing happen. So if you’re more tied up in the ego gratification or in the control factor… I honestly don’t mean to control anything, but I do have a point of view, and I guess I’ve earned my place at this juncture. But everybody gets a chance to state their views, and hopefully they are always with the best intentions, and I think that’s the way the band works now. We have a drummer [Eric Singer] who doesn’t like to take a solo, and this guy could play a better solo with one hand than most drummers could play with every limb of their body. So it’s all for one and one for all.”
In other KISS news, The Pulse Of Radio reports that “Love Gun: Deluxe Edition” will be made available on October 27th. The two-disc CD features the original 1977 album, along with a bonus disc featuring assorted demos and live tracks.
Vintage Vinyl describes the release as “the first disc includes a remastered version of the original album while disc two has demos, three live performances from a 1977 Lakeland, Florida concert and an interview with Gene Simmons. A rarity for any expanded edition of an album, the deluxe edition includes a glimpse into Paul Stanley’s creative process on Love Gun (Teaching Demo) with Stanley talking through the various chords of the song.”
Love Gun: Deluxe Edition track list:
Disc 1 (Original Album):
I Stole Your Love
Christine Sixteen
Got Love For Sale
Shock Me
Tomorrow And Tonight
Love Gun
Hooligan
Almost Human
Plaster Caster
Then She Kissed Me
Disc 2 (Demos, Interviews & Live)
Much Too Soon (Demo)
Plaster Caster (Demo)
Reputation (Demo)
Love Gun (Teaching Demo)
Love Gun (Demo)
Gene Simmons Interview (1977)
Tomorrow And Tonight (Demo)
I Know Who You Are (Demo)
Love Gun (Live 1977)
Christine Sixteen (Live 1977)
Shock Me (Live 1977)
148 Responses
I think Doc has had contracts for reunion stuff for years. Eric & Tommy saved the band. You want Kulick or Ace…please. Read what Paul says about Kiss ’14…it is as strong as ’77, Criss can’t get near Singer’s playing. Paul’s voice being shot is laughable. Be glad Kiss ’85 isn’t around.
What Paul and Gene consistently say is whatever they are doing at THAT time is what is the best. Every album is the best one, until the next one. Every lineup is the best, until the next one. Every tour is the best, until the next one. Every stage show is the best, until the next one. Like what you want but there is only objectivity in retrospect with those guys. It is about what they are selling NOW always.
That’s what every band does,it’s called promoting your new product. What band comes out with a new album and says it sucks.
Exactly right 100%!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I dont see how people cant get this through their heads!
Yes, I think what gets on people’s nerves (at least mine) is the growing discrepancy between this increasing bragging and promoting, this self-satisfaction, which in itself might be a common thing in this business, and the apparent and also inevitable decline regarding music, physical condition, attendance records and relevance in the scene. There are other bands of the same age (e.g. the Who) dealing a lot more confidently and relaxed and therefore realistically with the fact that they cannot be 40 anymore or even pretend to be.
If current “KISS” is as strong as 77 why don’t they play Sonic or Monster during the current tours? I will agree Peter is a shadow of his former self but the guy is almost 70 years old. They could easily find younger guys to replace Gene/Paul and they would blow them away. Paul’s voice is shot and Gene barely moves anymore. KISS died for me in 2001 with the Farewell tour and I supported every version of the band up until that point. Heck I loved the 80’s music as Paul and Vinny saved the band. Gene bailed from 78-92. Just look at some of his contributions. I Love It Loud was his only solid contribution. That’s 15 years of trash he put out.
This is just another attempt to make money off an old album because nothing current sells. Redistribute a classic, add a few features, trash Peter/Ace rinse and repeat. Rock and Roll Over will be done in late 2015 / early 2016. Trashing Peter/Ace will give them the publicity they seek to increase the marketing for this product. They do it every single time they release something. Because lets face it Singer/Ghayer suck. They could replace both of them and no one would notice. Hired hands!
paul’s voice is laughable.
Paul’s voice has been awful since 2009. Many times he’s sounded like a boy in puberty with how bad his voice cracks. He has also been out of key way too much if he tries to do more than “talk-sing.” Rock Am Ring 2010, the recent live show on AXS TV, YouTube posts and the yahoo concert in Charlotte are all great examples. At this point, if Paul had any class, every time a media person asked questions about why Ace & Peter are no longer in the band or whatever he should say that the story has been told numerous times by the four of them, believe who you want to believe, not going to repeat myself, next question.
Eddie you nailed it. The New kiss sucks.
“Paul’s Weave,” did you get teased in school with a name like that? I know I sure the f did!
The old saying is, ” The truth lies somewhere in the Middle”. Perception isn’t always the truth but it isn’t a lie either. All the Guys see things a different way. I’m sure Ace and Peters drug abuse did not help the band going forward, but at anytime do you think Paul’s ego would have allowed them equal decision making, he always ran that ship. The Ace and Peter things will never stop, because deep down inside Paul and Gene know that they were to important to the whole and that with them they are much bigger than they are without them and that is a hard pill to swallow.
There are other famous bands that treat each other totally diferently, which I think is a major reason why we are entitled to critisize Kiss, or Paul, for that matter, even though some here might call this bashing or biased. Just look at Priest and KK, that is how it should be. Sometimes I think, even though Kiss was my first love when I discovered rock music, the less musical talent you have the more you have to compensate through bragging, bashing, exaggerating. A friend of mine does interviews for a national guitar magazine, he has interviewed the likes of Geddy Lee or Slash, and what he found was that the more talented the guys were (like Lee) the more decent, relaxed and friendly and even humble these guys are. The musical talent that Kiss does not have compared to other bands of similar status in the scene was compensated by an outstanding and groundbreaking show, something new and exciting, but that was long ago. Today the continuous banter and shooting at former members must account for the shortcomings.
I like how these bozos say Singer & Thayer suck. Singer outplays Criss at any age and Ace was a train wreck on booze. The new U2 album sucks, they had to do a drop for free. Are they gonna say it sucks? Of course not. I’d love to see Paul on Wayne’s World about 6 gigs into Ace’s tour explaining that is why he isn’t in Kiss, look at that garbage seen for free at the Mohegan Sun.
What about the garbage of Paul no longer able to sing properly to be found all over Youtube of the last tour this summer?
You are one of those who do not undertand what Kiss was about, it has never been about virtuosity, like outplaying somebody else of another band, Kiss were easily one of the least musically talented superstar bands in the 70s, but they had other qualities that brought them to fame and fortune. Singer is a great musician, but even if he might be 100 times better than Criss, still Criss did “invent” all the grooves that were 25% of the music and show we came to love.
Lee you are about as sharp as a bowling ball…..ONCE AGAIN what is “Free” to you & I isn’t “Free” for Mohegan Sun …..kudos to Ace. Eric and Tommy for sure don’t suck. Great muscians…not great song writers at all. Paul and Gene are looking for validation with this current lineup with full 1970’s “KISS” persona’s. uhhhh NO, that obviously isn’t happening. nobody is buying that, hell my 13 year old isn’t falling for that. Gene and Paul OBVIOUSLY can’t let go of the past and STILL aren’t over their old girlfriends…why? Because those 2 old girlfriends were the BEST SEX that Gene and Paul ever had. (uh read between the lines Lee). The irony is Gene and Paul talk about “why should we want to go back and date a old girlfriend, we don’t need that relationship, that was the past. We are forgetting about that and moving forward”….well Lee, that is really odd because Gene and Paul (like I said), can’t let those old girlfriends go. They are forever etched smack in their own hearts….lols. Gene and Paul just cant let Ace and Peter go. If someone was interviewing me and asked me about some1 in my past..here is my answer, “next question, that was yesterday”…but no, these 2 BOZO’S past are their own worst enemy….Lesson over Lee
Here is another thing to consider Lee, it is clearly evident that Peter and obviously Ace have moved on. Any mudslinging by them is more than fair considering the BS that Paul and Gene have been doing relentlessly for decades. And reading Paul’s book only justified what I already knew before it came out. The book was a FEEL SORRY FOR ME cry fest.
joe in the cuse is on the loose. oh yeah!
Yep, and they did not let go, they just dressed up two other “girlfriends” in the same ‘makeup’ and ‘gear’ (clothes and instruments – funny how this comparison actually works …). The new “friends” get less pay though which might compensate for the worse experience in bed, sorry , on stage (obvioulsy got carried away with this image) 🙂