On 10. August 1973, Bill Aucoin saw Kiss play for the first time at Crystal Ball Room of the Hotel Diplomat in New York City. Fellow New York bands Luger and Street Punk were also on the bill.
Bill Aucoin:
“The reason I went to see this group was because Gene kept sending me these little notes every week inviting me to see his band and he kept saying that he watched my television show ‘Flipside’. One night, I was out to dinner with a friend, and I said to the guy, ‘C’mon, they’re playing over at the Diplomat, let’s go check them out.’ Of course the Diplomat is this old, broken-down, rat-trap of a hotel. Literally, there were holes in the floor. That’s how bad the hotel was. The show itself was in the second floor ballroom. Kiss had black jeans on, and they didn’t have all the makeup or whiteface yet, but they were really different, and I love things that are different. The more extreme it is, the more I like it”
“[After the show] I talked to Gene and Paul and said, ‘Look, I’d like to have a meeting with you and see if we get along and if we’d like to work together.’ About a week later they came by, and I met Peter and Ace and told them, ‘Why don’t you give me 30 days, and if I can get you a deal and if you want to work together, we’ll go forward’”
– “Kiss Alive Forever – The Complete Touring History” by Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs (2002)
“When I met Gene and Paul, I said, ‘If we’re going to do it, if you’re interested in working hard and making this a major, major group, then I’d be willing to put as much as I can behind it.’ I can remember them saying, ‘Boy, if we could just be as big as the New York Dolls.’ I kept saying to them, ‘I hope you’re going to be a lot bigger.’ I saw flaws in the Dolls’ situation”
– “Kiss Behind the Mask: The Official Authorized Biography” by David Leaf and Ken Sharp (2003)
Aucoin held on his promise, signing Kiss to Neil Bogart’s fledgling Casablanca Records label in just a couple of weeks.
