KISS frontman Paul Stanley recently opened up about the possibility of the band continuing without the original members, him and bassist Gene Simmons, during an interview with Radio Bob! and apparently, Stanley thinks there can be KISS with different members who carry the legacy of the band without the actual original members.
As many of you know, KISS has both Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley as its foundation since the band actually trace back to another rock band named ‘Wicked Lester’ which was led by Simmons and Stanley and eventually the duo left that band in 1972 after feeling a new musical direction was needed and formed another group soon to be known by thousands of people all around the world.
Since its foundation, KISS has gone through a number of lineup changes with two original members being replaced by other musicians, the original lead guitarist Ace Frehley has been with the band from its inception in 1973 to his departure in 1982 after finding himself increasingly at odds with the musical direction of the band. In addition to Frehley, the original drummer Peter Criss also officially left KISS on May 18, 1980, and he was fired during a band meeting in which Frehley, Simmons, Stanley, and manager Bill Aucoin voted Criss out of the band.
Despite replacing two of the original members of the band, KISS managed to remain the same and only got more successful over the years and during a recent interview, Paul Stanely opened up about this matter and took it a little further. According to the KISS frontman, the band can carry on without him and bassist Gene Simmons since the band is much bigger than the actual members.
In addition to this, Paul Stanley also stated that there was a time when people thought KISS couldn’t continue without an original member, then two original members which eventually led him to think that if they can find a musician who can carry the legacy of KISS, it can actually survive as a KISS 2.0 and without any original member left.
During a recent interview, Paul Stanley stated:
“I think that recasting KISS or KISS 2.0 is not what we have ever talked about. Can KISS continue and can it evolve without us in it? Well, yeah, because it’s already 50 percent there. In other words, there was a time where people said, ‘Well, it can only be the original four.’ It was, ‘Well, it can only be the original three.’ Well, things move on and circumstances change.
Could I see KISS evolving with different personnel? Yeah. As big a fan as I am of what I do, and I think I’m damn good, there are other people around who could pick up the torch and bring something to the philosophy and to the live show and to the music. It would be KISS. It wouldn’t be KISS 2.0. If it were to happen, yeah, it would be really just a continuation of the philosophy that we’ve always had, and that’s that KISS is bigger than any member.“
You can watch the full interview below.
