PAUL STANLEY - "No, EDDIE VAN HALEN Was Never Almost In KISS" (Video)
November 4, 2018, 5 years ago
There is a long held piece of KISS lore claiming that Eddie Van Halen wanted to or almost joined the band around the time of the Creatures Of The Night album (1982). During the recent KISS Kruise, the subject was raised again, to which frontman Paul Stanley responded that "Eddie was never going to join KISS and was never almost in KISS."
Stanley: "Eddie came down to the studio - I think there was some strife within Van Halen at that point for him - and Eddie came down just to see what was going on. And I remember he was really blown away by the solo in the song 'Creatures'. He said, 'Get that guy.' That guy who played the solo in 'Creatures' was a guy named Steve Farris, who was in a band called Mister Mister, who had a bunch of hits. At that point, Eddie was getting into keyboards, and I remember he brought some tapes of some of the songs he was working on. And it was, like, this guy is this unbelievable guitar player. I thought, 'Eddie, what are you doing on keyboards?' but that was the start of 'Jump' and all that other stuff that came afterwards."
KISS recently stopped in at the Build Series studios for a 30 minute Q&A session with Madison Vain about their upcoming End Of The Road tour. During the conversation, frontman Paul Stanley addressed the possibility of previous members joining or appearing on the tour, with many long time fans wanting to see original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss back on the KISS stage.
Stanley: "This is a celebration of everything KISS. This is a celebration of the history of the band, not any individual lineup, but at the same time it would be crazy for us to be so short-sighted to not want to involve other members in the band. Hopefully, there will be appearances by other people who've been in this band. If they weren't there, it's not because we don't want them there. This really is an all-inclusive celebration."
Tour dates:
January
31 - Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena
February
1 - Portland, OR - Moda Center
2 - Tacoma, WA - Tacoma Dome
4 - Spokane, WA - Spokane Arena
7 - San Diego, CA - Viejas Arena
8 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center
9 - Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center
12 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center
13 - Glendale, AZ - Gila River Arena
15 - Las Vegas, NV - T-Mobile Arena
16 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
19 - Corpus Christi, TX - American Bank Center
20 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
22 - New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center
23 - Memphis, TN - FedEx Forum
26 - Oklahoma City, OK - Chesapeake Energy Arena
27 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
March
1 - Milwaukee, WI - Fiserv Forum
2 - Chicago, IL - United Center
4 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center
6 - Sioux Falls, SD - Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
7 - Omaha, NE - CHI Health Center Omaha
9 - Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena
10 - Moline, IL - TaxSlayer Center
12 - Louisville, KY - KFC Yum! Center
13 - Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena
16 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
17 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
19 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
20 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
22 - Long Island, NY - NYCB LIVE’s Nassau Coliseum
23 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
26 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
27 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
29 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
30 - Pittsburgh, PA - PPG Paints Arena
April
2 - Quebec City, QC - Videotron Centre
3 - Ottawa, ON - Richcraft Live at Canadian Tire Centre
6 - Raleigh, NC - PNC Arena
7 - Atlanta, GA - State Farm Arena
9 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
11 - Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena
12 - Jacksonville, FL - Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
13 - Birmingham, AL - BJCC
May
27 - Leipziger Messe - Leipzig, Germany
29 - Stadthalle - Vienna, Austria
31 - Konigsplatz - Munich, Germany
June
4 - Waldbuhne - Berlin, Germany
5 - Expo-Plaza - Hannover, Germany
7 - Sweden Rock Festival - Norje, Sweden
11 - Ice Arena - St. Petersburg, Russia
13 - Dinamon Stadium - Moscow, Russia
16 - NSA Stadium - Kiev, Ukraine
18 - Tauron Arena - Krakow, Poland
25 - Ziggo Dome - Amsterdam, Netherlands
27 - Tons of Rock - Oslo, Norway
28 - Trondheim Rocks - Trondheim, Norway
July
2 - Ippodromo SNAI San Siro - Milan, Italy
4 - Hallenstadion - Zurich, Switzerland
6 - Rennbahn - Iffezheim, Germany
9 - Birmingham Arena - Birmingham, England
11 - O2 Arena - London, England
12 - Manchester Arena - Manchester, England
14 - Newcastle Arena - Newcastle, England
16 - SSE Hydro - Glasgow, Scotland
On Halloween, former KISS guitarists Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick were back on stage with the band aboard KISS Kruise VIII, which sails through November 5th. Official video of the six-piece ensemble performing "Rock And Roll All Nite" can be seen below:
Fan-filmed footage of the expanded lineup's acoustic set including "2000 Man", Ace's "New York Groove", "Nothing' To Lose" and "Rock And Roll All Nite" previously surfaced and is still available: