PAUL STANLEY: SOUL MAN
Paul Stanley gets souled out with his spectacular 15-piece band Soul Station on their debut album, Now and Then. While it may come as a surprise to many followers in the KISS Army, Stanley is a lifelong time acolyte of soul and R&B music, and this passion project finds Stanley in a sweet zone, beautifully interpreting classic songs by the likes of The Temptations, The Miracles, The Spinners, The Delfonics, Al Green and others. The album also features five strong and radio-ready original songs penned by Stanley that perfectly capture the songwriting sophistication, vocal stylings and sumptuous production sheen of classic Motown and Philadelphia International Records. Join us for a conversation with Paul Stanley.
GOLDMINE: When did the idea for the Soul Station project first come to mind?
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 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, we all looked at
