Evan Stanley and Nick Simmons have known each other since they were babies. After all, their fathers – Kiss co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons – have been bandmates since the early Seventies.
Considering all that, the thought of the younger Stanley and Simmons making music together seems like a foregone conclusion. But it didn’t happen until a chance hangout in December 2024, which led to an Instagram cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence.
“We listened to it, and we were like, ‘We blended pretty well. This sounds serious. We’ve got a thing,’” Stanley says. That “thing” became Stanley/Simmons, an unlikely modern-day folk project that quickly grew legs.
“After that, we said, ‘Let’s try our hand at an original,’” Simmons adds. “There was no real expectation. We’ve known each other since we were babies, and would see each other at family functions and occasionally hang out. We’re like cousins, because there were long stretches where we didn’t see each other.”
“It happened quickly,” Simmons says. “We were like, ‘That took an hour – this is crazy.’”
“John Cleese from Monty Python once said, ‘The best creativity comes from a place of childlike play,’” Simmons adds. “This came from a session that wasn’t supposed to be anything. We weren’t being ambitious like we are now. It was a place of play and fun. We stumbled upon the fact that being relieved of pretension led to something. Hopefully, that comes out in the recordings.”
Seeing as you’ve known each other your entire lives, was making music together something you always wanted to do?
Stanley: We were always homies but had our own things going. Then, since I moved back to L.A., we’ve hung out way more and were always kicking it. One day in December we were hanging out. I thought, “I saw what he was doing, and I liked it.” He saw what I was doing and said nice things, and we were like, “We should jam.”
Simmons: It wasn’t a big idea. It was just, “We should film a reel or something… people do that, right?” [Laughs] We got together and figured, “Let’s do something we both love.”
Your music leans toward folk, which is different from the rock people would probably expect.
Stanley: We grew up loving song-based bands, like Simon & Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Whatever we’re listening to, it’s always song-based. We thought, “Let’s do The Sound of Silence; that’d be fun.” It went pretty well, and listening back, it was kind of one of those moments.
What made it special?
Stanley: It’s the kind of music that’s close to our hearts and that we were both always writing, even though neither of our bands have anything to do with that kind of music.
When did you begin writing music together?
Stanley: February 2025 was really the start. We hung out again and thought, “Let’s try writing.” We did, and it was an “a-ha” moment of, “Wait a second… this is what came out?”
Simmons: It happened really fast. Neither one of us was used to that. I find that writing sessions with others take a minute to get anything good, but he and I were like, “Let’s try writing something original, because people seem to like the reel.”
How do you write songs?
Stanley: We both have our iPhones filled with lyrics, like a little line or stanza, but a song usually comes from a melody or riff. I’ve been playing guitar for so long, and I love it to death, but I’m also really comfortable with it, which can sometimes work against you.
Meaning you go back to the same things? How do you break out of that?
Stanley: Yeah! I like to do alternate tunings and just weird stuff to make the guitar novel again. Like, something that is a little foreign to me. So, for Body Down, I tuned to drop C# and started playing that driving, plodding riff.
Is that a new riff, or one that you had lying around?
Stanley: I always thought it was cool, but I sat on it for three or four weeks because I had no idea what to do with it. Then we had a session with a good buddy of mine, Jacob Bunton, when we were over at his place. I started playing that riff, and Nick walked out into the hallway, going, “The verse should do this…” He sang the verse, and I was like, “Wait, what?”
Simmons: Let’s be clear – I was walking into the bathroom. [Laughs]
Stanley: I was trying to be nice! [Laughs]
Simmons: I was peeing, heard them play the guitar, finished peeing too quickly, ran out and was like, “Hey, what about this?” They bounced off that, and within 10 minutes those ideas became the first words. It’s never that quick, but with that one, we vomited it up fully born.
How about Temporary Love? What’s the story there?
Stanley: That was supposed to be a demo. The guitar was recorded in my kitchen using my laptop mic. The vocals were recorded in two passes, and I didn’t comp, edit, or tune anything. Nick did the same thing.
When you find the right partner, it changes things. It brings something out in you. It pushes you to your limits
Evan Stanley
Simmons: I really wish my other musical endeavors were this… not easy, but fast. Because they sure have not been. I’ll tell you that.
Stanley: When you find the right partner, it changes things. It brings something out in you. It pushes you to your limits. On the other side, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. We balance each other out really well. Knowing you have that allows you to be comfortable pushing yourself further. I don’t feel pressure to come up with something every day, because chances are Nick probably did – and we can run with it.
Have you considered the fact that your dads have a similar musical partnership, and that maybe there’s something to you two coming together so seamlessly? Is it in your DNA?
Simmons: Oh, are they in a band? [Laughs]
Stanley: [Laughs] Absolutely. There’s this age-old question of nature versus nurture. The two of us had a similar upbringing. It’s a unique position, given that our dads are like action heroes and the biggest rock stars around.
Simmons: It’s very cathartic to bitch about our various grievances to each other because we can heavily relate.
Stanley: There’s a lot of common ground in the great aspects and the challenges. We’re unbelievably lucky and grateful and super close with our families, but on the musical side, people forget that it works against you in a lot of ways.
Meaning that people have unfair expectations of you, based on what your dads did?
Simmons: It’s a double-edged sword. Doors are immediately opened for us because of our family relationships, like with any business. So, in entertainment and music, we get to meet these people. But once you’re in the room, they don’t necessarily give you the benefit of the doubt.
Based on the strength of the songs and the following you’re gathering, it seems like you’re proving the doubters wrong.
Simmons: What’s working well for us is that at the end of the day, people will decide what works. It’s not the executives. They’re either gonna like the songs or not.
Stanley: If they connect with it and it moves them, it’s just a matter of time before people in the industry catch on. For us, the whole thing has been about having fun.
Simmons: We’re making music that we love to make and hear. We’re not thinking about all this political bullshit. There were people around us early on who went, “This is special.” So the ones who don’t give it the time of day, I’ll say that we’ve been around long enough to detect that. My old man used to say you can die from enthusiasm. [Laughs]
What did he mean by that?
Simmons: In L.A., everyone will call you the next big thing since sliced bread, but when it’s time to put a name on a dotted line, they’ll be like, “Oh, I have something to do over here. Sorry, I was busy.” Then, you won’t hear from them, but they’ll still say, “You’re brilliant and amazing. Let’s work together.” We’ve gotten good at detecting fake enthusiasm versus real enthusiasm, but we’ve detected a shift in the mood, and things are ramping up.
By the time the first record comes out, we’ll be ready for the second! I’ve never been in this position before, because Nick and I write so much and so quickly
Evan Stanley
What’s the long-term goal for Stanley/Simmons?
Stanley: By the time the first record comes out, we’ll be ready for the second! I’ve never been in this position before, because Nick and I write so much and so quickly. You never know when inspiration will run out, so we’re trying to grab it when it comes out. We’re definitely starting with a full-length album.
Simmons: We look at it like, “Does it fit with a body of work? Does it add depth? Does it take you to a new place?” A lot of modern artists, like Billie Eilish, are doing that again. They’re writing concept albums with a lowercase “c” that are grabbing my attention.
Stanley: We’re writing so much all the time. We want people to hear it. We don’t want to put out one song for every 10 we write; we want to put out nine or all 10 of them. Music is meant to be shared. We’re not precious with songs. What we love might be what you love, too.
Simmons: We just want to sound human. I’d just like to sound like a real, flesh-and-blood human being. That’s the main goal.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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