Kiss frontman Paul Stanley has revealed that he is working on a new full-length album with his R&B band Soul Station.
Stanley tweeted a photo of him and what appears to be eight other musicians in the studio on December 19th with the caption: “A SOUL STATION ALBUM! Wow! Having a ball. Horns and strings next.”
A SOUL STATION ALBUM! Wow! Having a ball. Horns and strings next. pic.twitter.com/En04pZSYEQ
— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) December 20, 2018
Though this seems like an odd departure for the hard rocker, he explained how the side-project came about in an interview with Rock Cellar Magazine:
“Well, my roots are much more broad and varied than some people might realize. This is funny; I was having tea with Jimmy Page in London and we were talking about this. I said, ‘Before I ever saw [Led] Zeppelin or The Who or any of those bands, I saw Otis Redding. I saw Solomon Burke. I saw The Temptations.’ So it’s very much a part of my DNA. Motown and Philly soul and Stax/Volt, all that music is really, unfortunately too nostalgic at this point and used too often for loops and samples as opposed to hearing a great song. What’s missing nowadays so much is great live performances of that material. What’s being passed off now as R&B is usually a computer and a drum machine. For a while, I thought about that, and I had an opportunity a few years ago to put together something that was in essence Soul Station. We did a couple of private shows and we all looked at each other said, ‘Why aren’t we doing more of this?’ It’s great to have that coming from people who are not only in demand but working all the time with Stevie Wonder or Smokey [Robinson] or Pink or John Mayer. These are real crème de la creme players but everybody has the same passion for this music. To be able to recreate it, not in a sterile way but with the same passion and intensity that it was made with is something that we all feel very close to.”
This album will be the first release for Soul Station, who made their in September 2015 at LA’s Roxy Theatre. The 10-person band – which also includes Kiss drummer Eric Singer – performed soul classics by artists like Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Al Green and the Isley Brothers.
“I just find myself thinking that people go to live shows paying for Kobe beef and getting dog food,” Stanley explained in a September 2015 interview with LA Weekly. “You get computerized music with fake vocals, and it had me thinking about all of the great Motown and Philly soul acts that did these great songs and delivered the goods. I thought it was a great thing to celebrate, so I called some of the top people who I knew and when I told them what I wanted to do, [and] everybody without hesitation said they were in.”
The 66-year-old musician has a busy year ahead of him, not only will he be finishing the new Soul Station album but Kiss will be kicking off their End of the Road farewell tour next month – a trek that is expected to last for three years. Stanley has also announced that his second memoir, titled Backstage Pass, will be released in April.
Video footage of Soul Station performing the Smokey Robinson and The Miracles classic “The Tracks Of My Tears” at The Roxy can be seen below.
