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From: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Is PAUL STANLEY joining the march of middle-aged rockers to reality television? Not exactly. But the longtime singer and guitarist for KISS has enlisted a group of reality-TV regulars for his latest project. Stanley, 54, is on the road with the house band from the CBS series Rock Star , which in two seasons has yet to produce any -- but never mind. That's not the fault of the five guys who backed up the show's aspiring singers. The point is, Stanley was working on a solo album -- his first since 1978 -- and casting around for the right band to help him play the new songs live. "And when I saw these guys a year or more ago on that Rock Star show, I went -- as does everybody else -- 'This band is a killer,'" said Stanley. So he hired them for a tour in support of the just-released Live to Win (New Door/Universal) that comes to Revolution in Fort Lauderdale on Monday. In an interview, Stanley sounded pleased with the decision. "They're amazing," he said. "We sound like a band that's been together a long time, and that's what I wanted. Anybody can hire a bunch of crackerjack individual musicians. It doesn't make a band. A band is made by people playing together." Kiss has been playing together on and off since 1973, albeit with lineup shuffles that often left Stanley and singer-bassist GENE SIMMONS -- who does have a reality show -- as the only founding members still aboard. Stanley has produced a few other bands and made a few guest appearances, but in general has not spent much of his professional life outside of KISS. His last solo album was one of the four that KISS members released simultaneously 28 years ago. "For better or worse I have always seen myself as the caretaker of KISS," he said. "Everybody loves to run off and do side projects and indulge themselves. ... But if everybody is doing that in a band, there may be no band to come back to." Stanley said that over the years KISS has had "pretty serious problems" -- an understatement, given the band's colorful history of firings, re-hirings and fortunes lost and re-made. "Someone had to be there to either plot a course or bail water, and I kind of saw that as my responsibility," said Stanley. "I did it because I wanted to. At this point, though, KISS is something that is very solid and stable in its own insane way, and I thought it was really important for me to indulge, purge -- use whatever word you like." Stanley wrote or co-wrote the 10 songs on Live to Win with help from Andreas Carlsson (Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi), Miami-based Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Ricky Martin) and other writers. Musicians including ex-Kissmate BRUCE KULICK played the recording sessions. After finishing up in the studio Stanley tapped the Rock Star combo for the tour: keyboardist Paul Mirkovich, rhythm guitarist Jim McGorman, lead guitarist Rafael Moreira, drummer Nate Morton and bassist Sasha Krivstov. The principal songwriter for KISS, Stanley said he did not find it strange or disorienting to work with people who aren't in KISS. But some adjustments were made. In KISS, he said, "You're tailoring your songs to the strengths of the musicians." For Live to Win , he said he "tailored the musicians to the song ... so it's much more liberating and freeing in terms of the scope of what you can do." That said, the finished album is "not a huge departure" from KISS's hooky style of hard rock, according to Stanley, who also called Live to Win "a one-man KISS album" with more gloss and arranging. "The sonics and instrumentation are broader," he said. "It's kind of like I wanted to go from your local movie theater to IMAX." Song titles such as Bulletproof and Wake Up Screaming might look combative on paper, but Stanley described Live to Win as "a very affirmative, happy album." "I have nothing to be angry about," he said. "If someone in my position is angry they need to have their head examined." He said his new touring bandmates aren't cowed by working with a rich and famous old pro. "I guess I've had some impact on all of them throughout the years but ... there's a joy that comes in playing together, and we're having such a great time that a lot of that was left at dinner the first time we got together," Stanley said. "I'm not interested in intimidating anybody or making anybody look up to me. I think most people realize I'm much happier fitting in." |
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