Paul Stanley is coming to O.C. with his new Soul Station band

Stanley is taking on a new musical style that might shock some fans of his hard-rock band, but it's one that he insists helped shape the face-paint-wearing, pyrotechnic group, which has been around since 1973.

Teaming up with a dozen other musicians, Stanley, who sings and plays guitar in KISS, is dropping the instrument, makeup and theatrics to sing covers of Motown and soul classics in a new group called Soul Station, which he is bringing to Orange County this month.nn "Anything is more toned down than KISS," Stanley said, laughing, of the group made popular by hits like "Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Detroit Rock City."

 "As soon as you do something, it's more toned down than what we do, but the power of something like Soul Station can take the top of your head off," he said. "It's very powerful, and I walk off stage drenched. It goes back to something that's stripped down, but by no means is it laid back. It's like a steamroller.

"You can't have a 13-piece band with horns and backup singers and not bowl somebody over. It's big, it's loud and it's fun. You don't usually assemble something like this and play a club. But that's part of what makes this so fun."

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