KISS musician Paul Stanley says rock stars shouldn’t look ‘like your neighbor’.
The rocker and his bandmates have built their career on their huge personalities, shocking make-up and elaborate stage shows, and Paul thinks bands who dress in regular clothes and don’t make an effort ‘doesn’t deserve your money’.
The singer-and-guitarist exclusively told BANG Showbiz: ‘The notion of a rock star looking like your neighbour doesn’t deserve your money. Whether its music or movies, people want something larger than life. Why aren’t there more around now? Maybe because it’s not that easy, it’s a craft.’
Despite there being a huge emphasis from the band – which also includes Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer – on their image, Paul is adamant their music is always his number one priority.
He said: ‘Ultimately it’s got to be about the music, all my heroes when I was small were preaching rock ‘n’ roll. It was like church, and I’m glad to be up there with a spectacle, but when I saw Humble Pie, Derek and The Dominoes, Led Zeppelin, they were all about the songs.
‘We may have taken it over the top and turned it into something else, but at the heart and soul of it, we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band and we understand the concept of writing a song, not an exercise in j***ing off.
‘A song should be, by the second chorus, familiar enough that you can sing along.’
Paul was speaking at a preview of the new KISS Monster Book, a huge three foot by two foot tome which features full colour photos from the band’s 40 year history, and is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. For more information, visit KissMonsterBook.com
Kiss also release new single ‘Hell or Hallelujah’ this week and play the Forum, in London, on Wednesday (04.07.12) to raise funds for Help For Heroes.