In four decades of music making, much has changed for Paul Stanley -- most notably the kind of fans who congregate near the stage during Kiss shows. During the band's heyday, that tended to be groupies. Today, Stanley admits, it's family. And he's fine with that.

“Clearly, there was a time where backstage was hedonism at its finest," Stanley said during a recent conference call (via Brave Words) to discuss his autobiography 'Face the Music: A Life Exposed.' "When you are given the keys to the candy store, you tend to eat a lot of candy. I certainly had a sugar high."

Still, he noted that it's different now. "I look over to the side of the stage on certain nights and see my little ones in their pajamas waiting for the show to be over, so that they can go to bed. Family, which at one point had no place in my life or in rock and roll in general, has become common place."

In the end, experience has taught Stanley -- now on tour with Def Leppard -- to look at the big picture.

"The core of why I got into this and the reason the band got together in the first place was to make music," he said. "To have the privilege of going out on stage and be able to do this 40 years on is incredible. That’s what’s been the constant. ... I think we’ve all gone into a different realm of our lives. I’ve got a family and the Bacchanalia that was backstage at one point is not there anymore, but the celebration of the core of it which is celebrating life and the freedom to be who you are has never changed.”

Kiss hits Chula Vista, Calif. tonight (July 6), and then Los Angeles on Tuesday (July 8). Dates with Def Leppard continue through August.

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