“I haven't played much... I thought if I started playing, I would miss playing with the band and doing what we do”: Paul Stanley admits he hasn't picked up the guitar in a while for fear he'll miss Kiss
After five decades in Kiss, and wrapping up the band's final shows, Stanley is trying to get back into the groove of playing guitar
(Image credit: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)
Paul Stanley has admitted how difficult it has been to leave the stage behind after Kiss wrapped up their End of the Road world tour. The tour, which started in 2019 and ended in 2023, saw Kiss take their final bow after five decades as a band.
“Last week, I was trying to figure out why I haven't picked up a guitar. I haven't played much. And I couldn't figure out why. And then I thought if I started playing, I was afraid that I would miss playing with the band and doing what we do,” says Stanley in a new interview with Gibson TV.
“It's my DNA that I just needed to back away for a bit. It's 50 years with Kiss. That's pretty phenomenal. And then to cut it off, at least in terms of being a live band, takes some acclimating to and adjusting to, so I needed a little time just to sit back and get my bearings.”
Stanley goes on to say that despite songwriting for a few other projects, he misses being onstage with his Kiss bandmates. “It always felt amazing. And I think losing sight of that would mean you don't deserve it – to the very last night, going out onstage, and doing what I aspired to do when I was a kid.
“To end it the way we did was really exactly what I wanted. I wanted us to end in a way that was undeniable. I wanted it to end in a way that people can say once upon a time, there was a band. And certainly there were a lot of unique bands. But there's only one Kiss.”
Kiss's End of the Road world tour consisted of 250 shows around the world, with the final show taking place on December 2, 2023, at Madison Square Garden in New York. However, during their final concert, the band revealed that a new era for the band will begin in 2027, via digital avatars.
KISS - Madison Square Garden - (02/12/2023) - Final Show Ever - YouTube
Exact details have not been announced yet. However, following ABBA's immense success with their ABBAtars – and considering that the Kiss avatars are financed and produced by the same Swedish company behind the ABBA project – it's safe to assume that the KISS digital avatar show will offer something similar, possibly with a quintessentially Kiss twist.
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Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.
