Paul Stanley Interview Goldmine Magazine 11/20/98

More than any member of Kiss, Paul Stanley is the life-force behind their music. His effortlessly melodic songs, powerful voice and flashy rock star attitude make him the group's indisputable musical leader. Borrowing a page or two from vintage Pete Townshend performance era circa 1966, Paul's terrific rhythm guitar riffs, his awesome stage presence combining death defying leaps, windmills, and guitar destruction have endeared him to legions of fans around the world. Long after Kiss call it quits, Stanley will remain a vital and musical talent, renowned for his,impeccable writing and lethal performance ability.

Goldmine: Bring us back to the bands first full reunion show at Detroit's Tiger Stadium. What was running through your mind putting on the makeup backstage, was there a mixture of nerves and anticipation?

Paul Stanley: I do believe that we came to the stadium in makeup but I could be wrong. I don't get nervous, I get anxious but anxious in the sense that I want to get out there and do what I do. It's more anticipation. When you train hard you don't have to worry about what's going to happen when the bell rings. Let's go in there because I've got the knockout punch.

What was it like opening night,looking over and seeing the other guys back in makeup? Was that strange for you?

Oh yeah, but that didn't stop opening night. There were many many nights when I was looking around the stage and going this is magic. This is beyond anybody's wildest fantasies. What was important about these shows is we had a much bigger task than people understood. We didn't have to be as good as we used to be. We had to be as good as people thought we were. The show wasn't to be a replica of what we've done, it was to be what people imagined we had done. Our biggest competition was our history. The only competition we had was the shadow that our past casts on us. We had to be totally committed and also totally sure that we could not only live up the legend but surpass it, Otherwise we would have stayed at home. There's nothing worset you should never wish for something unless you're ready to get it (laughs). And people wanted this so badly that we weren't going to do it unless we had everybody thrilled at the end of the show. There's nothing worse than asking for something and then being disappointed. There's nothing worse than having the memory of something tainted and marred by the reality of the present.

You're rehearsing once again for a massive world tour Now that the original band has done it, are preparations for this tour going smoother? Did you keep up training when you got off the road?

(Laughing) Well some of us did and some of us didn't. There's no doubt that everybody is very, very serious. What counts is now rehearsals are in full swing and the band sounds really really good and it's great to hear Psycho Circus and go wow, that sounds like it's supposed to. It's great to have a new opening number that is every bit as good what people heard last tour.

How many songs will you performfrom the Psycho Circus record?

Well it's hard to say. Last week the first song ("Psycho Circus") went to radio. It's number one most added and number three most requested. It's going great, It really comes down to how the album is accepted, that will be the determining factor of how many songs we play Everything is up in the air right now. But I can tell you we've been rehearsing "Psycho Circus" and "Into The Void." As for the set list, the biggest dilemma we have, out of the twenty songs we play, and twenty songs make up about two hours. Out of those twenty songs we're really stuck - and I say that in the best way - with the dilemma of having to play certain songs and it's more than four or five (laughs). Can you do the show without "Firehouse"? Can you do the show without "Deuce'? Can you do the show without "Rock And Roll All Night," "Black Diamond," "Detroit Rock City,' "God Of Thunder," "Cold Gin," "Shout It Out Loud," Love Gun"?

Hopefully you'll pull out some lesser known material along with the stage favorites.

Well again it's very important that we satisfy the largest group of people. It's very nice that there's a small segment that wants to hear something from The Elder. My point is well taken. There are some die hard fanatics that want to hear something a bit more obscure than the masses-are really clamoring for. We very much want to recognize both and at the same time we always have to put the emphasis on what the largest majority wants to hear.

"Makin' Love" and "I Want You" would be nice additions.

Those two are actually possibles.

I'm going to bribe you one day to do "All American Man" live.

(Laughs) Maybe during soundcheck.

Why did the group choose to work producer Bruce Fairbairn on the new CD?

I think he had a good track record of people,whose albums we liked, We were also aware that maybe a producer's role with us is not the same as it is with somebody else. With us a producer is another ingredient in a stew. With us the producer is not the chef I think that with us we're more concerned with a balance of ingredients than with any one thing overpowering it. Again, I mean this very positively, a producer for us is a flavor enhancer (laughs), a seasoning.

Did Fairbairn understand what Kiss was all about?

I think he learned. I think he learned by doing. Obviously everybody comes into a project with their own ideas of what it should be. The reality becomes clear because after thirty albums we're certainly not about to fall in line and do something we don't want to do. Bruce was another car, another point of view, another vote. Sometimes the best thing to do is you give somebody enough rope to hang themselves. They either survive or they hang. He came up with some very good ideas. Again, it's hard to point a finger at anybody in the studio and say 'what did they do?' I'm happy with what he did. But it's really the team that makes the end product.

Was Bob Ezrin involved with the record in any capacity?

Bob was involved early on. We've known Bob so long that I know that both Gene and I went to him and both spent time with him and bounced ideas off him.

Was Bob ever mooted to produce the Psycho Circus record?

it's no secret, at one time we were all exploring the idea but nobody ever committed to it, us or him. Alot of circumstances always come into play and you see where things go. I'm very, very pleased with the album. I really can't imagine a better album. That being said, the team worked. The could-have's and should-have's and maybe's become irrelevant because there is the reality and the reality speaks for itself.

The lyrics on Psycho Circus are quite a departure, dealing with the band's relationships with themselves and their fans.

I always believe that when we write about ourselves, if we're doing our job right we're writing about our fans. A song like "I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll" is about me. But hell, it's about everybody It's about believing in something and going the distance.

When you sat down to write for Psycho Circus, did you try to craft songs that recalled the band's makeup era?

I wrote specifically to capture the essence of what we had done. Not recreating or making a retro album, not trying to make an album that sounded like it was recorded twenty years ago. It was more about capturing and rekindling the spirit of the band. The thing I always loved about Destroyer is it pushed the envelope and pushed the parameters of what we could do. It pushed us to the limit and yet everything stayed true to us. it stayed true because it was all comfortable to us, there was nothing forced or contrived. I think the idea with this album at least from my point of view is to make sure that we weren't pigeonholed or restricted with what we could do but were open to do anything as long as it was comfortable.

Tell me about writing the title track, which takes its title from the Kiss Psycho Circus comic book.

The album has nothing to do with the Psycho Circus comic book. Consciously They both exist in parallel worlds and it's great. The whole idea for "Psycho Circus" for me was I wanted a track to open the album that really introduced the vibe and the whole atmosphere, very much like "Detroit Rock City." There was no conscious effort to mimic "Detroit Rock City" but that song had an essence to it that at least for me, when you heard "Detroit Rock City" you knew what the album was hopefully going to be like. And "Psycho Circus" for me was really a way of me introducing us being back.

The verses sounds like classic Who.

Yeah, those are my roots.

I was real surprised to discover that you played quite a bit of lead guitar on the record. Your lead work on the title track sounds like Ace.

Our reference points and our influences are very similar. If I can't knock out a pretty good solo after playing guitar for twenty five or whatever years I must be missing an arm (laughs).

The middle part of the solo reminds me of 'Elected" by Alice Cooper

Yeah. There are times on this album where I was pretty clear on an idea and when Ace heard it it was certainly open to being changed. But there were times when Ace would listen and go 'let's just leave it.

You also play lead on "Raise Your Glasses.

I played lead on that and "I Pledge Allegiance." On the "Raise Your Glasses" solo just the tension of bending the string, it actually reminds me of a very similar thing in "I Can See For Miles." I don't really analyze what I do. I have an idea and I either fall on my face (laughs) or get to the finish line. Ace and I are both very comfortable at this point with our playing. If I hear "Into The Void" or "You Wanted The Best," to me I hear that and I go, that's real clearly Ace. We both have a similar perspective.

Tell me about writing "I Pledge Allegiance (To The State Of Rock & Roll)" with Holly Knight and Curt Cuomo.

Well "Pledge Allegiance," I had no place to write so I would go over to Curt Cuomo's house and I would be writing over there and he came up with a melody for the verse and part of the bridge melody He came up with those and it was very funny. At one point I forgot he was involved. it wasn't until he reminded me where I went 'you're right.' When I was trying to finish the song, Holly Knight had moved back to L.A. I've known Holly forever. I called her up and went over. Holly's just a really, really talented songwriter. It was great to see her again as a friend and she had great stuff to add. I'm not against co-writing at. all. I'm not against other people being involved in the songs. If they don't sound like my songs then I didn't do my work. I'm only concerned with the best song possible and if somebody else can add something, God bless 'em. If it doesn't sound like me wl;en it's done we should all be looking at each other and wondering what I did.

On "Raise Your Glasses", you wrote the music and Holly helped with the lyrics?

Right. That song came around the same time as "Psycho, Circus." I think in about a ten day period I wrote almost all the,songs. It was very funny because at one point everybody was real worried because I had no songs (laughs).

You have a totally different approach to writing than Gene.

Yeah, he'll write 50 songs for a re-cord and choose the belt and I'll write only' what's necessary or needed. There was one track that wasn't put on the album. It's called "Body & Soul." The song is really great but we wanted the album to be as concise as possible. It's in the "Raise Your Glasses" category We had enough of what we needed and we really wanted to keep the album lean. After we recorded basically everything there was still a need for another track so we took a week off and I came back with "'Pledge, Allegiance." Anyhow, "Raise Your Glasses" came together really easily for me. The only thing I was having a real problem with was nailing down the lyrics for the verse in particular. Again, Holly understood it real quickly and she was a real help.

How did vou come to write "I Finallv Found My Way," a ballad for Peter?

I wrote it with Bob Ezrin. Actually I think I was doing the demos, I did 24-track demos of everything. I think in Europe on one of the CD singles they have the demo of "Raise Your Glasses." So I did these 24-track demos and Bob came down and we were talking and we were saying that Peter needed a really great ballad to sing on the record. So we went into the studio and wrote it. For me, it was just a matter of writing a song that would be great for Pe ' ter's voice. He's got an unmistakable voice.

Peter must havel oved it when he first heard it.

Yeah, he was very flattered. It was really written for him. When he sings it, somebody is going to hear it and immediately it's the voice of the guy who sang "Beth," so it better be good.

One of the nicest touches in the song is when you sing harmony with Peter on the bridge.

It just happened by accident. It wasn't really planned at all. It happened literally on the spur of the moment.

"Dreamin"' sounds like it could have been on the Creatures Of The Night album.

Oh, that's interesting. I wrote "Dreamin"' with Bruce (Kulick). I came up with the idea for "Dreamin"' when we were cutting the 24track demos and Bruce was in there. Bruce was helping me out. He's such a great friend and a great musician. I can't play everything myself and it's much easier to have somebody as good as him helping out. The pieces for "Dreamin"' were basically coming together in the studio while I was doing demos. It was like a jigsaw puzzle where there were key pieces missing to connect everything. There were just chordal connections that weren't there because it was written so spontaneously and so quickly. And Bruce was there and he came up with the missing pieces and the glue. So that was what he did. Then I went off and wrote the lyrics and the melody It's pretty cool.

There are many rumors flying about outside musicians playing on Psycho Circus. Set the record straight. First, is Peter playing drums on the entire record.

Absolutely.

There are rumours that he's only playing drums on one song, "Into The Void."

The funny thing about this is when Destroyer came out there were people who "well, that's not Peter (on drums). I said, I have to say that there is stuff on Destroyer that Peter could never have played before. He worked hard to be able to play it. Part of what goes with becoming famous is there's rumors and all kinds of stuff. To spend too much time addressing it takes away from the positive stuff. To me it's more about if you hear the album and you feel the magic, what else do you need? Do you want to know how the magician pulled the rabbit out of his hat? Well I don't and I don't think most people do, either. And quite honestly if I played the drums on the album it wouldn't matter. If the album comes out sounding great and if it captures the magic, I wouldn't care. I mean there were songs in the past, on 'Shandi" for instance. I'm the only one in the band playing on it. Anton's on drums. A roadie was playing bass. I played all the guitars. And Holly (Knight) played keyboards. There's a lot of Stones songs that all the Stones aren't on it. But what does it matter? There are Stones songs where the only one on it is Keith (Richards) and whoever else was around. If it captures the essence of the band, why question it? It doesn't matter.

It's also been reported that Bruce Kulick plays lead guitar on two songs, "Within" and "Dreamin'." I'll be honest, it sounds like it could be Bruce playing on those two songs.

Nope, Ace is on "Within." And no, Bruce isn't on the album.

So Ace is on the entire record?

Again, we get into this thing of like "how much or who played what?" What's interesting is it was never an issue before. When Bob Kulick played guitar or when I didn't play or when Eric Carr played bass or when a guitar roadie played bass, nobody questioned it. So who gives a shit at the end of the day?

Alive! is lauded by many as the quintessential Kiss album. What live albums by other acts do you treasure?

I'm not big on live albums, I'd rather listen to studio albums because live albums for me, outside of our own, are just pale, bad, snapshots of something momentous or monumental. I mean Humble Pie Live At The Fillmore is one I take exception to. I remember seeing Humble Pie at The Fillmore, (Steve) Marriott -was unbelievable. He was one of my heroes. So Humble Pie, sure. Most bands I'd rather listen to the studio versions.

During your rap section on the live version of "100,000 Years" you sings a snippetfrom the "Little" Stevie Wonder song, "Fingertips." I caught it and chuckled as I'm a big Stevie Wonder fan. How many people in the audience do you think know you're referencing him?

Oh yeah, the "clap your hands just a little louder" part. Probably not many people knew it was from a Stevie Wonder song. But then again how many people would know that the solo in "She" is taken from The Doors song "Five To One"? Probably now most people are going to think it's Pearl jam (laughs).

Yeah, they copped it from Ace.

Sure. So we all have roots and I think that to not acknowledge them and to not once in a while tip the hat... I've got a lot of roots that are British but I have others that aren't as well.

Have you heard Sound Magazine, The Partridge Family tribute band who covered "Shout It Out Loud"?

Yeah. I thought it was just great. Bob (Ezrin) mixed it. I heard it because I ran into the singer of that band. I met this guy in a supermarket and he said "I'm in this Partridge Family tribute band and we did a cover of 'Shout It Out Loud' and Bob Ezrin's gonna mix it. Would you like a copy?" And I said, "Sure." It was just the funniest thing I've heard. It's fabulous. Oh it's great, just great.

How do you feel about all the new merchandise? Are you concerned that it doesn't overwhelm the music like it did back in the late- 70s ?

I think it's a different time and I'm still concerned that it doesn't overwhelm things. But the difference is when we first came on the scene and the merchandise became so huge it really was singular in the sense that no other band had that. At this point it's very well accepted that merchandise is a part of being in a band. It's part of satiating the fans' appetite of what they want whereas back then it was much more jolting and distracting than it is today.

Tell us about some of your more unique celebrity encounters with jazz legend Miles Davis and Iggy Pop.

I wound up sitting next to Miles on an airplane and he was pretty out there. He was talking about how he was a big Prince fan and he was also asking if I would come and help him put a stage show or something together. He knew exactly who Kiss were. He was very into it and very much wanted my input into a presentation. He was eating crackers and I think more of them were in his lap than in his mouth. But rest in peace, he was incredible.

Okay, how about Iggy Pop?

Oh the short story? Gene and I went to see Iggy perform in San Francisco. We went to see him after the show and he's talking to us and everytime he exhaled through his nose this huge, big booger dangles out of his nose, like some sort of worm and then goes back in. it was pretty strange. It was one of those situations where you're not quite sure if you should ignore it or tell him (laughs).

Any celebrities that you met who surprised you by being big Kiss fans?

It's happened a lot. It happens interestingly a lot with actors. I remember being in a restaurant and Lawrence Fishbume was sitting at another table and he came over and told me he was a big big fan and he used to go see us. It's great to know that your impact is not just in the music field. There's been lots and it's always been very very cool. Last year I was kind of surprised. We were staying in New York at the same hotel as The Who. I went into the bar and Pete (Townshend) is sitting there and I'd met him before. They had done a really great run at Madison Square Garden and I said to Pete, "Congratulations, that's so great." And Pete says to me, "Yeah, we took a page out of your book." And I go, "What are you talking about?" He said, "We're giving the people a show." And I said (laughing) "What are you, nuts? I'm your bastard son. All I ever wanted to be was you." It's very funny when you realize that the people who you were impacted by acknowledge you too. That's very rewarding.

I was curious to get your take on another one of your contemporaries of the '70s who also took image in a new direction, Queen.

I just saw Brian (May) last week. He's getting ready to tour and Eric Singer is going out with him so that's really great. Queen was great. I thought Queen was great in the beginning. As they progressed I appreciated what they were doing although it got a bit too much into Gilbert & Sullivan for me. Freddie had a penchant for operetta. That really wasn't quite to my liking. But whether it's "Keep Yourself Alive" or "Liar," "Killer Queen," "Tie Your Mother Down," "Another One Bites The Dust" and even "We Are The Champions," "Bohemian Rhapsody"... I mean, anybody with that kind of track record, they were fabulous. just a great, great band.

Your first production work was with New England on their debut album. What are your memories of working with them?

What appealed to me is that New England had a really big melodic sound and the material was very strong. And John (Fannon) was an interesting vocalist with an interesting sound.

It sounds like New England were heavily influenced by The Move and ELO.

It was that and a very Beatles-esque influence. It was stuff I was very comfortable with. I sang background on "Don't Ever Wanna Lose,Ya" and a few more. One of the challenges of being a producer is not putting your stamp on something so strongly that it's distracting. With the vocals on that record, I tried to help reinforce things. The New England album is a great record, I still think it's a really strong album.

Since Kiss'first album, your voice has changed significantly. At any point, did you have vocal training?

No, I didn't take any lessons. I went to see a couple of guys and one or two of them said "who taught you how to sing like that?" That's why I figured if it ain't broke, don't fix it? If you don't lose your voice it should actually get better. Your voice is an instrument and controlling it is no different than controlling your guitar. You should learn the instrument.

For this interview, I wanted to shed some light on the band's two concept albums, Destroyer and Music From The Elder. Although Destroyer is now recognized as the benchmark of all Kiss' studio albums, when it was initially relcasedfans and critics viewed it as a tactical misstep.

Well, yeah. Initially I think there was a quick 850,000 that had sold, that's the number that sticks in my head. And then we kind of hit a wall. I think coming on the heels of the live album people were expecting something that was more immediately obvious. And Destroyer was really an album that we hoped would grow on you, that it would last. It, was easy and very dangerous to have an album as huge as Alive!, because our albums before that sold fairly minimally and it was widely thought that the next album would do the same. We were very concerned that we not go back and do the same thing again.

It's interesting, now Destroyer is viewed as a classic, perhaps the band's greatest studio achievement.

Yeah. It's interesting because time usually tells all. Time is the scale by which we weigh things. That album has "God Of Thunder," "Shout It Out Loud," "Beth," "Do You Love Me ' " "Detroit Rock City," "King Of The Nighttime World," so you have arguably some of the most well-known Kiss songs on one album.

Can you discuss enlisting Bob Ezrin as the producer? Was his past work with Alice Cooper a deciding factor in getting him involved with the project?

The Alice Cooper stuff was so brilliant that we needed a producer. Even though we didn't know half of what we thought we knew, we weren't really ready to listen to anybody But Ezrin's talent and track record was undeniable. It wasn't something that was left field from what we were doing. It was very akin to what we had done. What Bob taught us was discipline in the studio. For that first project, Destroyer, he wore a whistle around his neck and would blow it and call us 'campers'. He was not above pointing a finger in your face and yelling at you. That's pretty funny when you're selling out arenas all over and you have somebody in the studio that's treating you like an imbecile. Really what it was was musical bootcamp. It was trying to get the best out of us and try to get us to set a new standard for ourselves.

What were Ezrin's musical contributions to the album?

Bob was ver y much into texture and depth and color. I think when we came into the studio we probably thought color was how much treble or bass you'd put on your Marshall amp. Bob was dealing with doubling guitars, with one guitar slightly VSO'D so they'd be slightly out of tune to each other to just make the guitar bigger.

VSO?

That's vari-speeding it. So what you would do is record one guitar and then you would slightly slow down the tape machine, almost imperceptibly. Then you would do another guitar part and you would just double your other part. The two of them together would sound great. We used it all the time. It was kind of like flanging and phasing. It gives the guitar a shimmer. On "Detroit Rock City" and "Shout It Out Loud", all the power chords are basically being doubled with a grand piano. It really gave it a unique sound that initially some people didn't like. Actually some people would hear that and go 'that's not heavy enough.

"Flaming Youth"from Destroyer is one song seldom performed live by the hand. it would make a great addition to the set list for the new tour.

Actually we were playing it a couple of days ago (laughs). It sounded okay. I don't think it'll be in the set list. But again you've got two hours to cover a whole lot of ground and you really have to go for the stuff that makes the most impact.

Two of the songs on Destroyer were cowritten by Kim Fowley, "King Of The Nighttime World," also with co-writer Mark Anthony and "Do You Love Me." Were those songs pretty much in fairly complete form when they were brought into the band?

Somewhat. They brought in songs or germs of songs. Then there was some revamping of lyrics and music.

Moving, on to the Music From The Elder, another conceptual record that has grows immeasurably in stature among fans. You and Gene were both really excited when the record was done.

We were delusional, okay? Excited in the same way that somebody that's high was excited. You're lost in a haze (laughs). I think we got caught up in the emperor's new clothes. We got caught up in something that really had no place in our lives but then again we were at a point, personally, individually and as a band where we were becoming complacent and very comfortable with our success.

Do you lay most of the blame on the band, producer Bob Ezrin or your manager Bill Aucoin?

Nobody here can take all the blame or be blamed less. It's Kiss, it's all of us, We were lost and we had some ideas and when Bob came in and said we shouldn't do this, let's do a concept album, we believed that Bob could save us, for lack of a better word, or get us back on track. We got lost and Bill also was believing in it. Everybody will look back and the stories will differ. But Bill very much believed that this was a way to take us to another level and that we would impress the people who'd never been into us. And we thought the same thing. Like I said, we were delusional.

The Elder is a big fan favorite.

Well, I salute anybody who finds something of merit there but it was a misstep. But I don't regret it because everything that comes is directly in response to what came before it. So we couldn't have done Creatures if we hadn't done The Elder.

Your solo on "'World Without Heroes" is great. What other guitar solos are you proud Of ?

I thought 'Hold Me, Touch Me" (from the Paul Stanley solo album) was a really good solo and I think the stuff on Psycho Circus is really good. My solo on "Sure Know Something' is okay, "Shandi' is okay, they're all okay. it's not often that I'm impressed with what I do (laughs).

I heard there were some alternate takes of Elder material in the vaults like a keyboard version of "The Oath". Any truth?

There wouldn't have been a keyboard version of "The Oath" there might be a version with a keyboard on it but there's no alternate versions of songs. There are a few songs that didn't make it on the album. But they were never complete.

One band rarely cited by the group as a pivotal influence is Slade.

Slade was awesome. In many ways Slade was the English counterpart to us. Slade wrote these great anthems. Live, they were simple but boy did they put their boot up your ass. They did some shows with us, too. Noddy (Holder) is a great singer. The whole band almost looked like some sort of cartoon come to life. They were like a steamroller. They weren't a profound influence but I understood their point of reference. It was similar to where we were coming from. I think at some point they rewrote their songs too often. But when they did it right there were some great songs and live, they were just'great. My mirror Iceman guitar was actually not a unique or original idea. Nobody had a top hat with mirrors on it so when they hit his hat with a spotlight, he had these huge circle mirrors on his hat. So when they hit his hat these beams of light came out of his head. And it was such a cool idea that that's where the idea for the mirrored guitar came from.

Paul, not much is known about one of your earliest bands, Incubus. Fill us in.

"Incubus" was another name for my band "Uncle Joe." It was just me, a drummer and a 'guitar player. It Was me, Matt Rael and Neil Teeman. I guess Incubus/lJncle Joe was my first band. When I was with The Postwar Baby Boom, Matt's older brother Jon was in that group and I was suddenly taken into the older brother's band. I moved up in the world. "Incubus" didn't do many live shows. We were kids. The most we could hope for was to have some friends come over in the basement. I don't think we were doing originals then, just covers. But I actually have a tape now of "Uncle Joe" in the studio. We're doing this song we made up in the studio called "Stop, Look And Listen." I sing lead on it. That must have been done in '66, 1 think I was fourteen, fifteen.

Put it on the box set.

Ah. It's just three fourteen year old guys, two guys with loud amplifiers and a drummer. It's kinda heavy-ish. But the truth is I haven't listened to it. I just got it recently and I have to have it transferred.

Are you still friends with the Rael brothers?

They don't live near me but I've seen both of them. Back then they were more into blues. They were both into blues and jug band stuff and I wanted to play rock'n' roll.

You were into The Move and The Pretty Things.

Actually that was even before The Move for me and The Pretty Things. The earlier Pretty Things was very Stonesy. When they started getting very psychedelic is when I liked them, when they were on Rare Earth which was a Motown rock label. I loved The Byrds, of course. The Who, stuff like The Kids Are Alright was great.

If you can cite anyone for bringing you and Gene together it's Steve Coronel.

Yeah, without him it probably wouldn't have happened. Wait a second, it probably would have happened because we wound up meeting again. Steve first introduced us and we didn't hit it off at all. Then I answered an ad in the paper and wound up going to New Jersey to help some guys do a demo. It was Gene and Brooke (Ostrander).

There's a new Wicked Lester bootleg featuring early versions of some of the groups songs. were these done with original lead guitarist Steve Coronel?

There are possibilities that it wasn't early album takes but maybe embryo versions of the songs. I really have to think about if we went into the studio with Steve; I don't believe we did.

The previously uncirculated Wicked Lester song "Long Road" is also on the bootleg.

Oh really? I'd like to hear what this is.

It's rumored that studio versions exist of the 4 unnreleased songs "Life In The Woods," "Simple Type" and "Keep Me Waiting," the last two recorded by Wicked Lester. Do any Kiss studio recordings of those songs exist?

Not true. They were just performed live at that point. It's funny, yesterday in rehearsals we were fooling around and playing "Life In The Woods" saying hey, do you remember this?' That song is like "Them Changes" by Buddy Miles, that crossed with Humble Pie. It was a pretty weird song. It kind of got created and made up as something to play live. "Keep Me Waiting" was from the Rainbbw/Wicked Lester days. I kinda like that song but no, Kiss never recorded that or for that matter Simple Type.

Back in the '70s, Paul, how would you record your demos?

In the '70s there was a thing called a Portastudio, the early version of a Portastudio or just literally a tape recorder. just turn it on, whether it was a portable or a two track.

And those demos were how you presented your songs to the other Kiss members?

No (laughs). I used to go into Electric Lady and do demos. I saved all of them. I have "Love Gun," a 16-track version of "Love Gun." They've all been transferred to DAT. I have the demo of "Tomorrow & Tonight.

Do you still feel that "Tomorrow & Tonight" was afailed attempt to rewrite "Rock And Roll All Night"?

I like it, I think it's a good song. It's just not as good as some of the others.

Many fans speculate about your relationship wondering if Paul and Gene are really friends, not just band mates who deal with each other on a solely business level? Gene was your best man at your wedding, right?

Yeah, absolutely. Gene's like my brother. It's not really friends. We can be very competitive, we can fight but we trust each other. And we know even in the worst circumstances that we're always there for each other. We've known.each other for a long time.

When the band does break up, will you both remain friends?

Oh God, yeah, of course.

Select five albums that you own that you think should be in everyone's record collection.

Hmmm... That's a tough one. How about Revolver. Either the first or second Zeppelin album. I'd probably pick Who's Next. Then there's Tony Bennett, I'd pick his album Th e Art Of Excellence.

Are you serious?

Oh yeah, he's awesome, he's the man. The last one, this is so difficult, probably a Stones album, I'm not sure which one. Through The Past Darkly is pretty good.

Are you active on-line?

I can barely turn on a computer. I've been building a house for two years. Until the house is done, everything's in storage. When I'm over somebody else's place I may go online but it's very rare.

Do you ever read the posts about Kiss?

Oh sure, I'm real interested.

Gene speaks about the Kiss on-line community having a perspective that is warped. What are your thoughts on that?

You can be a bit fanatical and a bit narrow in your scope but hey, whatever turns you on. It can get a bit over-the-iop but so what.

Tell us about Kiss' new home video, The Second Coming.

It's awesome. It's coming out later this year. It's really the story and the history of the band getting back together and it's really great. It's a double-length video, two videos. It's live performance, interviews, everything. It's the whole story and it's very, very good.

Since my last interviews I wanted to catch up and have the band rate some of the newer Kiss releases, 1-4 stars starting with Alive III.

I'd give it three stars. I'm very proud of it. Does it capture the magic of the first two? Gee, I don't think Godfather III does but if you saw Godfather III you'd say it's a good film. If you see it next to the other two it's got mighty strong company. On Alive III I think the songs were played very very well, I think the performance is great and I think the spirit on that album is fabulous.

Unplugged?

Unplugged I'd give three stars. I'm very pleased with it. The point on that album was not really to prove anything to anybody or win converts. It really was us, maybe for ourselves, showing how good those songs are. We did them during the Kiss conventions, So many of those songs were written on acoustic guitars, they were written in a much more simple fashion than they're played. The philosophy has always been, if it doesn't sound good on one guitar iCs a shitty song (laughs). "Sure Know Something" is one of my favorite songs on that album.

Okay, how about You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best!!?

That's just kind of like a sampler. The purpose of that album is for some of the new fans perhaps who don't have entire history or the entire catalog. If vou haven't had the whole meal, here's a little taste of each course. I'd have to listen to it again and let you know how many stars I'd give it.

Paul, it sounds like you re-recorded the lead vocals on several of the songs room that album like "Room Service" and "Take Me." Was there any re-recording of the vocals on the record?

No.

You didn't re-sing any of the vocals?

No.

Lastly, rate Carnival Of Souls.

That's a tough one. I would give that album two stars. Not because I didn't like it. I think it was a really, really heartfelt attempt by that band to push what we were doing as far as we could. It was also a reflection of where the band was at at that point. I like the album a lot but it's not my taste if I look back on it. It's really not indicative of what I like doing most. So I can do it and I enjoyed it but I would rather write more of what I'm doing now.

What does your son Evan think of Daddy being in Kiss?

He knows what I do but it's not a preoccupation with him or me. It doesn't really play a big part in our lives except we travel the world and have a lot of fun.

So he's used to seeing his Dad wearing makeup now?

(laughing) Yeah, he is.