Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock

Kiss co-founder Paul Stanley is using his next bit of downtime from the band to focus on a very different musical project.

On Sept. 11, Stanley presents the live debut of Soul Station, an 11-piece group that’s being billed as his musical “coalition,” at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles. Promising “a gathering of some of today’s leading musicians paying tribute to an era of great soul music,” the show starts ticket sales today at 3PM ET, according to the Roxy’s official site.

Aside from Stanley and Kiss drummer Eric Singer, Soul Station’s lineup is rounded out by guitarist Rafael “Hoffa” Moreira, bassist Sean Hurley, keyboard players Alex Alessandroni and Ely Rise, percussionist Ramon Yslas and backing vocalists Nelson Beato, Crystal Starr and Ayana Layli.

Kiss fans interested in attending the gig should know up front that it’ll present a decidedly different side of Stanley’s musical persona — right down to what you can expect to see him doing onstage. “I don’t play guitar in the band and we don’t do a single Kiss song. That’s not what this is about,” he points out in a press release. “It’s magical to hear those songs played right and we’re making magic.”

To make that magic, Stanley says he’s heading back to the music that inspired him in his youth. “We’re living in a time of being fed canned pre-programmed backing tracks and lip syncing in place of the electricity and passion of real live R&B,” he explains. “When I was a boy, before I ever saw the Who or Led Zeppelin, I saw Solomon Burke and Otis Redding. I saw the Temptations and all that music is part of the foundation of the music I’ve made. Soul Station is my chance to celebrate it for a night that’s real, live and faithfully recreates the sound with the respect it deserves. Whether it’s the Stylistics, the Dramatics, the Temptations, Smokey [Robinson] and the Miracles, Blue Magic and on, these songs, arrangements and sound just blow you away.”