PAUL STANLEY Says KISS 'Has Never Been Better'

Jeff Hahne of Creative Loafing recently conducted an interview with KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the fact that most people aren't aware that he's also a painter:

"Interestingly, the galleries will tell you there are people who come in and are drawn to certain pieces without ever even knowing it's me; that's secondary. I will also say in the same breath that no doubt my success and my fame gets my foot in the door. But you can still slam the door on my foot. Nobody's going to spend a good sum of money on art because they like it when I sing 'Rock And Roll All Night'. If they do, then they'd be better spending their money elsewhere."

"I believe art is for everybody, whether you're in a trailer or a villa. Somebody said I was fearless of color. What's there to fear? I've never been bitten by blue, or attacked by red."

"There's one piece that I have called 'Scream,' which was not done at a very pleasant time in my life. It was kind of tough for me to look at, at that point. I love the painting more today because it's kind of a snapshot of where I was once and how far I've come."

On KISS's current status:

"The band has never been better. The fact is, we did do a farewell tour and by the end of the tour I realized that the only thing I wanted to say farewell to was a couple of members and the band should continue. The only ones who question that are the ones who don't want us to continue, and they're so insignificant in numbers that they do not even warrant an answer. This will continue beyond my tenure in the band."

On a balance between the music and art:

"Music and songwriting has much more structure to it. The only boundary in painting is the edge of the canvas. I made sure that once I started painting that I was going to work without any rules or limitations."

Read the entire interview at PaulStanley.com.