Allison Stewart of the Chicago Tribute spoke with KISS frontman Paul Stanley. Highlights from the interview appear below.
Q: How are you approaching every night? Are you going out there like, “This is the last time Kiss will ever play Dallas,” or, “This is the last time Kiss will ever play Chicago”?
A: It really feels more like a celebration than a funeral. I guess it’s how you look at it. … We’ve all been in a position where something ends — a relationship, a life — and you have all these regrets about what you didn’t say, and if you’d only known. We’re in this amazing position where we get to do a tour and connect all the dots, and celebrate our relationships. It’s celebratory.
Q: And yet, you brought your 98 year-old dad to the show in L.A. a few weeks ago. Do you ever look at him and think, “I could keep going into my 90s”?
A: I didn’t bring him, he insisted on coming (laughs). … If we were a band in tennis shoes and jeans and t-shirts, yeah, we could do this into our 90s. But we’re not, we’re KISS, and even though we make it look easy, we’re wearing between thirty and forty pounds of gear and running around for two-plus hours, so it’s important for everyone to realize that life is finite, and there is a expiration date for us. It’s better to stop now than to kind of fizzle out. Making a passive decision is still a decision… The band has never been better, we’ve never had more fun. Most bands do a final tour because they hate each other. For us, it’s the complete opposite.
Q: Are you impervious to the trends that are sweeping the country now? Everyone’s more uptight than they were in the ‘70s. Or are you at a level where it doesn’t affect you?
A: I’m of the belief that you leave your politics at the bottom step going up to the stage. I’m here to give people an escape from what they deal with 24 hours a day. If you want bad news, you can go on the internet, you can watch television, but everybody can use a break.
Q: Do you see KISS going on in some form? Doing one-off shows, making albums?
A: I have no idea about the future, honestly.
Q: What would be your preference?
A: There’s no way, whether I want it to or not, that KISS would stop. We live on in one form or another, because we live on through the fans.
Q: When you get to the final, final lap, do you rule out bringing back any former members? Is everything on the table?
A: This isn’t — this was never going to be a reunion tour of any members. This is a celebration of the history of this band and the success of this band. The lineup as it is has been seventeen years. (Guitarist Tommy Thayer) has been with us that long, and (drummer Eric Singer) has been with us 25 years, so the idea of bringing back former members as present members is ridiculous. Certainly, I’ve always been open to the idea of former members being part of an evening in a one-off form, but it has nothing to do with KISS as entity. I celebrate the past, but I don’t want to live in it. When I was watching the Super Bowl, at the end I saw Joe Namath carrying the trophy up to the stand. It was great to see him, but I don’t think anybody wanted him to suit up and get on the field.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune.
Remaining dates on KISS’ End Of The Road tour:
March:
6 Sioux Falls, SD Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
7 Omaha, NE CHI Health Center Omaha
9 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
10 Moline, IL TaxSlayer Center
12 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
13 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
16 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
17 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
19 Montreal, QC, Canada Bell Centre
20 Toronto, ON, Canada Scotiabank Arena
22 Long Island, NY NYCB LIVE’s Nassau Coliseum
23 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
26 Boston, MA TD Garden
27 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
29 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
30 Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena
April:
2 Quebec City, QC, Canada Videotron Centre
3 Ottawa, ON, Canada Canadian Tire Centre
6 Raleigh, NC PNC Arena
7 Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
9 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
11 Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
12 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
13 Birmingham, AL BJCC
August:
6 Sunrise, FL @ BB&T Center
8 Charleston, NC @ North Charleston Coliseum
10 Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
11 Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
13 Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
14 Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
16 Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
17 Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
20 Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
21 Hershey, PA @ HersheyPark Stadium
23 Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
24 Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
27 Syracuse, NY @ St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview
29 Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
31 Indianapolis, IN @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
September:
1 St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
3 Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena
5 Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena
7 Bossier City, LA @ CenturyLink Center
8 San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
9 Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
11 Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
12 Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
14 Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
16 Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
30 Responses
I wonder if he said “ bringing back past members is ridiculous “with a straight face ? What’s ridiculous is lip syncing their way through this tour – it’s completely obvious and it’s a sham – He screams a few lines in his live mic at the beginning of a song or 2 to help perpetuate the fraud and the rest is all milli- vanill – I haven’t heard anything from Ace or pete on the subject – but I”m pretty sure Ace or pete would not be part of scamming the fans by lip syncing – I would love to hear their opinions maybe Eddie can interview them sometime soon??? Also where is the backbone in these media people??? Ask a relevant question! don’t lob softball questions over the middle of the plate ??? Stanley might as well interview himself –
just i was saying from the start,kiss has no intention to bring anyone back even for a song or two.paul was spreading that nonsense to get the pre sale of tickets sold,and poof he was correct.they are selling out places all over,but that was because most if not all of the tickets were sold before the actual tour started,now that everyone can plainly see,that no one (past members) are showing up,and that fact that paul is lip syncing some of the show,lets see how the 2nd leg sales go,if there is even going to be a 2nd leg.i wish i could live in pauls wonderland for a day,does he listen to himself ever?.the band looks just like what they are .a bunch of old guys in makeup.that used to be a really great band,20 years ago,now they look and act and sound old and tired.such a shame.the were once my absolute favorite band,who i would defend ,even get into fights over,is now this joke .
I want to be fair minded about kiss and pauls statement above :
Kiss is now a theatrical event not a rock n roll band anymore , what they are doing is just another way to sell their brand , we live in a capitalist society , with free and open markets , and they are free to make money any way they like within legal limits – what is wrong to me and always will be is kiss selling tickets/meet & greets at ridiculous and inflated prices – and misleading the fans into thinking maybe ….Ace & Pete will play a couple of shows , and of course misleading the fans about the lip syncing instead of live / real vocals- why not tell the fans what’s going on – and give fans an honest choice about what they are getting for their hard earned money ?????
Ki$$ claim that the fans are their “bosses”, yet they charge their “bosses” thousands of dollars for Meet & Greets and they attempt to fool their “bosses” with lip synched vocals. Today’s KI$$ is pathetic.
He sounded quite different when they went out some months ago to do TV appearances to SELL the show to people. Back then he formulated it the way that could easily have been interpreted as not being ridiculous at all … that was at a point when they wanted to make sure that the venues would sell out, and obviously it turned out that way, people were easily tricked … as always with Kiss, and especially with this lip-syncing fake of a frontman that he is today: it is all words, all selling, alle egos, all money-grabbing, all bashing past members when it seems to help them (now), or using and being polite to them (Vault) when it suits theor business plans (like in 1996 when Kiss would have faded away soon had there not been past members brought back) or whatever -.. if I were Ace I would not go and do a single song with them, not for a million bucks per evening. Ace and Peter at least should show some intergrity and let that circus ridicule itself and watch the clips on YT and laugh at Big Mouth Paul who can’t even sing ONE full show anymore. let hi make a fool of himself, he derserves it, he might blame himself for it (when of course he will blame everyone else but him). And everyone out there knows it (unless you are in denial for whatever personal reason) and is able to watch it and find out themselves. The saddest thing is, I come to believe that Paul is actually believing it himself, it often eventually comes to a point where the liars start believing their own lies and cross that fine line between being realistic still (behind closed doors) and being completely delusional. So let them do their tour. Everyone who actually thought that Paul would have allowed Ace or peter to return did not comprehend and did not take his bashing seriously – but it was. Paul will never accept that Ace is by far the most liked member of Kiss and always will be. plus, the most influential musician. Plus the most fun person to watch. All this bashing just to cover that up, sad.
Well, right now Nikki Sixx and Motley Crue are getting more attention than anybody, even KISS! Gene & Paul must be pissed!