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From: Baltimore Sun Having spent more than three decades as the starry-eyed frontman for the rock group KISS, PAUL STANLEY is among the most recognizable figures in pop culture. These days, however, Stanley, 54, is hitting the road sans his signature face paint and seven-inch platform boots for a 17-city club tour in support of his just-released solo album, Live To Win. Stanley, who plays at Rams Head Live tonight, spoke with The Sun last week from his home in Los Angeles to discuss his new project as well as several Kiss-related topics. Live To Win is your second solo album, but your first since 1978. Why did you choose to do another one at this time? I've always seen myself as the caretaker for the band in the sense that, if everybody was running off doing side projects throughout the years, then we might all come back to an empty dock where there was once the Good Ship KISS. There were times when somebody needed to be bailing water, and I volunteered. It has reached a point where the band has achieved kind of an iconic status, and it's pretty solid. And there comes a time when you just have to say, "It's my turn." Were there things musically that you wanted to do on this album that wouldn't have fit into the KISS sound? I really never thought of it like that. When I write for a KISS album, I write for the strengths and weaknesses of the band and the musicians. When I do a solo album, I write the songs and then bring in the musicians that are best suited to play the songs. I think there are certain things that perhaps wouldn't be appropriate for KISS. But I don't think this album is that much of a stretch in terms of songs as much as it is maybe sonically. The sound of it certainly is much bigger and broader than something that KISS would do. Will KISS tour and record again? Kiss will tour. Even if I wanted to destroy KISS, I couldn't. It has a life of its own. We're very fortunate that people still want to see us. Will we record? That's a question that I'm not really sure about, mainly because KISS songs at this point are much bigger than music. They're snapshots of a time in a person's life. No matter what I write today for KISS, no matter how good it is, people will hear it and go, "That's really great. Now play 'Detroit Rock City.'" And I understand it. ... I don't know that I really want to put so much effort into something to know that it probably will fall short in terms of acceptance. Last August, a couple hundred KISS fans protested outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland because the band has yet to be inducted. What are your thoughts on the snub? Honestly, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke, and it always has been. I think they should be ashamed and embarrassed by some of the people that they've inducted. It's a popularity contest for a small group of judges or whatever they want to call themselves. They induct bands that they like that have sold less albums in their careers than I've sold in a week, and that have influenced a handful compared to what KISS has done. KISS is a virus that has infected music from rock to country and back. So if they choose not to induct us, I'm not sure it's a club I want to be a member of. What is the significance of your album title, Live To Win? "Live To Win" is a motto or a mantra that I have lived by. I think you owe it to yourself to set goals and things that you want to attain and not allow anyone to get in the way. In that way, you always win, even if you don't succeed. You can fail and still win as long as you fail on your own terms. That's what I've lived by and it's gotten me to where I am. I don't allow people to derail my dreams. Are you planning to record more solo albums? The next one will not be in 28 years. If this one is Live to Win, that one would be Hope to Live. I had a great time doing this album. As I said, I've already won. How well the album does is immaterial to me. I made the album I wanted to make. And I will make another. Certainly, the luxury of knowing that no matter what happens, it really doesn't change my life any, takes a lot of pressure off it. The band that you are playing with on your solo tour is the house band from the television show Rock Star. How did that come about? That show has been called Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Supernova, but for my money it should be called Rock Star: House Band, because arguably the reason to watch that show is the house band. From the first time I saw them about a year and a half ago, I was real clear that when I hit the road, those were the guys I wanted to be with. Between the six of us, it's pretty heavy stuff. The rehearsals have been phenomenal. It's great to see a bunch of guys sweating their butts off, smiling while we're doing it. Kiss is used to playing large arenas and stadiums. Is it a difficult transition for you to play clubs? It's not an adjustment. It just means the intensity gets captured in a smaller environment. If anything, it should be more powerful. When I see how fast the tickets have gone, it only makes me raise the bar that much more. I don't think it's that I have a lot to prove, but I have a lot to thank people for. And I want to make sure that they walk out of there with something they're going to remember for a long time. I'm pretty confident that this "thank you" is going to be big and loud. What can you reveal about the set list? It celebrates my songs, whether it's the first solo album, or Live To Win or all the songs I've written for KISS. It would be crazy to be out there and not be playing "Love Gun" and a whole lot of great tunes that I've written for KISS, but there's also other songs that either KISS has never played live or that kind of got lost in the shuffle. So in a sense, I look at them all as my unruly kids and I'm bringing them all. You had two hip surgeries in 2004, including a hip replacement. How are you doing physically? I'm fine, other than setting off metal detectors worldwide. I have to say that when KISS did our last shows [this past July], it really struck me how much more I could move than I had on previous tours. I was in tremendous pain during the last three or four tours. Toward the end I could barely get up to the stage from the stairs. But when you hit the stage and people have paid for tickets, they don't need a disclaimer at the front of the show. If you can't do what people paid to see than you shouldn't be there. So you bite the bullet. But everything's fine. Is it perfect? No. But believe me, I was working on far less. You played the lead in Phantom of the Opera during part of the show's run in Toronto in 1999. Do you plan on doing more theater in the future? Time is precious, and you can only be in one place at one time. I tend to choose very carefully where I am, because it also means where I'm not. I'd love to do more theater. I'd love to go back and do Phantom on Broadway. It's just a matter of time and everybody being in agreement. I came in at the end of a 10-year run of Phantom [in Toronto]. Firstly, I had to go audition in New York, because they don't need to take a billion-dollar musical and have Bozo ruin it. They asked me to come and audition, and you have to be signed off on in New York no matter where you do it. So I went up to Toronto and we had million dollar box office weeks and I did eight shows a week to standing ovations. So, would I like to do Broadway? Absolutely. Quite honestly, the show continues to do very well, and they have told me very much so that when the time is right, there will be a phone call. How would you describe your relationship with KISS co-founder GENE SIMMONS? From the fans' standpoint, there seems to be two schools of thought. One is that you two are as close as brothers, and the other is that your relationship at this point is strictly business. I think that when you saw Beatles movies or even The Monkees, I think that was kind of a parody or satire, the idea that they were all in this house together. It may be fun for people to imagine that you spend all your time with your bandmates, but I think it's insane. I think that the best relationships last the longest because you don't expect anything of the relationship that it doesn't have to offer. Gene and I are like family. Regardless of how much time we spend together, we have a mutual respect, although I would not say that I'm a big fan of a lot of [projects] that he does on his own. That's really his choice. It's unfortunate when some of it can impact the band, but he's certainly earned the right to do what he feels he wants to. Have you watched his reality show? Would you ever consider doing one? No, I haven't watched it, and I wouldn't do one if I had a gun to my head. You have a choice of two things: You can have reality or television, but you can't have them both. I've always been somebody who's kept my private life private. Whether it's an imagined private life or a real private life, I'm not interested in sharing it. Do you think all the different types of merchandise that KISS puts out has hurt the band's credibility with critics? I think that credibility is an issue that other people deal with. Credibility is your idea of what someone should or shouldn't be doing. My issue isn't with the merchandising, because you would be insane to put something out that people don't want. The fact that other bands are not as interesting or people don't want merchandise with their name on it, I can understand. But don't kid yourself for a minute. If they actually could, they probably would. So the merchandising for me isn't the issue. I sometimes think that the way it's rubbed in people faces isn't very flattering, but that doesn't always come from critics, that comes from within the band. Is it possible that KISS could continue with new members after you and the current members call it quits? Could KISS become an act like the Blue Man Group, in the sense that there really isn't just one Blue Man Group, but there are several and they appear all over the world simultaneously? That's very funny, because I saw Blue Man Group when they used to play the Astor Place Theatre in New York. Then, all of a sudden, Blue Man Group was in Chicago, but they were still in New York. It was like, "Wait a minute, what's going on here?" Is it possible that KISS could continue? I would like to believe it can and would want it to. I think KISS have become iconic figures that transcend the people behind them. I think you could show a photo of KISS to anyone around the world and they could tell you it's KISS, but I don't know that they could tell you all the names of the members. I think that KISS is a point of view and a philosophy for delivering a spectacle that puts the audience first. I would hate to see that end. |
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