KISS Backstage in 1973
“BUZZ” Newspaper Article (#45-eK) Dec- Jan 2015
By: RLSchwinden
-Please, Remember Me Now: 1970-
A young man named Eugene Klein (Chaim Witz: 25 Aug 1949 Haifa, Israel) started off in a band the ‘Long Island Sounds’ he had some songs like “Stanley The Parrot” “Eskimo Sun” “Suitor” & “Leeta” at the same time another young man Stanley Eisen (Stanley Harvey Eisen: 20 Jan 1952; Manhattan, NYC) was in a band ‘Uncle Joe’ & he had some songs like “Stop, Look To Listen” & “Sunday Driver” through a mutual friend, Guitarist Stephen Coronel (21 Mar 1951 NYC) the 2 met & in 1970 & formed the band ‘Rainbow’ with Brooke Ostrander (R.I.P. 2011) on Keyboards & originally Joe Davidson on drums, but he was soon replaced by Tony Zarrella, this band performed live in the winter 1971.
-Long Road To Somewhere: 1971-
Soon after their 1st gig, they found out there was another local band called ‘Rainbow’ so they changed the band name to ‘Wicked Lester’ (with a “Bowery Boys Street Kid” as a mascot), by late ’71. Gene Klein & Stanley Eisen, Coronel, Ostrander & Zarrella stabilized, this line-up performed live in Apr through Aug ’71. The band also recorded a 3 song demo in the winter of ’71 @ Electric Lady Studios with Ron Johnsen producing.
In early 1972 Eisen & Klein sang background vocals for Lyn Christopher, for 2 songs on her 1973 Paramount LP #PAS-6051, the songs were: “Celebrate II” & “Wedding” unbelievably a local drummer named Peter Criscoula (George Peter John Criscuola: 20 Dec 1945; Brookyn, NYC) added hand claps to the song “Celebrate II” later in Sep ’72, we’ll hear more about Peter later. ‘Wicked Lester’ had been working on recordings in early ’72, soon after in Feb. ‘Wicked Lester’ was picked up by Epic Records under the condition Coronel be replaced by Ron Leejack. Epic gave the band an advance to finish up the record which looks like this according to the Tape Reel Box.
-Side- 1-A
“Keep Me Waiting” Stanley (sung by: Paul)
“Molly” (aka “Some Other Guy”) Stanley (sung by: Paul)
“Sweet Ophelia” Mann- Goffin 1971 (sung by: Paul)
“Simple Type” Simmons (sung by: Gene & Paul)
“Too Many Mondays” Mann- Weil 1971 (ver 1 sung by: Gene & Ver 2 by: Paul)
– Side 2-B
“Love Her All I Can” Stanley (sung by: Paul)
“When The Bell Rings” Roberts- Welch 1970 (sung by: Paul & Gene)
“She” Coronel- Simmons (sung by: Gene)
“What Happens In the Darkness” Tami Lester Smith 1972 (sung by: Paul & Gene)
“We Want To Shout It Out Loud” The Hollies 1970 (sung by: Gene)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpSg4o2Uk6k
There are several originals on this recording 2 would show up later on ‘Dressed To Kill’ & 2 others would be “Live Staples” throughout 1973, as well as 2 Barry Mann songs, a ‘Hollies’ song, a song by ‘Griffin’ & a song by Austin Roberts. There is 1 out-take known to exist titled “Long Long Road” sung by: Paul. The original cover art intended for the LP can be found on ‘The Laughing Dogs’ 1979 Columbia LP #JC-36033. Upon hearing the finished record, Don Ellis @ Epic Records, announced he “Hated the record & had no intention of releasing it” Klein & Eisen, decided it was time to move in a “New” direction, so the 2 changed their names to Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley respectively, then on 31 Aug 1972, Peter Cris (the drummer mentioned before) ran an ad in the “East Coast” edition of “Rolling Stone” which caught the eye of Gene & Paul. There was a meeting @ Electric Lady Studios & 2 auditions, before Cris was hired.
-Give It To You Easy: 1972-
Then in Dec ’72 the newly formed trio ran an ad in the “Village Voice” looking for a “Lead Guitarist with Flash & Ability” it came down to 2 people Bob Kulick (Robert J. Kulick: 16 Jan 1950; Brooklyn, NYC) & one Paul Daniel Frehley (27 April 1951; Bronx, NYC) the later landed the gig, being taller & the fact that he had hair, a little later he would go by his newer nickname “Ace” The quartet now known as ‘KISS’ Paul came up with the name after Peter mentioned he was in a band called ‘LIPS’ & Ace designed the now famous logo. After about 6 weeks of intense rehearsals ‘KISS’ was ready to debut their show, here is the set list from that 1st concert:
Concert Setlist: 30 Jan 1973 Tues
Queens, NYC @ Coventry
Deuce (Gene)
Watchin You (Gene)
Love Her All I Can (Paul)
She (Gene)
Simple Type (Gene & Paul)
Keep Me Waiting (Paul)
Want You Beside Me (aka: Life In The Woods) (Paul & Peter)
Baby Let Me Go (aka: Let Me Go Rock N Roll) (Gene)
Firehouse (Paul)
Black Diamond (Paul & Peter)
Little Lady (aka: Goin Blind) (Gene)
Only a few months later the band records a 5 song demo, of these 1st versions of these songs, most notably different is “Cold Gin” & “Strutter” both clocking in @ the 5min mark. Many years ago I heard an early recording (maybe 1972-73) of “Black Diamond” where Paul sang the entire song himself without Peter, however I cannot seem to locate this version as of late. Here’s the track list for the demo:
13 Mar 1973 Tues
Electric Lady Studios; NYC
Produced By: Eddie Kramer
Deuce
Cold Gin
Strutter
Watchin You
Black Diamond
-Come Along With Us: 1973-
Now with a demo to shop around ‘KISS’ begin to do shows in the NYC area with other bands like ‘The Brats’ ‘Harlots Of 42nd Street’ ‘Planets’ ‘Street Punk’ ‘Luger’ ‘Wild Honey’ ‘Queen Elizabeth’ ‘ISIS’ & ‘Rags’. Here’s a setlist from 1 of those early shows.
Concert Setlist: 16 June 1973
Amityville, NY @ The Daisy
2 Shows
Nothin To Lose (Gene & Peter)
Firehouse (Paul)
Life In The Woods (Paul & Peter)
Simple Type (Paul & Gene, yes reversed parts)
Acrobat: (Love Theme From KISS- Much Too Young) (Gene)
Deuce (Gene)
100,000 Years- Do Ya Feel Right (Paul)
Black Diamond (Paul & Peter)
*Other songs performed in concert at this time
for the 2nd show this evening were:
She (Gene)
Cold Gin (Gene)
Strutter (Paul)
Watchin You (Gene)
Let Me Know (Gene & Paul)
Go Now (Moody Blues: 1964) (Gene & Paul)
I feel it’s worth noting, “Nothin To Lose” has different lyrics & clocks in @ 6min while “Firehouse” has a totally different arrangement & clocks in @ the 5min mark as well, “Life In The Woods” runs almost 8min & will never be recorded in the studio, “Acrobat” is a 3 part song containing parts of “Love Theme From KISS” the intro to “Detroit Rock City” & “Much Too Young” the song is by & large written by Simmons, & “She” is being performed live but will not see release until 2 years later in ’75 & remarkably “Go Now” a cover tune the band used to perform as far back as their ‘Rainbow’ days.
‘KISS’ sign a management deal with Bill Aucoin (29 Dec 1943; Ayer, MA. – 28 Jun 2010 Aventura, FL) in Oct ’73, Aucoin then gets the band a record deal with Neil Bogart’s newly formed ‘Casablanca Records’ the band’s 1st LP out on 18 Feb 1974 on Casablanca Dist. By: WB with 9 songs. In an unusual move full song writing credits were not given, for example: “Cold Gin” was actually Frehley- Simmons, for the song “Let Me Know” the ending Coda was written by: Frehley but not given credit & “Deuce” was Simmons- Stanley, while “Black Diamond” was actually Simmons- Stanley. A total of 3 singles were released from this LP “Nothin To Lose b/w Love Theme From KISS” in Feb ’74, followed by: “Kissin Time” (a 1959 Bobby Rydell song which is recorded in Apr ’74) in May ’74 & the 3rd was “Strutter b/w 100,000 Years” in Aug ’74.
If you did not know I was a staff member on a book published on “KISS: Alive Forever” 2002 Billboard Books & you may or may not know I am in a “KISS Tribute Band” which covers the 1st & 2nd ‘KISS’ Tours thus I am writing this article, to help those understand what it is we are portraying, should you decide come to see us “Live”. By the way the is a Brand New Book out titled “Out On The Streets” by ‘KISS’s’ Original Road Crew: JR Smalling, Peter Oreckinto, Rick Munroe& the late Mick Campise, I haven’t read it yet, but I do hope to get 1 from Santa Claus (hint hint)
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year … MrZer0
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