Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are both laying low at their respective houses in L.A. while dealing with the ongoing pandemic. The Kiss co-founders who are on break from the band's “End Of The Road” tour, spoke with Rolling Stone about how they're dealing with being cooped up at home. Stanley directly addressed fans, saying, “Be as safe as you can for your sake and the sake of everyone around you. This isn’t a time to be casual or make unqualified judgments. There’s far more to this than simply looking at recovery or mortality percentages. We’ll get through this.”
Simmons added: “I would like to wish everyone good health and remind them that 'the only way is the lonely way.' Just like your favorite TV show, you can assume everybody out there is a zombie, and one contact will turn you into a zombie. Stop hanging out with everybody. Stay at home, if you can. This too shall pass, but it will take a long time. It could last months and months. So get used to FaceTime, binge-watch your favorite shows, workout at home. And stay away from everybody else.”
Stanley went on to shed light on his day-to-day: “I’m watching news updates, playing the guitar, tweaking Soul Station album mixes, checking in on friends, and trying to keep things as normal and fun for my family.”
Simmons gave fans a look into how he's been spending his time: “Staying at home with (my wife) Shannon (Tweed). Sometimes my children, Nick and Sophie, come by with food. Otherwise, we go hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains, where there are few other people. And, of course, it’s an opportunity to binge-watch all sorts of shows we would normally not get a chance to watch.”
He went on to talk about the music that's been getting airplay at home, admitting, “Mostly, I turn to music that has a tug of the heart: 'Crazy' by Patsy Cline, 'I Can’t Stop Loving You' by Ray Charles. Stuff like that.”
Stanley added: I’ve been listening to a lot of Motown and Philly soul — Thom Bell and Linda Creed, Gamble & Huff, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman Whitfield — and classic rock.”
It's not surprising that Kiss is keeping in touch with fans during the current situation — Gene Simmons told us that everything he and Paul Stanley have has happened due to the unyielding support of the “Kiss Army”: “Even at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even with the fans clamoring for it, because, let’s call it for what it is; Jann Wenner was not gonna have it. He’d rather have the Sheepherders on the cover of Rolling Stone — which may or may not be a fine band, but in their very first year, they get on the cover and we’ve been around 40 years. But, we don’t define ourselves by any of that stiff. We’ve always lived, breathed and ate in the world of our fans. They are the ones who empower us, who validate us — and that’s all we need.”
Kiss is set to kick off a South American tour on April 24th in San Salvador, El Salvador.
The band's next North American gig is set for August 28th in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania at KeyBank Pavilion.
