KISS' PAUL STANLEY: 'I Will Stop When I Decide To Stop'

July 2, 2004

KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley recently spoke to the Macon Telegraph about the absence from the group's current touring lineup of original lead guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss.

"I haven't spoken to Ace in probably a year and a half, maybe two years," Stanley said, "so I really don't know what's going on. And, you know, we created so much together and accomplished so much together, I can't say too much negative about him. I just want to focus on the great things we did together."

Criss' situation, Stanley said, is different.

"There were some issues [with Peter] on the last tour," Stanley said, "but I'd rather not get into them."

Told that The Orange County Register's review of a December 2003 show labeled Criss' playing that night as "average," Stanley responded, "Well ..." and after a moment's silence, "at the end of the day, the most important people in this whole life experience are the fans. We owe them the best KISS we can be. That's why Eric [Singer]'s back in the band."

Asked if it is really KISS that is touring nowadays, Stanley replied, "Is it really THE Yankees out on the field these days? The team and what the team believes in is way bigger than anybody that is on the team.

"Look at it this way: If you want vanilla ice cream and instead you're given chocolate, isn't that better than having no ice cream at all? The audience will choose if they don't want Kiss anymore, but they're telling us, resoundingly, that they still do."
Stanley, 54, said he is not sure how much longer there will be a KISS, and how much longer he will be part of it.

"I'll stop when I decide to stop," he said. "The audience, sure, that's part of the equation, but the only person who will decide when it's time to hang it up is me. Not the crowd, not the crowd size — me.

"Hey, if there are only 5,000 people there to see me play, that's still 4,999 more than most people will ever play to. Some people see the glass as half empty, some see it as half full. My glass is overflowing." Read more.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).