Music

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons want KISS to live on without them

by Richard Howard

A favourite thing for musicians to say is “Our band is more than just the four of us – it’s an idea.” Turns out, when Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons say it, they mean it 100% literally.

Earlier this year, Paul Stanley alluded to the concept of KISS continuing on with replacement musicians.

KISS is immortal. I look forward to a day when I’ll see KISS play without me. Don’t want to do it next week, haven’t penciled anything in, but it would be the culmination of what we’ve built and a consistent progression. Do you go to a Yankees ballgame and hold up a sign ‘Where’s Babe Ruth?’ The team continues because the ideal is met. The standard is met. If someone else can be a great frontman and reflect the philosophy of KISS, it doesn’t have to be me. Is there someone else out there either in their teens or early 20s now who is going to pick up the torch? I’m sure there is.

While this sounds largely hypothetical, Simmons expressing a similar sentiment has to make one wonder whether this the next step in the KISS playbook. As he told WCNX radio: “one day we’re gonna hang up our platform heels… I’d like nothing better than if four new, young, deserving, hard-working guys would put on the makeup and carry the torch. That would be the coolest.”

Now, while I’m sure it’d be “the coolest” to the notoriously bottom-line-concerned Simmons to sit back and cash fat royalty checks while some dude named Darrel from Albuquerque takes his place as the KISS demon, I’m unsure fans would agree. On the flipside, considering any newer fans would have little idea who Gene Simmons is, Simmons may very well hit pay dirt with ‘KISS 2.0.’ [h/t AntiMusic]