"Tooting my own horn is of no interest to me ... it takes you away from real life. It's a waste and I don't find a need to sing my own praises."

Almost three decades after the make-up laden, leather clad, go-go boot wearing rocker debuted his self-titled album Stanley, the energetic performer yearned to explore a new musical direction and went about writing his latest offering.

Stanley says the new material has been well received. He played his first solo gig on the Gold Coast on April 11 and will perform in Newcastle tomorrow (EDS: Saturday) before heading to Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth and wrapping up his tour in Adelaide on April 26.

Fans will delight in Stanley's performances of I Was Made For Lovin' You and Rock and Roll All Nite, but he says they shouldn't expect an extravagant stage show complete with fireworks and Stanley decked out in his glam-metal inspired outfits.

"I love KISS, but there is something great about being out there dressed like this," he says pointing attention to his unmade-up face and casual clothing.

"You have a more personal kind of one-on-one with a very intense audience. This has reconnected for me why I started doing this in the first place. When I was younger and saw Led Zeppelin playing to less than 2,000 people and the communication is powerful. That's what it's all about."

Having sold more than 100 million albums with KISS, Stanley says life is perfect and six months ago it got better when his wife Erin Sutton gave birth to the couple's first child Colin, a younger brother for Evan, 12, from a previous relationship.

"It's great to do it again, it's one of the things in life I love most, being a dad and we are working on having a girl," Stanley says, smiling.

"Life is great. When you're watching people dropping like flies you realise what can happen ... you are interviewing me today not Jimi Hendrix, not Jim Morrison, not Janis Joplin, I didn't get into this to become a dead legend, I got into this to have a great life and that's what I got."

AAP