KISS frontman Paul Stanley held an impromptu Q&A session with fans during the “KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas” event, offering candid, unfiltered opinions on topics ranging from the band’s legacy with Ace Frehley to his disinterest in a Las Vegas Sphere residency.
The session took place after Stanley‘s “Cooking With Paul Stanley” seminar, part of a weekend fan celebration that included KISS‘ first full “unmasked” electric performance since their 2023 farewell tour. When asked about KISS performing at the much-talked-about Sphere venue, Stanley was quick to dismiss the idea, arguing the venue’s technology diminishes the band.
“From the time the Sphere opened, people would say to us, ‘You guys are a natural for the Sphere.’ I’m not really so sold on the idea, because KISS has always been about being larger than life, and at the Sphere, the band is on a postage stamp,” Stanley explained.
He argued that the spectacle itself makes the live performers irrelevant. “For my money, I think you don’t even need a live band there,” he said. “People are watching the screens, which are amazing… the content, is incredible, but I want the band to matter. You forget that there’s a band on that little stage, so I’m not really sure how we would do it.”
Stanley was just as blunt when a fan asked about the possibility of hearing “deep cuts,” a topic he has famously railed against in the past.
“Let’s talk about deep cuts for a minute. Deep cuts appeal to two people…” Stanley stated. “I once went to see a very, very big band, and what they were advertising for this particular show was [that] they were going to play all deep cuts. It was the most boring f**king thing I’d ever seen in my life.”
He defended KISS‘ dedication to their most famous songs, putting the appeal in stark terms: “Honestly, the reason cuts are deep is because they’re not popular, and they’re not as good. Do we take out ‘Detroit Rock City‘? Do we take out ‘Love Gun‘? Do we take out ‘God Of Thunder‘ to play some [lesser-known] song?”
The Q&A also touched on the foundations of the band and Stanley‘s complex relationship with the late Ace Frehley and original drummer Peter Criss.
“It’s no secret — we had lots of differences with Ace, lots of differences with Peter. But that’s family,” Stanley shared. “This whole KISS monument was built with a foundation of those guys. We couldn’t have started it without them, and we couldn’t continue it with them, but it doesn’t change [their contributions].”
He concluded his thoughts on Frehley with a poignant personal reflection: “We miss him, and I hope he lived the kind of life he wanted to. He was one of a kind and he was wild, and he did say if his life ended tomorrow, he’d have no regrets because he lived the kind of life he wanted to. That’s all we can expect from any of us…”
Among other topics, Stanley also gave fans a cryptic hint about new projects, saying: “You didn’t hear it from me, but yeah, there’s some new stuff [in the works]. I think you’ll be pretty excited and surprised.” He also confirmed that the KISS Kruise will likely return to the ocean, stating: “We’re doing our best to get a ship for next year.”
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