KISS frontman Paul Stanley talked about the band’s original lead guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss’ departure from the band and revealed the true reason behind the impossibility of a reunion with the former members during his interview on SiriusXM’s Jim & Sam Show.
As you know, KISS’ founding members were Paul Stanley as the lead singer, Gene Simmons as the bassist, Ace Frehley as the lead guitarist, and Peter Criss as the drummer. However, the band went through severe line-up changes after the firing of Criss and Frehley’s decision to leave the band due to the creative differences between the band members.
The original members of KISS actually reunited in 1996 but both Criss and Frehley decided to leave the band once again because of conflict of interest and personal reasons. Eric Singer replaced Peter Criss while Ace Frehley was replaced by Tommy Thayer. Even though KISS parted ways with them decades ago, some fans are still wondering about the possibility of Criss and Frehley’s return.
Therefore, during his recent interview, Paul Stanley was once again asked whether Criss and Frehley could return to the band. Stanley admitted that KISS wouldn’t be successful and famous without them but also highlighted that KISS couldn’t exist with them.
Stanley stated that there were a lot of sensible reasons behind their departures such as personal and creative conflicts and although they tried to reunite with Criss and Frehley, it didn’t work out. So, according to Stanley, there was no turning back after that point as it was impossible.
In Stanley’s words, he said:
“Well, the original four are the original four. We were the ones who started this and created the template that we still stand by today. I think where people go wrong is when they think that things can remain timeless and that time doesn’t take its toll.
You may want mom and dad to be back together, but it didn’t work out. And we had amazing moments and amazing times, and we did some phenomenal things together which, look, tie me to them forever, but that’s not the fairy tale; it doesn’t end there.
I’ve said before: we couldn’t have been here without Ace and Peter, and we couldn’t be here today with Ace and Peter. I think people yearn for something that is – I was gonna say ‘impractical.’ I would say impossible.
It’s great to look back on, but it’s not that different than if you break up with somebody and years later you go, ‘Wow. Why did that happen? Let me go back.’ You go back and it’s not the same anymore, and you quickly realize, as we did, why it didn’t work out the first time. That’s why it didn’t work out the second time.“
You can watch the interview below.
