Published by Cindy Watts
The members of KISS have been donning their trademark black-and-white make-up since the 1970s, traveling the world singing catchy songs, romancing groupies, spitting blood and exploding things on stage.
Fans that got a kick out of the last three decades will likely be giddy over 2009.
Not only did KISS get nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in September, but the band released Sonic Boom - KISS' first album of new material in about 11 years - and embarked on Alive 35, a tour singer Paul Stanley says dwarfs everything they've done previously. And for the first time in their careers, the band's efforts are earning critical plaudits, too.
"Quite honestly I find myself shaking my head," Stanley says. "I've made a career out of not getting those reviews, and all of a sudden we are universally and consistently getting rave reviews. We've always had this massive fan following, and that has certainly been the lifeblood of what we do. Maybe the reason we're getting good reviews now is because all the KISS fans have now become critics."
KISS fans can catch the Alive 35 tour at Nashville's Sommet Center on Wed., Oct. 28. This year marks the 35th anniversary of KISS' first tour, and Stanley says the show is packed with all the hit songs and over-the-top elements fans have come to expect.
"If we could call this tour anything, we would call it 'bigger, better, more,' " the singer says. "Anything you like that we've done, there's more of it."
'Like a circus'
Murfreesboro real estate agent Andrew Todd hopes that's the case. Todd is taking his fiancee Samantha Fewell to see KISS for the first time this week. The show will be Todd's sixth KISS concert and he wants to share the experience with Fewell.
"She's quite frightened by them," Todd jokes of country music-loving Fewell. "I think she will enjoy it though. It's just about having a good time, cutting loose, singing along and enjoying the show. It's like a circus."
Sonic Boom and this current jaunt were precipitated by the success of the band's last world tour, which Stanley says was KISS' most successful to date.
"It showed us undeniably that the fans embraced the band more than we could ever imagine, and the band has embraced the band more than ever," he says. "KISS has never been better. The band sounds better than ever and gets along incredibly. When you have four people who are saying, 'How can I make the band more famous?' rather than, 'How can the band make me more famous,' that's a great place to start."
After that tour, Stanley decided it was time to return to the recording studio for the first time in more than a decade. The decision wasn't easy, and he had a few ground rules before he would even attempt it: The project, Sonic Boom, could have no outside songs; he and bass player Gene Simmons would have to write together again; and Stanley insisted he produce the record.
"If I couldn't produce the album, I didn't want to make another album," he says. "But I thought we had another classic rock album in us."
He wanted the band members - Simmons, Tommy Thayer (vocals, lead guitar) and Eric Singer (drums) - to focus solely on writing for the record. That meant he and Simmons had to couch their egos long enough to write together again. It was the first time in "20 or 30 years," Stanley says.
"The chemistry doesn't go away. We both have our own way of doing things ... but I thought it was important that we work together. Having songs on an album isn't a birth right because you're in a band. Your songs have to be good enough to be on an album."
Stanley calls the result "combustible" and "very exciting." And sales figures seem to indicate that fans agree. Sonic Boom, released earlier this month, landed as KISS' highest-charting album yet, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
"We went from cruise control to put the pedal to the metal," Stanley says. "We're kind of like cockroaches - we outlive everybody."
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Ruminations of a rock 'n' roll family man
He may rock 'n' roll all night and party every day, but most mornings these days, KISS singer Paul Stanley is home being Dad.
"When we're not touring, Dad is up with the kids in the morning. Dad is driving some of the kids to school and picks them up," Stanley says. "I'm a 24/7 dad at home. I'm blessed and very fortunate, and I know it. Anyone who doesn't appreciate what they have doesn't deserve it."
Stanley's Dad duties broadened, too, with the addition of 8-month-old Sarah Brianna, who joined brothers Colin Michael, 3, and Evan Shane, 15.
"What an incredible gift," Stanley says of his daughter. "There's a different chemistry between Dad and baby girl than Dad and baby boy. It's very welcomed and I'm over the moon over it."
Stanley's chemistry with his boys, he says, is fittingly musical.
"My little boy loves me to dance with him. (Colin Michael) has certain bands he likes and he picks it, and I have to dance with him," he says. "He also loves to go to his big brother's room and have (Evan) play guitar for him."
Balancing the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and spending time with his young family is something Stanley says he puts a lot of effort into.
"I think family is the center of everything," he says. "Family is the core of everything that goes on in life. If there is a time I can't be with them, I make sure they can be with me. ... My family will come out for two weeks at a time. We have a jet and we'll stay in one city and I fly in and out to shows. We make it work."
