PAUL STANLEY: METALLICA And SLAYER Are 'Not My Thing'

Former HADES/current THE CURSED guitarist Dan Lorenzo recently conducted an interview with KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley for Steppin' Out magazine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Lorenzo: Could you and Gene [Simmons] still write songs like the early KISS albums?

Stanley: That's a great question. I think we could write something similar. The thing is, music is more than the notes and the words. Music often becomes the soundtrack to your life. What makes those early songs so meaningful for many people is that they can remember what was going on in their lives when those songs were being played. No matter what I write today, as good as it's going to be, it doesn't have that impact. Arguably, I think "Psycho Circus" as a song is as good as anything I've written, and yet I understand that people would rather hear "Detroit Rock City".

Lorenzo: When was the last time you listened to a KISS CD in your car and which one was it?

Stanley: I have a compilation CD of basically everything. It's fun to listen to. I listen to it kinda like you look at old snapshots.

Lorenzo: What album has the most songs on that compilation?

Stanley: Interesting... umm, probably if you go in terms of songs from one album, probably "Destroyer".

Lorenzo: Were you ever into the heavier bands like METALLICA and SLAYER, or can't you appreciate that kind of music?

Stanley: I can appreciate that other people appreciate it. I don't put METALLICA and SLAYER in the same breath. I think METALLICA has at times really straddled the line of commerciality and what they originally came from whereas a lot of other bands of that genre have stayed pretty narrow in their scope. No, it's not my thing. It's not a value judgment. It's like food is the same as music — whether I like it or not is not the determining factor if it's good or bad.

Read the entire interview at www.so-mag.com.