PAUL STANLEY: 'KISS Is A Reality'

KISS guitarist Paul Stanley has spoken to The West Australian about the group's decision to continue touring without lead guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss (replaced by longtime KISS associate Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, respectively).

"Things do change and if there are some diehard fans who cry foul, then they need to realize that there is no tooth fairy," Stanley said. "There's no Superman. As much as we might like to believe in fantasy and fable, a band is four people and . . . it seems odd that when faced with KISS or no KISS, well, I would think they'd opt for KISS.

"Not to put those people down, because everybody is entitled to their opinion, but if that opinion becomes too vehement, then to me it's not that different to a child who wants vanilla ice-cream and when he gets chocolate decides he's not going to have any ice-cream at all.

"Again, if a member goes home or if a member can't do it or chooses not to or isn't up to it, the game's not over. I'll be damned if anybody tells me how I should treat the band that I started 30 years ago. They can tell me what they prefer but it's sure as hell not gonna stop me if a handful of people don't like it. It's insane.

"The proof of that is that whatever tour we've done, whatever the changes, the truth is it's KISS. Quite honestly, there's been times when the line-up has been different to the original line-up and it's been better. This isn't about perpetuating fantasies, it's about delivering reality. And KISS is a reality.

"On the KISS/AEROSMITH tour — which was a massive success where we literally went down a storm every night and blew the place apart — there wasn't one person who said 'Why is Tommy there?' It just doesn't enter into the realm of things. Once we hit the stage, it's very clear within the first 10 seconds who we are. We're KISS."

Fans will be pleased to know that KISS have re-evaluated the concert set-list and the staging, both of which have been tied down somewhat by the band's own tradition in recent years.

"What makes this [upcoming Australian] tour exciting is the idea of really changing the set around in terms of music," Stanley explained. "Really shaking up the set-list and the stage and being more free with ourselves in terms of what songs we play. At times, we've had a mindset of what we 'have' to play. With our catalogue of songs, at some point you really have to put some of those songs aside because there's a lot of great material. Otherwise it really does become a bit repetitive."