KISS Frontman PAUL STANLEY Recalls Ditching Makeup, Talks Frankly About GENE SIMMONS

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Paul Stanley has admitted that KISS shedding its makeup in the early 1980s was liberating for him. Stanley, who's prepping his second memoir, is currently out on the road with KISS and performs on Saturday (May 20) in the Czech Republic. He chatted with Classic Rock magazine and revealed that KISS wiping off the grease paint helped him grow as a performer, recalling: "The years that we were without the makeup [1983 to 1996] were fine for me. I found them very satisfying because I got a chance to be out there without makeup, which I craved at that point. I think it was easier for me because my persona wasn't really defined by the makeup — it was embellished. To me, the makeup was just reinforcing what you were seeing and who I was. But the day we put the makeup back on before the reunion tour was magical. To look in the mirror and see that face again was empowering."

On his long-lasting — and sometimes rocky — relationship with KISS co-founder Gene Simmons, Stanley explained: "Gene's my brother. He lives right down the street. And we like each other so much that we stay out of each other's way. As sickening as it might sound, we're not beyond sending each other texts of appreciation. We both have the lives that perhaps we didn't intend to in the beginning, but we both made it possible for us to reach the lives that made us happy. If you would have told him thirty, forty years ago where he'd wind up, he couldn't comprehend it. But you have to keep moving forward. And you may find your destination is not where you intended."

Although Paul Stanley has been vocal about his issues with co-founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, in his recent memoir, "Face The Music: A Life Exposed", he talks frankly about the problems in keeping a partnership going with Gene Simmons over the decades. He admitted to The Pulse Of Radio that it's taken a lot of work to keep the pair moving forward and on the same page. "Oh, sure," he said. "That over the years that's been an ongoing theme in our relationship. But time is the ultimate judge, and the fact that we've been together, at this point for, forty — my gosh — almost forty-four years says volumes. There have been times where I've been very angry and resentful — and I'm not saying momentarily, I'm saying for long periods of time. But, in time, everything falls in place and you get a better perspective — hopefully. If you don't expect from someone what's not possible, then you won't be disappointed."