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KISS is still pulling them in all these years later. The band plays Tuesday at Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque presents The Pavilion.
Just two years but three studio albums into their career, they were building a rabid fan base but were struggling to make a dent in the music industry.
So KISS went ahead and changed the music industry.
In the late summer of 1975 the group, which would eventually become one of the most celebrated rock bands of all time, released “Alive!”
Was the title ever apropos.
“Alive!” is what KISS has been for nearly four decades, making music history and selling 100 million albums worldwide along the way.
“You have to love what you’re doing,” guitarist/vocalist and founding member Paul Stanley told the Journal in a one-on-one sit-down prior to a concert in Las Vegas, Nev., during their KISS Alive/35 Tour, explaining the group’s phenomenal longevity and popularity.
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KISS
With Mötley Crüe KISS in Albuquerque KISS has performed in Albuquerque multiple times. Paul Stanley, the lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist and one of the band’s founding members, says the state has left quite an impression on him. |
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“Otherwise, if it’s a matter of money, I would have stopped a long time ago. The challenge is to live up to everything we’ve done in the past and maybe surprise some people. I try to surprise myself. My biggest critic is me. And the only person I’m competing with is me.
“After (all these) years, I’ve got a lot to live up to, and I try to jump a little higher every night.”
Stanley, his fire-breathing, blood-spitting and tongue-waggling original bandmate, Gene Simmons, and KISS hit the Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque presents The Pavilion stage on Tuesday, Aug. 7. They are the headline act, with Mötley Crüe opening the show.
A KISS concert experience is as legendary as its melodic, hair-raising, foot-stomping hard-rock sound. And despite the members’ ages -Stanley is 60 and Simmons turns 63 this month – their energy and stage presence hasn’t changed since they formed in New York City in 1973.
The fan base, of course, has. Some of it.
While there will likely be 50- and even 60-somethings at the Albuquerque concert rocking to mid-1970s classics like “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “Detroit Rock City,” it’s a guarantee there will be plenty of face-painted teens, as well as others of all ages in the mix.
“The great thing is, it becomes really multigenerational,” Stanley said. “So you not only have some of the fans who were there at the beginning, but you have new fans. You have a very healthy rock audience, so to speak, who are used to other bands, and we come out there and give them a wake-up call of what it could be.
“So between the old die-hards, and some people bringing their kids, it’s almost a rite of passage.”
Few bands can match the touring tenure of KISS. Even fewer can match its live theatrics.
KISS redefined the concert-going experience with sensational light shows, elevating drum sets, explosions, fire and confetti-blasting white-outs. Its shows were the root of its fanatical following in the mid-’70s, and set the stage for “Alive!” – a two-set album that has sold more than 9 million copies and is widely considered as one of the greatest live records of all time. The songs from it are still a huge part of the current KISS shows.
But the band also continues to turn out new material. Its 20th studio album, “Monster,” has an October release date.
Stanley says he’s never taken the band’s tremendous success for granted and will always be immensely appreciative for the fans. As for the formula that has made KISS one of the most influential acts of all time, he says it’s actually pretty simple.
“We obviously tapped into something a long time ago,” he said. “And by retaining our contact with what made us in the first place, we stayed, I guess, timeless. What we were singing about (in 1973), was about freedom. About self. About individual fulfillment. About believing what you could accomplish and celebrating life.
“I guarantee, that 1,000 years ago, those all hold true. And those will hold true 1,000 years from today.”
