Paul Stanley Unbothered by Backlash KISS Received After Avatar Version Announcement

Paul Stanley shrugged off the critics who do not approve of KISS' AI version.

KISS unveiled the digital avatars of the band members who performed "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" during its End of the Road Tour encore. It reportedly collaborated with the companies that made ABBA's digital avatar version.

Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer became part of KISS' historic record as the first band to go virtual, but not everyone is happy about it.

Paul Stanley Reacts To KISS Avatar Backlash

In his exclusive interview with Ultimate Classic Rock and Culture, Stanley reflected on some fans' reaction to their decision to debut KISS avatars by 2027. Per the rocker, people got the wrong impression of the avatars in the first place.

"Because at the Garden shows, we wanted to give people a glimpse of some of the things, or one of the things, that's to come," he said. "But the avatars are really in their infancy. They're far from where they'll end up in terms of look and purpose. The purpose, ultimately, is not that we're being replaced by flying avatars. It's just another way of diversifying what Kiss is."

Per Stanley, they have always left people scratching their heads because of the plans for the band. Most of the time, nine out of 10 times became successful - and people followed immediately afterward.

The 71-year-old KISS co-founder reiterated the fact that his band is in a fortunate and unique position to do things other groups cannot. Thus, he sees not exploring and taking advantage of them as something ridiculous.

Stanley went on, "We've worked this hard to create four icons, and a band that's iconic in so many different ways, and to not diversify and maximize what we've created, we'd be crazy."

Gene Simmons gave the latest update about KISS avatars in a video during a meeting with fans at the Electric Lady studios in New York City. One fan asked him what the avatars looked like when the band first saw them.

"There's so much being planned, even beyond my comprehension. But they're spending, oh, about 200 million [dollars] to take it to the next level," he hinted.

George Lucas' special-effects company, created KISS members' AI version in collaboration with the Pophouse Entertainment Group.

Tags

Paul Stanley, KISS