Stephen Cenatiempo of Australia’s Grant Broadcasters radio network recently conducted an interview with KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.
Speaking about the criticism levelled at KISS leaders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons for having Thayer and fellow current KISS member Eric Singer dress up as Ace Frehley’s and Peter Criss’s and respective “Spaceman” and “Catman” personas, Tommy said: “It doesn’t [bother me]. I don’t think too much of it. You’ve gotta figure, in this world, everybody’s got a point of view and an opinion, and there are a few people out there that are, let’s call ‘em, ‘very traditional’ in terms of thinking that this shouldn’t happen. But I think that the track record of what the band’s done in the last ten [or] fifteen years speaks for itself. KISS is as big as ever and on top of the rock and roll touring world, and things work great.”
He continued: “I don’t believe that [Paul and Gene] should have changed the makeup designs or invented new characters [for the new members] and that sort of thing; I don’t think that that would have been a smart idea. And I think that, again, if you look at the last ten or fifteen years, the track record of the band really speaks for itself and just shows that the right decision was made on that.”
Asked about Stanley and Simmons‘ often-repeated claim that KISS can carry on without any original members, Thayer said: “I don’t think it’s completely out of the question that something like that could happen, because with KISS, it’s all about pushing the boundaries and thinking outside the box. It’s a never-say-never kind of thing.”
He continued: “I don’t know exactly who that would be [that could replace Gene and Paul] or what it would be like, but I believe somebody could come along and walk in and blow everybody away and then could take over to do something like that — even though it’s kind of hard to picture it right now. But, again, nothing’s completely out of the question.”
Source: Blabbermouth
