KISS' PAUL STANLEY: 'We Couldn't Have Made This Album Without ERIC And TOMMY'

August 18, 2009

KISS' first new studio album in over a decade, called "Sonic Boom", will be released on October 6 exclusively at Wal-Mart properties. The collection, which costs only $12, will also feature the band's re-recordings of their greatest hits which was previously available as a Japanese import, and a 2009 concert featuring current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer filmed in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The cover for "Sonic Boom" is by veteran artist Michael Doret, who created the cover for the band's 1976 album "Rock And Roll Over".

"We tried to do a KISS album, and it was an ill-fated attempt because there was no real band," guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley tells RollingStone.com. "For a band to make a great album, it has to share a common purpose, and we didn't have it."

He continued, "Things happen when they're ready. We couldn't have made this album without Eric and Tommy. I've known Eric now for 20 years. He's been in and out of the band, and the best times are when he's in."

Bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons has raised expectation on the album — which was produced by Paul Stanley — by saying in online postings, calling "Sonic Boom" "the best new record we've done since 'Destroyer'. It is 'Rock And Roll Over' meets 'Love Gun'... If you're a fan of our stuff from about 1977, you'll feel right at home."

"The great thing about these tunes is that we can reproduce them live. Just four guys," Simmons tells RollingStone.com. "We don't have to prove anything to anybody. All the nay-sayers who didn't understand it, we walk on their graves in our 8-inch platform heels. If you want to say rebirth or born again, you're goddamn right. There's a sense of pride here. When you get up onstage with these guys, you look over and you go, 'Wow, I'm in KISS.'"

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