I spoke with Paul Stanley recently when he and Gene Simmons took part in an event that helped create some conversational unity across the planet. It was called “Kiss Live and Global” and the event was presented and hosted by Ortsbo, the social media, real time, language translation platform. (Fans from all over the world that pre-registered at Ortsbo.com had the opportunity to interact, via chat room, with Simmons and Stanley in their native language. Questions and answers were instantly translated in up to 53 languages, which allowed viewers all over the world to review the live chat and understand the entire event in their own language.)

Questions were fielded from 107 different countries, including Afghanistan and Zambia. The questions were translated into English for Kiss, who then sent their responses, which were translated back into whatever language the question originally came in (even Swahili).

An interesting morning. The chat even set an official Guinness World Record for “Most Nationalities In An Online Chat Room.”

Afterwards though, I had a chance to speak with Paul about the enduring legacy of his band – and what drives the brand.

With all of the Kiss merchandise and marketing tie-ins, does Stanley ever worry that the band name is simply branded on too much stuff?

“It’s misleading because of the volume of things we have, that Kiss is just a schlock house. The truth of the matter is, we have pride in everything we do. At the core this is a rock and roll band, but we don’t put our name on anything that we don’t believe in, or that the fans don’t believe in.

“People sometimes say, why do you have things like Kiss sleeping bags? Because a fan asked for it. We’re not great merchandisers – we’re great listeners. We give the fans what they want. If that’s a crime, I’m ready for my trial.”

As for what makes the Kiss brand endure like it does, Stanley explained his theory to me.

“Kiss is a timeless truth,” he said. “It was true a 100 years ago and it will be true 100 years from today. It’s all about self-empowerment, it’s about believing in yourself and believing that the only thing in the way of you and your dreams is hard work. We believe a great work ethic will pretty much get you wherever you want to go.

“Kiss will outlive me for sure. What we’ve done is create a way of thinking, an ideal that hopefully will go on beyond me and the other guys in the band because the idea is bigger than any individual.”