As I noted a few months ago, the Kiss rift between Stanley/Simmons and Frehley/Criss has some curious dimensions to it. Here’s Paul Stanley again, from a recent interview:
Asked what it is about him and Gene, considering they are opposite personalities, that keeps them together and allows them to maintain that friendship and brotherhood over 40 years later, Stanley said: “It’s hard to define and distinguish between friendship and brotherhood. I certainly see him as a brother, although we don’t always agree on how to treat your brother. At the end of the day, I know he will be there for me and me for him. My issues have always been more rooted in participating evenly and equally and still ending up with a equal share of money. I didn’t want it with Peter and Ace, why would I want it with Gene? He wasn’t doing his job and he was off doing other things and being paid for those things. I felt like if he’s wasn’t going to do his job and gonna go elsewhere. It was like he took less here or he gave me some of what he was doing elsewhere. That was an ongoing problem. But look, at this point we made the life for each other that each of us could only have dreamed of, and those lives have very little in common. I’m sure Gene would no more want to live my life than I live his. But there’s a bond there because we made it possible for each of us.”
Given their ethnocentric awareness, something Frehley appears attuned to, I wonder if there are any other reasons Paul Stanley (born Stanley Eisen) and Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz) have maintained their friendship for 40 years, despite being opposite personalities?
