In a new interview with Billboard‘s “Behind The Setlist” podcast, KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley spoke about the band’s decision to sell its entire music catalog, likeness and brand name to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which is behind “ABBA Voyage”. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The Pophouse deal is revolutionary, but it’s also really in keeping with the band. The idea of us selling publishing or anything like that was never on our radar. What we wanted to do, if anything, was find some partners who understood the scope and the magnitude of not only the music over the decades, but the characters, the personas that we created and that they have intrinsic value.
“Pophouse had done a great job with the ABBA show that runs outside of London and is sold out for three years and it’s really terrific, terrific entertainment,” Paul continued. “People just are thrilled with it. I took my wife last month, and I had seen it last year. So Pophouse understood what we wanted to do and that what we wanna create is something that’s state of the art today. Now, mind you that the ABBA show is an older technology because technology moves ahead at an exponential rate. So by the time that show started to be presented, there was new technology. So we’ll be working with ILM [Industrial Light & Magic], with George Lucas‘s company, and we’re creating something that’s not a concert. The idea of a hologram, and it’s not a hologram, but that term seems to get thrown around a lot, but the idea of a simulated concert is not what we wanna do. Frankly, I would find that that boring. I mean, how long can you go, ‘Gee, that looks just like an amp.’ So what we’re creating is an immersive experience that KISS fans will love and people who have never been exposed to KISS or might not like certain aspects of the band will have to see. It’s a must-see go-to experience. So it’s beyond anything that anyone else has contemplated. The whole idea, again, of doing a simulated concert is — that’s the dark ages to us.”
Using cutting-edge technology, Pophouse Entertainment Group, which was founded by ABBA‘s Björn Ulvaeus, will create digital versions of KISS. The project was previewed at the final KISS show in New York in December 2023.
Stanley said: “Well, [previewing the project at the final Madison Square Garden concert] really was a double-edged sword, because I know that there were people who wanted to see or show what was going on behind the scenes, but quite honestly, it was in such an infancy and so far in the beginning that some of us had questions about showing it because it would give people an idea that that was what we were doing. And it’s far, far, far from that. That was just an early — I don’t wanna say rendering, but an early version of what is to come and is still being worked on. It bears little resemblance to what was there. What we were showing was just the inception of the idea that we can continue on outside of flesh and blood.”
Asked about the reports that the KISS avatar show will debut in 2027 in Las Vegas, Stanley said: “What I can tell you is that the technology that’s being used, which is a furthering of the technology used on the ABBA show, has to be installed and basically a building has to be built around it. So this isn’t something where you’re in Kansas City today, and tomorrow you fly with your projector to do it. It demands an arena, so to speak that’s really solely used for a show like this. But it’s not something that can play on Wednesdays and Thursdays or Saturdays and Sundays, and then something else is in there during the week.”
Regarding what other things KISS fans can expect to come out of the band’s deal with Pophouse, Paul said: “Well, really with Pophouse, what we’re doing is focusing on this show. That’s really the main focus. Obviously, be it the music or the personas and all that goes along with KISS that’s been there all along will continue and expand. I think at this point there’s a lot more understanding of the possibilities, and there are people coming to the table, so to speak, who perhaps for a while saw a rock band in make-up, and clearly it’s turning into so much more than that.”
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