Stanley Simmons, the collaborative project of Evan Stanley and Nick Simmons — sons of Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, respectively, from KISS— has released its debut single, Body Down. The official lyric video for the track can be seen below.
Regarding the collaboration’s musical direction, Stanley told KTLA‘s Andy Riesmeyer, “We grew up loving a lot of roots stuff, Americana folk, so you hear a lot of that in there. It really has nothing to do with what our dads do. I think the interesting thing is we do actually have a lot of the same influences.”
Simmons added, “We were excited. I never get to do just stripped down, rootsy Americana music. And so it was, like, ‘Let’s do it. ‘Cause it would be fun.’ And then people were, like, ‘No, you should do this.'”
He also acknowledged that Stanley Simmons will likely encounter some pushback from fans, particularly criticism suggesting nepotism.
“I am like every other consumer out there — I’m a little sick of the family members of people trying to insert themselves into our eyeballs,” he explained. “But it doesn’t really matter if one of them is actually good.”
15 Responses
….it sounds like an outtake…I wanted to like it: they don’t use auto tune…but it’s not even close to a good song
I have no problem with the song being reminiscent of CSN. It’s still stands on its own as a real good song with great vocals. It’s a solid debut. I especially respect the fact that they didn’t take the easy route and mimic the sound of their fathers’ band and just co-opt their fans. And if they decide that this album isn’t a one-off and pursue it further, there is a big modern-rock and festival audience for this.
Trash, I pass.
Certainly beats working a 9 to 5.
What I find interesting is that Paul, Gene, Peter and Ace all struggled to make it.
Now you see Evan on social media pandering to the audience with his Patreon account.
Think Gene and Paul would give their sons some seed money. Sign of the times.