Paul Stanley on why Kiss will never use outside writers again: ‘Completely self contained’

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There was a time in which outside writers made huge contributions to the music of Kiss, but Paul Stanley says that time is done — and the band’s forthcoming album Monster is more cohesive for it. Kiss became known for bringing in well-known composers in the 1980s, during a period in which fellow band co-founder Gene Simmons seemed to be preoccupied with outside projects.

The most consistent contributor was Desmond Child, who co-wrote “I’ve Had Enough (Into the Fire)” from 1984’s Animalize, “King of the Mountain” from 1985’s Asylum, “Bang Bang You” from 1987’s Crazy Nights, and “Hide Your Heart” from 1989’s Hot in the Shade. Meanwhile, Diane Warren co-wrote “Turn On the Night” on Crazy Nights, Russ Ballard contributed to “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll to You II” for 1992’s Revenge, while Michael Bolton (yes, that Michael Bolton) even has a songwriting credit on Kiss’ “Forever” from Hot in the Shade.

By the time the sessions began for Monster, however, Kiss had regained its creative footing, Stanley says in a new talk with Marko Syrjala of Metal-Rules.com. He put his foot down, upon assuming producer duties: “No outside writers.”

“It’s very easy to in some cases to have somebody to write a song for you and you put your name on it and you have very little to do with it or maybe you’re doing something else instead of writing songs,” Stanley says. “And, you know, you come up with the songs that really are not yours. I wanted to make sure that every song was worked on by the band. I love Desmond; I love writing with him I love Diane; I love all those people. But the band is also different now; the band has the ability to be completely self contained. Maybe that’s why it’s important that we do it like that.”

Monster, set for release on October 15, 2012, eventually emerged as something refreshingly underivative, Stanley says — an album that sounds like Kiss, but doesn’t mimic their earlier triumphs. Just as important, he says, it reflects their own thoughts and feelings, rather than someone else’s.

“I just know it’s a very, I would say a cohesive album,” Stanley told Syrjala. “It feels like an album; it feels like every song that’s on there, belongs on there. It got a focus and a point of view. That’s what I wanted the album — I didn’t want it to be a scattered. I wanted something that felt like a work, a body of work.”

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