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AS soon as Kiss announced their farewell tour, Paul Stanley frontman knew there would be cynics.
Because The End of the Road tour, starting next year, is actually Kiss's second goodbye.
The original Kiss line-up reformed for a farewell tour that ran from 2000 to 2001, but lost drummer Peter Criss before it finished and guitarist Ace Frehley soon after.
Stanley and fellow co-founder Gene Simmons would be later on Criss and Frehley's playing skills they were not particularly proud of the reformation tour musically, even if it was the line-up the fans wanted to see.
"The first farewell tour was almost 19 years ago," Stanley says. "Cynics be damned. Those people will always find something to say. That (reformed) line-up of the band was dysfunctional. People in the band were not showing respect to the fans or the band itself. We decided to put the horse down. The truth is we've been on the road for 19 years because we've made people still wanted to see you. "
For this farewell tour, dubbed The End of the Road, Kiss will be again Stanley, Simmons and "new boys" Tommy Thayer (15 years in the band) and Eric Singer (27 years).
Stanley insists this will When they announce they are splitting for good – Motley Crue had to sign a pact in public to prove to them that their final tour was indeed the last goodbye.
"Stanley says," But do you think it's a good thing? "
"It's all about your intent. We've been thinking about how to do this for a while. With the band being really in top form and getting on terrifically, it's time to take a victory lap. We made the conscious decision that this is it. "
Stanley, 66, says Kiss has strategically planned their exit. Dates for the End of the Road have been announced for all of 2019, but
"It's a big world," Stanley explains. "We want to go out and celebrate with each other and we'll be at you. We planned this. We're not getting any younger. If we were playing some rock and roll songs wearing blue jeans and t-shirts we could do this into our 90s. But we're wearing 40 or 50 pounds (18 to 22kgs) of gear, running around on stage.
"I'm 66. People half my age probably wish they were in the same shape. But there's no beating the clock. You can not. There are no 60-year-old gold basketball players or track runners. Your body can not take that. At this point we are facing the inevitable and want to do it in the best way possible. We want to do it while we feel very good.
"Forget about a typical rock band, we're so much more than a rock band. This is the greatest show we've ever put together. It's a completely different stage, a completely new technology. We're not one of those bands who do not have a farewell tour because we can not do it anymore. This will be the ultimate Kiss show. "
Part of the band's protagonists have always been there, but they've done it. As much as the internet has given the Kiss Army a new platform to rally the troops, there are also plenty of Kiss haters online.
Decades of jumping around on stage in heavy boots may be taken on Stanley's hips (he's had both replaced), but some voices are unaffected.
During his Australian solo tour this year, Simmons bandmate even mocked the Stanley "losing his voice". (Stanley was quick to point out Simmons was struggling to sell tickets to his concerts.)
"If anyone wants to hear me sound like I did on (1975's) Kiss Alive! then put on Kiss Alive!"Stanley says. "It would be absurd. Of course your voice changes. Any athlete's body changes. Any singer's voice changes. The naysayers and the scroogers will find the video of you falling on your bad, that's the one they'll post. But when you're playing to between 20,000 and 60,000 fans, I'm not really that concerned with the sceptics.
"I'm in the same boat a lot of people are," he adds. "I see singers around my age and we talk about it. The difference could be many things to do where you go 'Well he sounds really good', so does the keyboard player singing along with him. Or the person singing off stage. Kiss have never done that.
"I understand there is a lot of people who do not have a lot of money. I will do everything in my power and I know that I will be great on this tour. That is not delusional. I did not look like I was at the beginning of the band, nobody looks like they did it ago, but it's all about degree. But there are realities of course. "
Stanley – who is also an accomplished painter – says there are no plans to keep making new music.
"I do not think there's any reason to record at this point. You're up against your past. Your past is much bigger and more powerful than the quality of your songs. It's about songs that had a moment in somebody's life, that's where the power comes. It's a photograph of a certain moment for somebody.
"If you do not want a new album?" They have no intention of wanting to hear it. They may tolerate a new song or two. But do not kid yourself, when the (Rolling) Stones put a new album someone will say, 'That's terrific, now play Brown Sugar. It's the nature of the beast. I'd rather go out and celebrate our glories and not hunker down in the studio to do an album which, understandably, would never receive the embracing that earlier ones do.
If you could live on the band and live on the sound, I could tell you every day they're playing a new song because the audience sits down. People really do not want to hear those new songs live. "
It's a different world Kiss will be saying goodbye to. The badual metaphors in their lyrics Simmons has finally opted for marriage rather than salaciously reliving stories of the past.
Indeed, on Andrew Denton's Interview this year Simmons, 69, declared that, looking back on his behavior through the #MeToo prism, he'd been "an arrogant and badist pig".
The two Kiss originals are very different personalities – they've been many times in recent years, most recently on Simmons' unsympathetic views on the death of Prince and drug victims. However, Stanley and Simmons will go out as they come in – as friends.
"The Gene most people is a self-created commodity for the media," Stanley admits. "He'll say all kinds of things. That's who he is. He likes to stir things up, he likes to have soundbites. I am at 50 years at this point. We have an unbreakable bond and an appreciation for each other that goes beyond what we are most fortunate enough to have. "
Kiss will also have a great impression on the music industry. They are now reading the band who wrote the blueprint for finding new financial streams beyond the album and ticket sales.
They're a band that's pretty much everything possible and Stanley can see their legacy all around.
"There's a rock show out there, or a rap show, or any live show kiss DNA in it. We were the wake up call to what they should expect and not tolerate less than. We are still fans of Kiss and we are Kiss. "
Whereas they have prepared themselves musically and visually, they are already Rock and Roll All Nite the last song they'll ever play?
"The term 'bittersweet' comes to mind," he says. "I'm so grateful for everything I've been given and everything I've shared. I see this as a celebration. It probably will not sink in while it's over. That being said it's a time of joy and defiance if you will, celebrating that we've always, for better or worse, done it our way, unapologetically. We have stood by our victories and brushed ourselves off in defeat. We were and remain the band we always wanted to see. That's what we're going out of, the band we always wanted to see. "
Kiss, RAC Arena Perth November 16 2019, Coopers Stadium Adelaide November 19, Rod Laver Arena Melbourne November 21-22, Supercars Newcastle November 23, Qudos Bank Arena Sydney November 26, Brisbane Entertainment Center November 28. On sale 10am November 12, Ticketek
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