11:57 AM 7/4/1996
By BRUCE WESTBROOK
Copyright 1996 Houston Chronicle
Paul Stanley has no use for starving artists.
By his standards, Vincent van Gogh -- who sold only one painting in his lifetime -- was a hack. And Stanley's KISS, known more for theatrics than music, is one of the greatest rock acts in history.
After all, the group has meant big box office and 75 million in album sales since it was born in New York in 1972. And now that the original lineup is reuniting for its first tour in 17 years, shows have been selling out in less than an hour.
That includes a Saturday concert at The Summit, for which tickets were claimed in just 45 minutes, according to promoter Beaver Productions.
"Quality is dictated by the masses,"Stanley said. "QuaIity is not dictated by starving. I just don't believe that someone the public doesn't embrace has all that much to offer."
Would that include rockers such as the acclaimed and widely emulated Patti Smith, who's never had a gold record?
"Yeah," Stanley said. "It would."
To him, the best music "has the greatest common denominator that the most people can tap into. People aren't idiots."
KISS has amassed its loyal following with thundering hard rock and the same kind of showmanship that Stanley promises for Saturday.
Fans needn't worry. Bassist Gene Simmons will seem to fly, eat flames and spit up blood. Ace Frehley will play a smoking guitar that shoots rockets. Peter Criss' drum kit will rise off the stage. And singer-guitarist Stanley will be a strutting sex symbol.
In short, these guys may have reached middle age (Stanley is 44), but the old magic lives on.
Much of that old magic has KISS in elaborate makeup and costume for the first time since 1983. And the band is playing only old favorites, such as Calling Dr. Love, Beth and Rock and Roll All Nite.
"We're playing no new material,"Stanley said. "We're playing the songs that made this band famous."
Yet other older groups such as the Rolling Stones never fail to match new tours with new albums.
"God bless the Rolling Stones," Stanley said. "But why come up with something new when you have a classic? Would you paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa just to make it new?"
Somehow, Stanley doesn't see this as nostalgic.
"The last thing we'd want to do is create nostalgia. This isn't some Vegas act that's going through the motions and collecting a pay check. There is a nostalgic element, but if it was purely nostalgia for us, we wouldn't do it."
Sounding like a ringmaster priming a circus crowd, Stanley exults in hyperbole, saying KISS "not only will live up to people's expectations, but (also) blow them away.
"Our past casts a huge shadow, and the only ones who can fill it are us. When something has become a legend, it better live up to it."
Few critics have applied the word "legend" to KISS, nor has the group ever won a Grammy or been a hits-driven radio staple.
But when KISS fueled glam-rock's '70s explosion, its cartoonish looks and spectacular shows made the band larger than life. Its members became like superheroes to young fans, even spawning KISS comic books and a TV movie.
Now Stanley says a new generation of kids is buying KISS, along with now-grown kids from the '70s. And the "KISS Army" marches on.
By returning to its roots, he believes KISS could push other bands to deliver showmanship in concert along with their music.
"Once we've done this tour, you'll see bands finally dressing up again and entertaining the audience instead of giving them a reason to stay home and listen to CDs," Stanley said.
"Clearly, people are bored with what's out there. Less isn't more. Less is less. Less is nothing. People are tired of paying for that."
But Stanley doesn't dismiss all new music.
"I think Alice in Chains, Garbage and Alanis (Morissette) are great,"he said. "But I don't think anyone out there is really delivering the goods live -- and I don't mean musically.
"If you just want to listen to music, the sofa is a perfect place. But a KISS show is for anyone who's ready for a party -- a party that includes, at no additional charge, a sonic lobotomy. Welcome to the amusement park."
Yet even KISS abandoned its wild stage personae in 1983, going without makeup and costumes for the first time, onstage and off.
By then the band had splintered. Criss and Frehley had left, while Stanley and Simmons soldiered on, joined by other musicians including, most recently, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer.
"The idea of an amicable split is nonsense," Stanley said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have split."
Things changed when Frehley and Criss were invited to a KISS MTV Unplugged show. The original four realized it was "the right time"to reunite, Stanley said.
"I once swore I'd never play with them again, but they were no longer the same people," he said.
KISS already had recorded what he called "arguably the best studio album we'd done in 10 years." But with Singer and Kulick on the sidelines, "it's on the shelf for a while."
That still leaves a 27-album catalog (all but one has been certified gold or platinum) as the original KISS smacks back.
It's not as if KISS had ever stopped puckering. The revamped band remained a steady draw in many countries.
"But this is the group that started it all," Stanley said, explaining the new tour's erupting momentum.
Except for opening night last Friday at Detroit's Tiger Stadium, the tour is playing only arenas. Austin's Pushmonkey will open here; KISS will play for about two hours.
In some cities the band is adding shows, but in Houston the schedule is too tight. Yet Stanley hopes to return here on the next American leg of a projected two-year world tour.
"Touring is in our blood," he said. "That's what we believe rock 'n' roll is about. It's about being with the people who put you where you are."
He said the reunited foursome has been training "musically and physically" for five months. The band's props, equipment and "an enormous stage" travel in 11 trucks, hitting as many as five cities a week.
As usual, KISS comes armed with a barrage of T-shirts, tour books and other products. After all, this is a band that's been featured on everything from lunch boxes to trading cards.
"Merchandising is not a four-letter word," Stanley said. "People say we're marketing geniuses. We're anything but. We just listen to the fans."
How do they listen? Stanley said he reads his fan mail and has checked out KISS web sites on the Internet.
He also said the group is "very approachable. People can walk up to us on the street."
In concert, the band takes the initiative.
"We'll manage to get out into our audience in ways we've never done before," Stanley said. "We want to get as close to our fans as possible."
As for the future, "we have to leave that up to the fans," Stanley said.
His own preference would be to rock till he drops.
"Rock should be like the blues,"Stanley said, "something you can play as long as you're breathing.
"Blues players play till the day they die. If you're playing good rock 'n'roll, there's no reason you can't do that, too."