Paul Stanley on speaking out about masks, new music with Paul Stanley's Soul Station

Paul Stanley's new album, Now and Then, created by his Paul Stanley's Soul Station side project, includes a mix of original songs and covers of popular tunes by the Temptations, Al Green, and more. He recently spoke to Yahoo Entertainment about making new music, KISS's larger-than-live onstage persona, and why he's been so vocal about wearing a mask.

"It's unfortunate that some people are vehemently against [wearing masks]," Stanley said. being politicized.

Stanley also commented on if entertainers like himself should just "shut up and sing" and stay out of politics.

"There was a time where I thought entertainers should just entertain," he said. "But the fact is that I see myself as a citizen. And I think that my voice is at least as important as anyone else's."

Watch more from Paul Stanley in the video interview above.

Video Transcript

- The obvious first question I'm sure you get asked about the Soul Station project is what made you want to do something like this, which to people who maybe don't know your background seems out of your comfort zone.

- Well, it's funny because it's very much my comfort zone because growing up, I was really turned on to Motown, Philly soul, R&B before that. I saw Otis Redding when I was about 15. I saw Solomon Burke when I was about 10 so that was really my wheelhouse, and my whole philosophy has always been there's two kinds of music, good and bad. And I'd much rather listen to great Motown than bad rock. For me, there's always been some of that influence even in the music I've done with KISS.

- The lead single from the Soul Station project is "Ooh Child" by the Five Stairsteps. You described in your press release about how the message of this song when you were speaking about someone being near and dear to you has this message of optimism and hope and you talked about how, you know, it's needed more than ever, maybe even more than when it was originally written. Can you talk to me about your connection to this particular track and why you led with this one?

- When I first heard the song, it just had this aura of faith and singing to somebody that one day we're going to get this right and we're going to make it the way it's supposed to be and we'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun, it's eloquent, and it's poignant. But it's street. I mean, it's not-- it's not highbrow. It-- that's what I love about so much of this music is that it taps into emotion without being too highfalutin so to speak. It goes right to the heart of it.

So "Ooh Child" really felt like a song for now, and I found that when I played it for other people. They said, wow, this is a song-- this is a song that really applies now. And I have to agree.

- So it's interesting because I follow you and I follow Gene Simmons on social media as well, and you're very-- speaking of the times we're in, the troubled times when we're in-- you're very-- both of you are very outspoken in your own ways on social media, and you have been very outspoken about wearing masks, which I think is great because the ultimate masked men of rock and roll are KISS. Like, you're no, you know, you had ironically an album once called "Unmasked," but now you're talking about wearing masks. And I applaud you for that a lot.

- It's unfortunate that some people are vehemently against it mainly because of it being politicized. You know, there's so much strange backlash, and when somebody says, well, you know, the experts, you know, first they said don't wear a mask and then they said wear a mask. Right, because this is a work in progress and we're learning about this virus.

So is it going to change? Is the information on a change? Of course, it's going to change. Unequivocally, what's been shown as far as I can see is that masks are a great deterrent. And depending upon what mask you wear, you're either protecting the people around you or you're protecting yourself. You go into N95 masks and KN95 masks and you're protecting yourself in addition.

I wish everybody well. I would like to think that I'm doing my part to spread the information I have, and if some people are angered by it, that's something they should think about because it's nothing to get angry about. I mean, if you disagree, so be it.

- How do you feel about people who maybe say that people like you or Gene who have your own political views shouldn't-- should just shut up and sing, you know, especially now when I think about you're doing a lot of songs from the '60s, which was a time when many artists were political and making a difference?

- Well, it's interesting. I mean, times have changed because there was a time where I thought entertainers should just entertain. But the fact is that I see myself as a citizen. I think that my voice is at least as important as anyone else's, and to not be able to voice my opinion seems un-American.

It's not surprising to me at this point the people who say shut up are the people who don't agree. You know, if I was on your side, you'd go, yeah, keep talking. It's not a surprise that the people who would like people like me to not voice an opinion are the people who, you know, or on the other side of the fence.

And that's too bad. That's sad because, again, I don't want to politicize anything. I'm trying to help. I'm trying to make people aware that perhaps we can end this pandemic a little bit sooner and with some less, you know, fatalities. So it's not a matter of who you vote for or conspiracies or anything like that. It's just-- I just want to help.

- Were there other songs you gravitated towards because of their relevance in 2020, 2021?

- I think I gravitated towards certain songs because of their timelessness. I think a lot of that music, whether it's Philly soul or Stax Volt or Atlantic or Motown, a lot of those songs are eloquent in their relationship to a single person or situation. And I tended to go towards songs that really weren't overtly muscle flexing masculinity.

I like the idea of somebody singing softly whether it's Smokey or Russell Tompkins and the Stylistics or Eddie Kendricks. I think there's a place for masculinity that doesn't rely on testosterone, you know, in an overt sense. So I tended towards songs like "Just My Imagination" or "Ooh Baby, Baby" or "You Are Everything." So that's kind of where I was going.

Point I wanted to capture on the album was the band as a steamroller, but we're wrapped in velvet.

- What do you have to do vocally to sing these songs, and is that a challenge for you compared to, you know, your day job so to speak?

- What do you have to do vocally? You have to lay back. It's really the subtlety, but, you know, if you really think about it, the middle of "I Was Made for Loving You" is falsetto. "Phantom" I did falsetto.

You know, I always think of myself not as a rock singer. I'm a singer who sings rock. In other words, that's a choice. And any preconceived ideas or boundaries that other people put on me either don't apply or they don't know.

- I'd love to discuss a bit about the idea of this kind of different idea of masculinity because I think a lot of people when they think of your main band KISS, they think hypermasculinity. You know, you're superheroes. Gene spitting blood, fire, flying through the air, you know, platform shoes that look like dragons. Like, it's super comic book.

- Well, I think that the yin and yang has always been Gene and I. And look on stage. I guess the word sometimes that comes up is flamboyant, you know. And I'm very comfortable in who I am, my sexual orientation, and anything that goes with that. So I don't think that that contradicts, you know, just being up there flexing my muscles, you know. It doesn't make you more, you know, machismo. It kind of at some point gets a little old, so I think I've always demonstrated on stage a real comfort with just freedom.

Our audience is so diversified. We're proud of everybody who comes to see us, and the most important thing that I think transfers and translates into life is being comfortable with who you are and being proud of who you are. So whether it's gay pride or, you know, Black pride, whatever it is, you have every right to be proud of who you are. And we are welcoming to everybody because we're not here to judge, and in that case, there's nothing to judge.