Paul Stanley's Soul Station Visit to Japan

(translated from billboard-japan.com) The soul / R & B project, Soul Station, a whole body by Paul Stanley of KISS will hold a long-awaited visit to Japan in January next year. This project to show off Seoul Classics' covers such as The Temptations, Jackson 5, The Miracles, Al Green, etc. with full of energy. When I say "KISS" and soul music, I feel like a strange combination, but how is the truth? Why now, Paul Stanley as superstar Soul Station challenge the cover of Seoul Classics, supervised Japanese version of Paul's autobiography, and music critic Mr. Yuichi Masuda also known for his interviews with Paul himself I got a commentary.


The most hot band in the world - When the word roars like a thunder to the darkened arena, an overcrowded audience shouts the name of KISS according to the announcement and a literal monster band show opens. It's a familiar sight for those who love this band. The history of KISS who gave birth in New York in 1973 has already entered its 45th year and has already passed forty years since the first landing in Japan realized in 1977.

From KISS's 1974 debut album release to the present, if you are told that it has been really "the most hot in the world" existence, you probably will have no choice but to say NO. But who was imagining when this strange and conceptual band would continue to reign in the forefront of the music scene for such a long time to such an extent. This band from 1976 to 1977 when symbolic albums such as "DESTROYER", "ROCK AND ROLL OVER", "LOVE GUN (Love · Gun)" were born Although it seems that it is at the height of the height of the mountain, they are a real face era from 1983 which was working with dropping the trademark make-up as well as after 1996 which reached the reunion at the original lineup, and even Even now, it boasts unwavering supportive height.

　In the past, their popularity, which caused a boom close to social phenomena while involving children who were immune to rock music, was viewed as transient to the adults at the time. But there are a couple of young people who awakened to rock at KISS and started to like bands. Their accomplishment is not only the tremendous album sales and mobilization records but also the impulse / motivation for the young generation, and also the fact that we have not exterminated rock culture. Besides, their music and live show have made fans who have grown adults still crazy, their heat spreads to their sons and daughters, or their grandchildren, that "former boys" will be brought to the live It continues.

Paul Stanley is a vocalist / guitarist who has been instigating this band with Gene Simmons since its formation. A buddy 's genealogy has a synonym for "a man with a thousand faces", but Paul' s face is not only that familiar with KISS. He is also a solo musician, a musical actor, a restaurant and chain co-owner, and a painter. Moreover, he is also a good family member, and the skill of cooking seems to be considerable. Also, in his own autobiography "FACE THE MUSIC: A LIFE EXPOSED (Paul Stanley Autobiography Monster - Masked Confession ~)" published in 2014, with his spectacular rock star we have become familiar with for years Trauma and conflict-rich births that can be said to be true and reversed are starkly told.

　In recent years Paul has been passionate about his efforts towards soul music he himself has loved since childhood. It is not just a solo activity. It is a live activity in a band form called Paul Stanley's Soul Station. In the interview I wrote in 2016, he talks about motivation for starting this new project, as follows.

　"This was a sudden and fun challenge.The trick is that the music such as Motown and Philly Soul that had a great influence on myself have recently stopped being heard clearly.The Temptations, The Styli Sticks, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles ...... I think people listening to the music of such wonderful artists are somewhat decreasing somewhat, and the opportunity for such music to be played on the live stage. If the opportunity to listen to high music is losing more and more, there is not such a shame, so the goal of this project is to play such great music faithfully to the original with great respect. "

Actually, he himself said at the time of this interview, "My next plan is to lead this project in Japan," he said. That will be realized in 2018, finally. Let me introduce Paul's remarks a little more.

　"The members who are playing together here are all the preeminent top musicians who have performed together with Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston etc. Their pleasure is to play those kinds of music more than anything So, anyway, I think I am fun to be myself and it is also connected to a good live, some of which may be rock and fans surprising that I am overwhelmed by such music.But I, however, Before getting absorbed in the Led Zeppelin, I'm watching Otis Redding's live.The Temptations, Solomon Burke.Besides not just being in my roots but also as a truly amazing music , Thus Horn section and back Singa Be tribute seriously while pulling in, really fun. This is exactly, I because it is timeless music. "

It is precisely the word that the frontman of KISS is a timeless rock band, so there is not only his own pure taste but also a heavy weight. In this live we will face one side of Paul that I have never known. But there is no need to get involved. That live should definitely be something you can enjoy without any reason, regardless of generations. Just like the live of the most hot band in the world is always like that.

Tokyo
January 11th - 13th

Osaka
January 15 - 17