PAUL STANLEY: Most Of GENE SIMMONS' Outside Projects Never Amount To Anything

KISS' official web site has posted the entire, uncut interview with Paul Stanley that ran in the first issue of the official KISS quarterly magazine. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Kiss Magazine: I understand you are currently working on a solo album. Can you tell me anything about it?

Paul Stanley: "Anyone who has heard any of it thinks it's great. But then again, there's no shortage of people to tell you how great you are. You have to be discerning enough to realize that a compliment is only as good as who it came from. I think it's great, there's great singing on it, the songs are really good. There's no reason for me, at this point, to do a one-man KISS album. That would be the easiest thing for me to do. The reason my first solo album was critiqued as sounding so much like KISS is pretty clear: for me to go into the studio with that type of line-up in mind or point of view will undoubtedly sound exactly like KISS. Some of the KISS songs on the albums are virtual copies of my demos. On the box set, you can hear 'Love Gun', which is identical. What I wanted to do on my solo album was really concentrate on great writing and singing, without second guessing what would be a little bit far reaching or pushing the boundaries for KISS. But, that being said, everything is powerful and passionate and strong. There is nothing wimpy at all. I've had a couple of friends hear a track or two, and their first comments have been 'I haven't heard you sing like that.' It's a challenge to me to do something that I love, as opposed to second guessing what will get some controversial press or push people's buttons. That is, to me, a game that I just don't want to play. The album is really about me pleasing myself one hundred percent; anything else is really a bonus."

Kiss Magazine: Will you be playing e-bow on this one?

Paul Stanley: "[laughs] I think they're still made. There's great playing on the album: there's strings, everything is big and powerful, it's almost epic. The songs have almost a cinematic quality. I'm not limiting myself in any sense as to what can be on it, and what can help to make it what I think it should be."

Kiss Magazine: Musically, do you approach a solo album differently than a KISS album?

Paul Stanley: "Totally, because I'm not writing for a specific group of players. The players will be found for the song, rather than the song written for the players. So there are no limitations, because there is a complete freedom in who winds up playing the song."

Kiss Magazine: What are your thoughts on file sharing?

Paul Stanley: "When somebody has the balls to steal your music and say that they're sharing a file, that's like me going over to your house and taking your car and saying we're sharing transportation. It's so bizarre to me that people can hide behind technology and terminology to cover up a horrific loss of ethics. Stealing is stealing; you can't share something that you don't own. Does anyone have the right to decide when I have enough money? It goes back to something that I learned early on: the person who is the most for sharing is the one who has the least."

Kiss Magazine: What's your opinion of all of Gene's outside projects and the way he approaches them?

Paul Stanley: "Gene has the right to do whatever he chooses. Sometimes he likes to compare me or KISS to a jealous girlfriend; it's probably to give the impression that he's doing something that he's envied for. Most of Gene's outside projects never amount to anything, so there's not a whole lot to be jealous of. I don't think there's anything wrong with striking out when you get up to bat, I just don't understand pointing to the bleachers every time before you do. It makes me uncomfortable. For me it's like seeing a family member do something that you find embarrassing for both of you. The truth is strictly in terms of 'cash in pocket,' the most financially successful and lucrative outside project was me doing 'Phantom', period. The biggest 'cash in pocket' financial success this past twelve months is my Silvertone musical instrument line. But at the end of the day, so what. It doesn't have any impact on who I am as a person, so why announce it? My only concern is that within KISS, Gene does quality work and that he doesn't dilute or pollute it with outside interests. We're obviously very different people, and there is more than one way to accomplish the same thing. Some people want to grandstand and talk about their accomplishments, and others just do what needs to be done. As far as dreaming big, this magazine and everything that's come since 1996 is really the result of a big dream of mine that nobody — and I mean nobody — close to me believed in. That idea was the Reunion Tour. Everybody has dreams and everybody has accomplishments. I'm not a fan of anyone taking pot shots at people and then following up by saying that they love that person. The intent is still clear. It's designed to make yourself appear bigger by making someone else look smaller."

Kiss Magazine: Do you think that Gene is approaching the outside projects any differently than he was in the Eighties?

Paul Stanley: "Of course KISS is a stepping-stone that gives you entrée into things you never would otherwise. If that weren't the case, this magazine might be called Student School Teacher Weekly or Taxi Driver Monthly, but it's not. So KISS certainly gives you entrée to places where there wouldn't be opportunities otherwise. Is Gene doing things any differently than he did in the Eighties? I think the philosophy remains the same. I believe that Gene's approach is based on the concept that perception becomes reality. In other words, if you tell people what you want them to believe is true and they do, it becomes true. I don't necessarily subscribe to that. I guess in short, Gene is a self-promoter, and there's nothing wrong with self-promotion, as long as it's not at the expense of others."

Read the entire interview at this location.