Paul Stanley hasn't toured in a little over a year since KISS brought their End of the Road tour an end in December 2023. Appearing on the debut episode of the Stories To Tell With Richard Marx podcast, he says it's been an adjustment.
"There are people who are touring constantly because they're empty and because they need that audience positive response. Years ago for me, probably decades ago, that may have been the case. At this point, it's been incredibly gratifying. The last tour was just a chance to really take in how valuable and how much this meant to me. But I couldn't keep doing it any more than Michael Jordan could.
"I've always been more than a musician or performer — I've been an athlete — and you realize that you can only do that so long. I've been blessed to do it into my 70s, which if you told me that 50 years ago, I'd say you're out of your mind. So, yeah, I miss it, but I don't crave it. I think the people who really crave it are the ones who don't find other means for gratification either from other people or self-gratification, whether it's, for me, painting or my family or friends..."
While KISS continue to work on a five-part documentary about the farewell tour, they've just announced, in conjunction with Precious Sounds, two limited-edition 50th anniversary releases of their 1974 song "Strutter" on playable gold records.
The first is pressed from eight ounces of pure .999 24-karat gold and is limited to five copies worldwide. The A-side contains playable grooves, a rim engraving with each record’s unique edition number as well as the KISS logo adorned with Swarovski crystals. The B-side celebrates the original Casablanca single label etched into the gold with proof-quality finish.
It's packaged in a luxurious coffee table display case bound in sustainable faux leather with gold foil accents and a Swarovski crystals KISS logo. The two-drawer case is hand-crafted to preserve this everlasting record for a lifetime. One drawer houses a protective sapphire crystal glass capsule and the other holds an exclusive book signed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Other accessories in the set range from the gold-accented pen utilized to sign the respective book, a laser-engraved and numbered metal certificate of authenticity, a custom-made cork record mat for optimal playback, and a microfiber cleaning cloth. Each pressing is made-to-order and will set you back $50,000.
The more affordable option, limited to 500 copies, is the Gold-Plated Edition. It comes in a custom display case with a crystal glass window, a booklet, a silicon record mat, a micro-fiber cleaning cloth, and its own hand-numbered certificate of authenticity. Orders will be limited to two copies per customer at $2,500 each.
Complete details at ShopKISSOnline.com.
IN OTHER MUSIC NEWS....
Ann Wilson has joined the ranks of podcasting with the launch of After Dinner Thinks With Ann Wilson, which you can find on YouTube and Spotify.
In the pilot episode, she talks about the challenges of having a conversation with someone across the political spectrum without it turning into an argument.
She says, "It's just really hard to decide that you're just gonna be quiet, with all the noise and confusion and chaos going on around us, especially surrounding truth and lies. It's so hard to decide to be that person that just goes, 'Okay, there are all these cool people here, but I can't talk to them, because it would just open up this big ugly chasm of derision between us.'
"Coming from Seattle, Washington and moving to the South, as I did 10 years ago, it took me a while to learn that lesson. There can be really great, great people, but you don't wanna talk politics. It's like a minefield. And it makes you think differently about people, makes you think the worst of them, if you disagree that much. And you can't really control those feelings."
And, commenting on the current political climate, she says, "The Department of Education being shut down so that there's time to buy all these new textbooks that don't handle the uglier topics of our history. To teach the newborn little kids, 'Hey, that never happened. What are you talking about?' 'Oh, don't listen to your friends; they just gossip. There was no Holocaust, no slavery.'
"When [Ronald] Reagan was elected [president] — I'm old enough to have been there when he was elected — and I was an adult; I voted. I didn't vote for Reagan, but he won. And at that time, I thought, 'Well, this makes anything possible. You can elect a Hollywood star, who, okay, yeah, he was the governor of California for a while, but you can elect a Hollywood star, an actor, to be president. So that makes anything possible for the future.' And sure enough, we're still on the downward slope."
On the musical side of the spectrum, Ann and Heart begin their Royal Flush Tour on February 28th in Las Vegas.