Paul Stanley has said that the current KISS lineup is “much more consistent” than the original lineup and that’s a big claim to make.
According to Blabbermouth, Stanley made the bold comment while speaking to Rolling Stone Germany this week about the band’s new official live bootleg series KISS – Off The Soundboard.
Talk turned to the guitar skills of co-founder Ace Frehley compared with current guitarist Tommy Thayer and Stanley had some interesting thoughts: “Tommy is very, very consistent,” he said. “Tommy always hits the bull’s eye, and there’s never any question about that.
And with Ace, I have to say, there was a certain amount of erratic playing. You didn’t really know, night to night, what you were going to get, I have to say. So the band, as it is now, is much, much, much more consistent. We’re always in sync with each other and always on point.”
Stanley continued by insisting that KISS just wouldn’t have been the same if the original members had stayed on. “I’m the first to say that the band wouldn’t exist today without having had Ace and Peter (Criss, the band’s original drummer) in the beginning,” he stated. “And I can also say the band wouldn’t exist today if Ace and Peter were still there. So, things move on, and certainly Ace, his playing is part of the foundation of what we do.”
KISS – Off The Soundboard, meanwhile, launched yesterday, June 11th, with ‘Tokyo 2001’, recorded by them at the Tokyo Dome back in 2001. That recording features Stanley and Gene Simmons, with Frehley and Eric Singer on drums. The complete live bootleg series will be available either as a 3-LP standard black vinyl set, a 2-CD set, digital downloads or via streaming. KISS – Off The Soundboard can be ordered here.
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Watch Paul Stanley’s interview with Rolling Stone Germany:
