STAN PAULEY of PHAT KISS

How did your relationship with KISS begin? It all started when in was a kid digging through my older brothers record collection. I found Kiss Alive II and then knew my life would never be the same.

Can you explain why being a KISS fan is typically a life-long affliction? I have no idea why being a fan has lasted all my life. It would be impossible to pin down just one reason. But if I had to narrow it down I would say It’s their raw energy.

PHAT KISS return to LIVEWIRE on HALLOWEEN, do you have anything special planned for the KISS Army? Definitely have a few tricks up our sleeves for the LiveWire show!!

How did you show in Berwyn at Cigars & Stripes BBQ Lounge come about? A friend of ours works at a BBQ place and found out there was this Halloween BBQ fest in Berwyn on the Saturday the 28th there  …We love BBQ and Berwyn’s the home of the Son of Svengoolie. How could we refuse?!

Who is in PHAT KISS? Our current line up is Stan Pauley guitar / vocals, Beans Simmons bass / vocals, A.C. Crisps drums / vocals.

You have a dual role in the band — you’re the ‘Starchild’ but you also play all the leads. Is there room in PHAT KISS for a ‘Spaceman’ at some point?  We are definitely open to finding an ‘Ace’, It’s very important to us to find someone that will fit with our chemistry.

What’s your live set up in terms of amps & guitars? Marshall stack, Gibson guitars, though I do use a Iceman here and there.

What are the staples of your set and which cuts seem to go over best consistently? We try to do a mix of the hits and deep cuts  As far as shows are concerned …”Love Gun”, “Strutter”, “Detroit Rock City” and “I Was Made For Loving You” always get a great crowd reaction!

Are there any songs you tried live that were soon to get nixed? We’ve done some 80’s stuff like “I love It Loud” and “Tears Are Falling” but they never seem to stay in the set. We are still exploring some of that, I think we’re probably gonna throw in “War Machine” here soon.

What’s your favorite KISS album?  Kiss Alive II will always hold the top spot. That open guitar riff on “I Stole Your Love” just rips!

What is the best KISS concert you ever attended?  I’ve seen them maybe 10 times but I would have to say the last one at Chicago Open Air festival this summer rocked. They have so much material it went on for over 2 hours and their stage show always gets progressively better. Absolutely nothing beats when Gene flies during “God Of Thunder”.

Do you have a KISS ‘happy space’ you would share with fellow KISStorians? I don’t know what you mean by ‘happy space’ but for some reason KISS always sounds best to me cranked up while driving.

Did Vinnie Vincent save KISS?  There is a case to be made for Vinnie, but ultimately it’s Paul and Gene who are the driving force of KISS.

If you were mod your Harley Davidson KISS style, what would you do to it in a perfect KISS world?  Such a weird question …The only way to go there if I had to would be some sort of demon bike with glowing eyes and so its fire from the tail pipe like some tricked out 70’s chopper.

What’s your favorite track by each original KISS member?
Paul – “Love Gun” ….Man it’s “Love Gun”!!!
Gene – “Cold Gin” …Just a nasty riff and all the hoopla that goes with it.
Ace – “Rocket Ride” …Just a driving song that keeps pushing the limits and some really clever guitar work. Also, it’s about getting a blow job.
Peter – “Black Diamond”.

Do you believe KISS will continue without Gene or Paul as stated for years by both original founders? Epic. KISS will live forever, if not the original band In some way shape or form but in bands like us willing to carry the torch of The KISS Army. 

Do you think they ever deputize / co-brand KISS cover bands worldwide? I’d like to think there is some kid out there right now learning the solo for “Detroit Rock City”. Man …I have no idea what they would do.

This is your chance for a shout out to the boys because they are reading this — what say yee? All I know is we’ll keep doing it as long as the crowd is into it. Take us on THE KISS KRUISE!!

KISStorian remembers ACE @TheAvalon ’94

It was back in the winter of ’94, there’s a reason I remember it well …it was Ace at The Avalon and he was slippin’ & slidin’ on a “Rocket Ride” to hell.

I left the show seriously concerned about Ace. Believe me, at the time it seemed there was no way that KISS would ever re-unite. In hindsight, it’s possible their doing so may have saved Ace’s life.

Reports from Ace’s booze-soaked ‘Just For Fun Tour‘ must have had Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley starting to think it’s ‘now or never’. Especially so when intel on the subsequent Criss/Frehley ‘Bad Boys Of Rock Tour’ pairing had similarly dark forecasts for both the Cat & Spacemen.

But whose kidding who? Whether Gene & Paul had always known they would reunite at some point or not, both Ace & Peter’s camps we’re aiming at the same reunion Yahtzee. As it turns out, the perilous road bender worked, forcing KISS’s hand, one way and another. 

Anyway, by the time Ace finally hit the stage an hour late, The Avalon was a scene of KISStoric anguish. It was f’ing freezing outside, but it was hotter than hell in the club as the low ceilings in the over-packed room drove the temperature up. As folks got restless, pre-show chants of “Fuck You!” bubbled up, rivaling the fading “ACE!! ACE!! ACE!!!” flurries as Rock Soldiers started to suspect Ace was “around the corner at the liquor store” (or worse).

We later found out from the Avalon booking agent that Ace had had to be carried up the Avalon’s long backstage stairs by a couple of guys. Rumor is Ace’s ‘team’ couldn’t find him and didn’t realize that he had been passed out in the back of their Ryder truck, parked right outside on Sheffield.  Had they not found him, he may have frozen to death.

After the opening tune “Rip It Out”, Ace stumbled to the mic bewildered and said (no bullshit) “I don’t think I’m gonna make it”.  He was partly referring to how hot it must have been on stage but, given the situation, it was a ‘loaded’ statement.

Again people started cheering and jeering Ace simultaneously. Anguished cries came out from all over …”We Love You Ace!” …”You Can Do It Ace!” …as well as “Fuck You Ace!”. It was as close to a KISS Army mutiny as I have ever seen.

KISStory tells us that although Frehley has ‘Trouble Walkin’ , he usually lands on his feet. In this case, he gets bye with a little help from his friends because, had the original four not come to terms a couple years later, I fear ‘Mr. Excitement’ may have taken a rough trajectory post ’94.  But perhaps it is as the Spaceman himself suggests in the tune “Immortal Pleasures” off Space Invader — he’s always been “protected by the powers”.  Maybe the Talismen?

 

 

KISStorian sees ACE FREHLEY’s true ‘Origins’ @ HOB Chicago

Since the dawn of civilization people have made pilgrimages to pay homage to their Gods and gather with the tribe. That is the feeling before, during and after an Ace Frehley concert. You’re back in the ‘New York Groove’ and in your rock & roll happy place (space) with Ace at the controls.

Such was the case a couple of weeks back when Ace made an earthly appearance at House of Blues here in Chicago. Night orbits with Ace over the years in the Chi have been bumpy rides at times (Avalon, Cubby Bear, China Club, Dome Room) but I am happy to report that Ace’s head, band, and space are in a great trajectory at present, no matter how semi-dazed & confused the captain may be from the excesses of rock & roll.

What struck me about this show is that Ace really did take a deep dive into his true ‘Origins’ by choosing to do the stuff I think he is most comfortable playing, perhaps enjoys most. It was basically a few key Frehley solo cuts, a couple covers off the newbie ‘Origins’, several non-Ace KISS tunes and then of course the core Frehley-penned KISS classics delivered with renewed zest & love. A set of KISStoric Ace ‘feel goods’.

2016’s stellar incarnation of ‘the Ace Frehley Band’ may in fact be Ace’s best live line-up ever. The addition of rock cosmonaut Chris Wyse on bass is nothing short of an Ace masterstroke. (Great bass solo Chris!) With Wyse’s well-honed hammer, drummer Scot Coogan‘s old school pocket, guitarist Richie Scarlet‘s razor rhythm attack and Frehley running the Les Paul warp drive, the band delivered cool grooves, cosmically faithful renderings and good vibrations all the way from Jendell!

A Tip of the Chicago Firehouse hats to hometown boy Coogan for kicking ass on every level required to do Ace proud. I get the sense now several years in that Scot may be the band leader in a sense. If  he’s not, he’s certainly the a heart & soul Rock Soldier that the KISS Army  need thank for his considerable tour of duty.

There were some fun moments during the show too. A couple of times we caught Ace watching co-guitarist Scarlet and being amused by the ‘Emperor of Rock’s’ mega antics stage left. For one thing, Scarlet has discovered a new move in which he whips his guitar with his scarf instead of picking it LOL.. During “Rock Soldiers”, Ace noticed ironically that his “old buddy Richie” was now rocking out stage right at the perfect time for Frehley to point at Scarlet when he sang the song’s lyric “and Satan on my right” laughing after he did so. Richie also took the liberty, while visiting the ‘windy city’, of dedicating “Bad Boys Are Comings” off Trouble Walkin’ to “Mr. Alfonso Capone”.

Early in the show, like four songs in, Ace wandered back to the kit between songs and was talking to drummer Scot Coogan when people starting yelling “ACE!! ACE!! ACE!!”. Eventually Frehley returned to the mic and said calmly “hey …I didn’t go anywhere?”

For the intro to “Shock Me” Ace inquired “Who do you thinks gonna win? ….Hillary or Trump?”  He paused for comic effect and then said ‘”Who Fucking Cares!!! … nothing would SHOCK ME!!!”

At one point Ace asked us, very subdued, “Is it loud enough? …. yeah? … why not make it louder?” He then brought us all on back home, back to ’74, when he shared a revelation of sorts before going in to “Parasite”. Oh what a cool moment it was when Ace informed us that he had written the song about “this girl that used to follow KISS around from city to city” and oh to meet that girl with the ‘Parasite Eyes’.

Ace is one of the few rock icon who has never changed his true stripes or sold out. Masked, unmasked, loaded, sober or otherwise, Frehley is a ‘National Treasure’. To me Ace is the American personification of Jimmy Page meets Keith Richards. When it comes to KISStory, you can never count Ace out, no matter what hand he’s holding.

KISStorian attempt on the Space Bear @ Dome Room ’95

It was August 8th, 1995 – and Ace was back, again. It seemed he was coming through a lot around then ….China Club, Cubby Bear, The Avalon.  We were there and I gotta say I miss those times on my Ace timeline, when you had no idea what might happen.

That aside, this was an ultra-weird venue for an Ace Frehley show. It was downtown in the tourist district as it were and the Dome Room was really just a dance club: a bullshit, over-priced pick up joint that felt like the live set from Purple Rain. It was lightly attended in ‘Ace in Chicago’ terms largely because the venue was not on rock fans radar and, even if you did know about it, was basically “not our scene man”. We almost got arrested outside the correctional center pre-show…long story.

Anyway ….Ace and his band were loose, rockin’ and surprisingly dialed if characteristically sloppy.  I heard “Sister” live for the first time that night….seemed pretty fresh in Ace terms: like Parasite met the 80’s on an octane bender, very Ace.

At one point we all lost track of my (then) girlfriend. She was gone. WTF? (No cell phones then kids). We waited till  the floor cleared post-show to see if she emerged but still no sign of her? We waited a bit longer and then had no choice but to walk out of the club only to find her sitting on the front steps apparently fine and pretty charged up.

So yeah, get this ……she had been “ejected from the club when I tried to steal the Space Bear for you!!”

Uh …. you fucking what?  ….are you crazy! She quickly confirmed….”When they left the stage just before the encore I climbed up when the lights were low and snagged the Space Bear off Ace’s amp ……but they saw me … the roadies …. they we’re fucking pissed!!!!…. they grabbed me and picked up and took me backstage, past Ace and the band and all the way to the backstage door and threw me out!! One of the guys said “you’re lucky your alive bitch” and slammed the door. Ahh, I see, you’re ok….. holy shit babe.

“Now do you know how much I love you?” she asked laughing along hilariously with our drunken friends. I replied delicately, all things considered, I guess still in shock? ….. “to be honest babe, I’ve got mixed feelings”

 

 

 

 

 

KISStory incomplete without Blazefest ’94

I hope you aren’t too jealous when I tell you this was one of the hottest shows ever performed by the band in any line-up configuration because, if you missed it, your KISStory timeline lacks a key ingredient. Thank god for Youtube — we can go back!!

It was April of ’94, the Revenge Tour was over, MTV Unplugged would be in August, and soon there after KISS would re-unite with Ace & Peter to conquer earth a second time. Of course, we had no clue then.

See, KISS always finds a way to stay in front of their audience. This was just another example of them being creative in coming up with cost effective solutions to do so while biding there time for, as always, what’s coming next.

The band had decided to do a couple of radio-sponsored one-off’s as it were to help promote the new venture / album, KISS MY ASS, in which a host of music legends would be performing & recording their favorite KISS songs at Gene’s behest including Toad The Wet Sprocket, Anthrax, The Gin Blossoms, Lenny Kravitz, Garth Brooks and even (yup) Stevie Wonder! Only KISS sets up their own tribute album. Well, at least then anyway; the duets may be coming soon.

Little did we know, and let me know if I am wrong, but this show may be the very last time Bruce Kulick performed live in concert with the band ‘plugged’ as it were and the very last performance of the Kulick/Singer/Stanley/Simmons roster.

Maybe that’s why they gave it so much love but it makes me  wonder (yes, it makes me wonder)  if they knew this might be the case. Or, maybe they were just rarin’ to play, having been off the road a bit and now performing without, as Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap once said, “all the mucky-muck” of a full blown tour scenario.

Another cool thing was that the boyz performed a set list picked entirely by fan voting that unearthed GOIN’ BLIND, I STOLE YOUR LOVE, STRUTTER, and, a major highlight, a hot version of GOT TO CHOOSE. As I recall, and listen back now, Bruce played his very best and seemed way more comfortable in this setting, on a small stage with encroaching amps and an audience he could reach out and touch. Eric Singer, who is always solid anyway, played seemingly inspired getting to play some of the cuts that he and Bruce had perhaps never played live with the band.

Want more gravitas? The band performed on a completely stark stage with no effects whatsoever: no KISS sign, no smoke, no blood, Only the banner of the now-defunct Chicago station The Blaze that stood behind them. For us Chicagoans it was refreshingly blue collar and natural, like seeing Cheap Trick @ Cubby Bear or something. This was like a gym with a stage on one wall, no seating, no stands. A mid-western barn-burner of sorts.

At the time, it was the best I had ever heard them. And so was the sound itself. Given the fact that they just flew in with guitars, the less robust PA resulted in a way warmer sound  than the typical KISS concert.  But what really struck me as a KISSTorrian was seeing and hearing the living breathing proof that KISS, with no frills, in an intimate setting, were simply a top flight rock & roll band firing on all cylinders. That night it felt to me like they had finally become as close to classic KISS as possible with the new line-up.  They had seasoned as a group. Even KISStory has it’s irony.

KISStorian — FREHLEY’S COMET @ The Aragon ’87

Me, my bro Rich and a couple other buddies went to see Frehley’s Comet at the Aragon (Brawl) Ballroom and I believe it was Ace’s first proper Chicago show on the heels of the release of his post-KISS solo debut Frehleys Comet with Y&T and others I could care less about then as today.

We were young preppy kids (brats) who didn’t quite fit in with the great unwashed huddled up in the line that would round and through the alley to right of the venues front doors.

Little did we know the show would be recorded and later appear as a live EP of sorts as Frehley’s Comet, Live + 1 in the sense that it was only a few cuts from the show on a single record that also included a studio ‘single’ in the Comet’s “Words Are Not Enough”.

If one listens closely to the recording you will hear me throughout Aton’s drum solo yelling (you guessed it) “ANTON” and more impressively (if I may say so) at the very beginning of the crowd response to the end of “Something Moved”. On the album it was a fade out and, being in only the second row after waiting all day in line for the general admission show, one can me hear me clear as bell screaming rather hoarsely “YYYYEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” just slightly before anyone else. A proud moment for timing; I am a drummer and it was a cool ending.

STARCHILD encounter

photo by PAUL NATKIN