Kiss News

By Jim Clash / Forbes

In Part 1 of our interview series with Kiss frontman Paul Stanley, we discussed his paintings, his thoughts on bandmate Gene Simmons, drugs and the band’s extensive use of makeup. Here we address Kiss’ final tour, Stanley’s biggest fear, advice he might give to his younger self and his being bullied in school. Following are edited excerpts from a longer phone conversation.

Jim Clash: You’ve sold hundreds of millions of records. You must be quite wealthy. Why keep working into your seventies?

Paul Stanley: I love what I do. I think that ultimately when you’re in a position to not do something is when you find out how much it means to you. You also find out when you’re losing it. When your career is in trouble, how much are you willing to fight to regain it? Once you’re financially set, at least in my case, the idea of sitting back and watching television or sitting at the top of a mountain is nowhere near as appealing as playing stadiums around the world. I loved it.

Clash: When you all perform with the heavy costumes and makeup - what is it, like 30 or 40 pounds - over time, that takes a toll on your body, correct?

Stanley: Yes. We reached a point where we realized that life and time are finite. When you play beat-the-clock, the clock wins, always. There are no 70-plus-year-old basketball players or football players. In essence, we are athletes with guitars. To do what we do at the level we do it means it’s just a matter of time before we can’t, or that people coming to see us will say, “You should have seen them when they were good.”

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the interview.

By Jim Clash / Forbes

Kiss frontman Paul Stanley is a lot more than just a singer. He’s acted (played lead in a Canadian production of “Phantom Of The Opera”), written and co-written several Kiss hits including “Rock And Roll All Night” and “Black Diamond,” and yes, paints. On February 23, his first art show of 2024 opens at the Wentworth Gallery, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. The following day, he will also present his work at the Wentworth Gallery, Boca Raton Town Center Mall.

With the completion of Kiss’ final tour (at least that’s what they say), we thought it would be an appropriate time to chat with Stanley about his illustrious career. The 2014 Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer turns 72 later this week. Following are edited excerpts from a longer phone conversation.

Jim Clash: As research for this story, I watched you on Dan Rather’s, “The Big Interview.” You came across as thoughtful, polite, almost shy - a surprise to me. Onstage with Kiss, you’re raucous and boisterous, the polar opposite.

Paul Stanley: I hope people take into account that when you’re trying to connect with 20,000, 50,000 or 100,000 people, you have to be 20,000, 50,000 or 100,000 times as boisterous. I would hope that nobody would think that’s who I am offstage. All of us, to some degree, bring out different sides of ourselves in the appropriate situations.

Clash: Is the extraordinary makeup part of that?

Stanley: We were tied to a direct reflection and admiration for what was going in England, the glam scene, and how it pushed the limits. That was key for us. Also, we wanted to be the band you never saw, to put it in the most simple terms - the band we hoped to see. The makeup would magnify parts of our personalities and take us to a larger-than-life persona. We wanted to illicit the kind of mystique and power of superman, rather than Clark Kent.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the interview.

On this day in KISSTORY - January 15, 1982 - We rocked the ABC show 'Fridays' to promote the 'Music From The Elder' album.

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Rockin' the cover of the new issue of Aardschok magazine in The Netherlands.

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