KISS Should Continue Without Original Members Says Paul Stanley was a top story on Thursday: KISS frontman Paul Stanley has once again shared his feelings that he would like the band to carry on in the future without any original members (he and Gene Simmons are the remaining founders).
It is not a new idea for the legendary band, at one point rumors surfaced that the group would stage a reality television series similar to American Idol to find the new members of the group.
Stanley made headlines recently by mentioning the idea again and then last week he was asked about it while making an appearance on the Los Angeles rock radio station KLOS. When asked about the idea, he responded, “I think so. I tell you, Eric’s been in the band 20-something years off and on, and Tommy’s been in 15 years. So the people who initially thought, ‘Well, it’s gotta be the original four guys,’ they’re already 50 percent wrong. I think that KISS is a concept, it’s an ideal, it’s a way of performing and giving to an audience, and that goes far beyond me.”
He adeded, “I’m a big fan of mine – I think I’m really good at what I do – but it doesn’t mean there’s not somebody else out there who can bring something to the band. Not a clone, not somebody copying me, but I was influenced by a lot of people, so there’s people out there who are influenced by me.”
Stanley then shared his belief that the band could carry on without himself and Simmons. He said: “I really believe it will, I believe it can, and I believe it should. You know, KISS DNA is in every live show – from rap to rock to you call it what it is. Special effects, a way of entertaining an audience – that’s what we’ve always been about: being the band we never saw. Once audiences started seeing what was possible, they wouldn’t accept less from a lot of other bands. So I believe that nobody does it better than us, and nobody will continue to do it better than us.”