During their appearance on Today Show, Kiss members discussed tour and makeup.
Since the beginning of their career, Kiss has been going on stage with their iconic makeup looks and their personas with Paul Stanley as the ‘Starchild,’ Gene Simmons as the ‘Demon,’ Tommy Thayer as the ‘Spaceman’ after Ace Frehley, and Eric Singer as the ‘Catman.’
During the latest interview, the initial ideas for the makeup looks were revealed while Paul Stanley explained his defense mechanism against the band’s fans.
When the band was asked who came up with the makeup ideas, Thayer raised his hand. Then Simmons took over the conversation and shared the initial makeup ideas:
“The makeup that went on pretty close with the exception of Uncle Paul. Originally, he had a circle around his eye. He said, ‘That’s not me. I’m a rock star.’ So, he was going to put two stars on his eyes, but that was too difficult.”
When the interviewer claimed that no one knew what the band looked like without makeup, Stanley revealed that using makeup was almost like a defense mechanism for him:
“Well, in the beginning, certainly, I came up with a persona that was almost a defense mechanism. To be able to get up on stage and say ‘How are you doing?’ and talk and people would think ‘Who is this person? Where is he from?'”
In another interview, Simmons said that being on stage felt almost like a holy place for the band, so his idea of respect was to put on makeup rather than ‘look like a bum.’
During the band’s earlier days, Stanley appeared on stage with his first persona, ‘Bandit,’ with an eyemask-like makeup. The rocker had it for only three shows and later switched to his current ‘Starchild’ persona.
Below, you can watch the recent interview.
