Paul Stanley: Criss and Frehley were flat tyres

Paul Stanley has continued the war of words with former Kiss members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, saying the pair were like "flat tyres."

Stanley and fellow Kiss member Gene Simmons have sniped at Criss and Frehley repeatedly down the years, since the drummer and guitarist left in 2004 and 2002 respectively.

Stanley tells the Joe Rogan Experience: “It’s very difficult to move forward when two of the people are, at times, like flat tyres. It becomes more of a problem when their reason for being is to foil and to throw off track what you’re trying to do.”

Stanley adds that he was happy splitting Kiss revenue evenly at first, until, he says, Frehley and Criss starting contributing less to the band’s output.

He says: “I never wanted or expected anybody in the band to do necessarily the same amount of work that I did, but I expected them to give 100%. I was all for splitting things evenly in the original lineup of the band up until those guys departed the first time, but you have to give your best.

“It’s a long time ago, and it’s kind of like talking about a girlfriend or wife you had a long time ago and trying to disseminate what went wrong. At some point it really doesn’t matter.”

Stanley spoke to Rogan, a comedian, UFC commentator and prolific podcaster, for two hours. He also discussed the skills of current drummer Eric Singer and the band’s future.

Gene Simmons has landed himself in hot water with a series of controversial comments recently, including saying poor people owe the wealthy a debt of gratitude.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.