Paul Stanley Got A Kid To Sing Masked Wolf At Indy KISS Fan Expo

KISS' farewell tour ended in 2023, but the band still exists as an idea, a reason for people to spend too much of their money. Various current and former KISS members are attempting to sell new records for exorbitant sums — a $1,000 Peter Criss album, a $2 million Vinnie Vincent album. Donald Trump gave the band Kennedy Center Honors last year. The KISS holograms are still in the works, and the band played without makeup at last year's KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas event. Also, Paul Stanley is presiding over a small, shy child's "Astronaut In The Ocean" karaoke at a fan convention outside Indianapolis. Obviously.

Last weekend, the Indy KISS Fan Expo went down at the Embassy Suites Event Center in Plainfield, Indiana and it celebrated the 50th anniversary of KISS' Destroyer Tour. The big weekend included autograph sessions, Q&As, and performances from various different people associated with KISS in one way or another — not just longtime co-leader Paul Stanley but also current drummer Eric Singer, producer Greg Collins, and photographer Barry Levine. You could get VIP tickets for $329, which actually seems like a bargain in the larger cosmology of expensive KISS bullshit. I guess that's how you know Gene Simmons wasn't involved.

During Paul Stanley's Q&A session on Sunday, one of the people who asked a question was Cyrus, a little kid in a KISS shirt. Cyrus asked Stanley how long he'd been singing, and Stanley said that he'd been singing for his whole life, and he asked Cyrus if he sings. Cyrus said, "Sometimes." Stanley then invited Cyrus to the stage and asked what his favorite song was. Cyrus did not reply with a KISS song. Instead, he quietly replied that his favorite is the Australian rapper Masked Wolf's "Astronaut In The Ocean," which was a big TikTok hit in 2021. Stanley asked, "Can you sing it for us?" Cyrus complied.

I truly have no idea how or why Stereogum fearless leader Scott Lapatine found this footage of Paul Stanley approvingly hovering over a tiny kid singing a Masked Wolf song, but that's why he's the founder of Stereogum and I'm not. I have a deep and ingrained suspicion of all things KISS-related, but this is genuinely cute. It's below.

And here's Paul Stanley singing "Detroit Rock City" with a band that included his KISS bandmate Eric Singer, which is probably the sort of thing you'd be more likely to expect at the Indy KISS Fan Expo

At the Expo, Stanley also confirmed that the Kiss Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas event will return this year, so start saving up now.

In other KISS news, Blabbermouth notes that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are the subjects of a new Pollstar cover story, which has some info on the upcoming KISS hologram tour, which is reportedly set to launch in Las Vegas in 2028. It'll be the first US venture from Pophouse Entertainment, the music investment firm that ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus founded. That's the company behind ABBA's hologram shows. In the show, KISS will be larger-than-life versions of their classic stage personas, not realistic human avatars, and they'll play new songs that Simmons and Stanley wrote for the show. Simmons says he has plans to stage the show "all around the world."