Paul Stanley has said that he believes KISS would be able to carry on without any original members while insisting that the iconic band is “bigger than any of its members”.
Speaking to Germany’s Radio Bob!, Stanley was asked whether he thinks a KISS 2.0 version of the band could continue touring if he and Simmons were to exit the legendary rock group.
“I think that recasting KISS or KISS 2.0 is not what we have ever talked about,” Stanley replied.
“Can KISS continue and can it evolve without us in it? Well, yeah, because it’s already 50 percent there. In other words, there was a time where people said, ‘Well, it can only be the original four.’ [And then] it was, ‘Well, it can only be the original three.'”
He added: “Well, things move on and circumstances change.”
“Could I see KISS evolving with different personnel? Yeah,” he emphasised.
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“As big a fan as I am of what I do — and I think I’m damn good — there are other people around who could pick up the torch and bring something to the philosophy and to the live show and to the music.
“It would be KISS. It wouldn’t be KISS 2.0. If it were to happen, yeah, it would be really just a continuation of the philosophy that we’ve always had, and that’s that KISS is bigger than any member.”
Stanley has previously spoken out on the band’s plans to retire after their ongoing farewell tour.
Their farewell tour, End of The Road, has been going since January 2019, with plans to wrap by July, 2022. The tour includes a whopping 270 shows and has so far been a huge success, but Stanley says the boys are just too old to continue with the band.
“I think I’d be kidding myself if I thought otherwise. If we were just another band in t-shirts and trainers, we could do this into our 80s,” he told Download earlier this month.
“But we’re running around on stage with 40 or 50 pounds of gear and boots with eight-inch heels, and we do it well, but I also know that we can’t do it forever.
“So before it reaches that point, I think it’s better that we stop. I take it really seriously, so the idea of being able to do this without end, it’s just not possible.
“The one thing you realise as you get older is that at some point you stop getting older.
“Everything comes to an end, and there are other things I want to do. And like I said, it’s not possible to do what we do indefinitely. It’s just not.”
For more on this topic, head over to the Classic Rock Observer
Check out Paul Stanley on Radio Bob!:
