Now that Kiss’ farewell tour is over, Paul Stanley has admitted he feels a bit adrift.
“There’s no way to give that up and not feel a sense of, if not lost, kind of disoriented,” he recently explained on the podcast Rock of Nations With Dave Kinchen & Shane McEachern.
“It was time [for Kiss to stop touring], and intellectually it made sense, but that doesn’t mean that emotionally, it doesn’t play a part in it,” he continued. “So, yeah, being home, as I am right now, is normal. What’s not normal is I’m not going back out.”
Stanley clarified that he sees a difference between the continuing legacy of the band, as well as his stage persona, and his real life.
“Kiss remains,” he said. “We’re so involved in what’s going on now and the future and this phenomenal, mind-boggling Kiss avatar show. But, yeah, to not be up there — I see video from 10 months ago, 11 months ago, and it almost seems like a lifetime ago, because I’ve kind of come to grips with not doing that again. … Star Child is forever — but me up there, that’s done.”
The Kiss Avatar Show
Kiss’ avatars were first unveiled in December of 2023 at the band’s final concert, which brought the End of the Road tour to completion. Not long after that, Gene Simmons noted in a social media post that it would be a while before the virtual band will make their official debut: “2027. A show is coming.”
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In the meantime, Stanley isn’t voicing regrets about coming off the road.
“I think that we’ve all earned the right, and always have the right, to decide what we do and for how long,” he said. “An audience has a right to stop coming. But the rest is up to the individual.”
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Counting down solo albums released by various members of Kiss.
Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening