CANADA.COM/Mike Devlin, Canwest News Service
KISS will gladly sell you the whole seat at one of their concerts -- but you're only going to need the edge of it.
Sure, it's cliched slogan, one used primarily to sell tickets to monster truck events. But the description fits. KISS concerts, after all, are unlike anything the world has ever seen.
"We want to entertain you, and when you pay for a high-priced ticket it should get you more than a guy on stool," said Paul Stanley, the group's singer-guitarist. "When you get a ticket from us, we'll pummel you, deafen you, blind you, cover you in confetti, and you'll leave very satisfied."
KISS fans wouldn't have it any other way. For decades, devout followers of the group have been resigned to the fact they are paying for an experience that rarely changes. Not that anyone should be concerned with getting shafted: KISS concerts are like musical comfort food, with blood, pyro, and songs about love guns and gods of thunder on the menu at every stop.
Stanley, the group's frontman since its inception more than 35 years ago, says there's a reason the band has opened nearly every one of its concerts with the refrain, "You wanted the best? You got the best! The hottest band in the world! KISS!"
In short, because it's true.
"We do what we're here to do," Stanley said from a New York hotel, the day after KISS thrilled television audiences with what was easily the most explosive performance in Late Night with David Letterman history. "And that's basically blow the place up and have a great time."
Stanley, 57, and bassist Gene Simmons, 60, are the lone holdovers from the original lineup, which burst out of New York with the legendary double-album, Alive!, in 1975. But while much has been made of the absence of guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss on the band's current North American trek, which is billed the KISS Alive/35 tour, Stanley says the group is sounding and playing better than ever.
"It's just a healthier, better situation for everybody. It's better for the fans, it's better for the band. And hopefully it's better for the guys who are no longer in the band."
Frehley and Criss, who have both struggled with either drugs or alcohol in the past, have not been with the band since the early part of the decade, and have been permanently replaced by guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer. Neither is new to the KISS universe (Singer has been in and out of the lineup for 18 years, while Thayer has been on board for seven) and Stanley says they have both earned their place in the band.
He was eager to showcase their unique talents on the new KISS recording, Sonic Boom, which debuted at No. 2 on the U.S. sales charts upon its release on Oct. 6, the group's highest entry to date.
Stanley produced the album, which, by definition, made him the decision maker. But he's quick to stress that the process was a group effort -- one of their first albums in years to operate on such a democratic plane.
"I wanted 100 per cent commitment and focus from everybody in the band, to really highlight how great the band is and how focused the band is," he said. "This album never could have been done by any other KISS lineup. When you have a band where everybody is saying 'How can I make the band more famous?' rather than 'How can the band make me more famous?' it gives you the potential to make a terrific album. And that's what we did. We just harnessed everything we are." The album's first single, Modern Day Delilah, is a jet-fuelled blast of arena rock, with all the archetypal features of some of the most famous Stanley-Simmons compositions. Even though the song is credited to Stanley alone, the presence of Simmons at each session had an huge impact, Stanley said.
"It was essential that Gene and I write together. It was absolutely essential. Gene was a little skeptical initially, or ambivalent. We've certainly both reached a point where we like to do things our own way, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's best for the band. We sat down, and immediately the chemistry was there."
Kiss performs at GM Place in Vancouver on Saturday.
