PAUL STANLEY Talks To The Wall Street Journal About Secret Of KISS' Success

Almost 40 years later, what's the secret sauce behind KISS?

The Wall Street Journal set out to answer this and many other questions when they sent a reporter from New York City to visit KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley's home and art studio in Beverly Hills, California. Among other things, Paul talked about the band's secrets of success, his vastly successful art career and his role as a producer on the upcoming KISS album, "Monster", scheduled for release in 2012.

Paul's interview is tentatively scheduled to run at the end of December.

In a recent interview with U.K.'s Classic Rock magazine, Stanley stated about KISS' follow-up to 2009's "Sonic Boom", "'Sonic Boom' was a pivotal album in the sense that we were aware of who we were as a performing band, but we had to re-establish who we are as a recording band. That being done, this is much easier and that much more self-assured.

Added bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons: "This new record feels heavier than 'Sonic Boom'. It feels like [it's] a connection between 'Destroyer' and 'Revenge'.

Regarding some of the tracks that will appear on "Monster", Stanley said, "I'd be surprised if the album didn't start with 'Hell Or Hallelujah'. It's up-tempo, a great riff, definitive KISS. There's a track called 'Born To Be A Sinner', and Tommy [Thayer, guitar] has a song called 'Out Of This World', which is terrific. They're anthemic songs. That's the nature of how we write. There are no ballads."

Added Simmons: "'Are You Ready?' is a new track that I worked out, wrote, and brought everyone into the studio and said: 'Let's bang this out.' Another of the new songs, tentatively titled 'Wall Of Sound', we just came up with on the spot. The guts of that song were written in 40 minutes."