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.
John Ałtyn:
“And, it was on that fateful night, August 10, 1973 when a fellow with a receding hairline and a bushy mustache sat down right next to me on my left. KISS was having amplifier trouble and that fellow who sat next to me, told his associate who sat to his left, “Let’s Go”.
I turned to my left (just for the detail record: That night at the Hotel Diplomat: I was wearing my old Boston Bruin hockey jersey, with the sleeves cut to the shoulder and I was wearing a white Benjamin Moore “Dutch Boy” painters hat backwards) and we told this fellow, “No! You have to stay and see KISS!
They are great!” He looked me dead in the eye, and he must have seen my sincerity, he then turned to his associate and said, “OK, We’ll stay”.
I know Rik, AnneMarie and the Criscuola sisters also implored him to stay and that he did.
That fellow with the receding hairline and bushy mustache, was Bill Aucoin how became their manager and as Ace would say, “The rest is KISStory”.”
Gene Simmons:
“Bill was terrific. He was a showman, a guy who believed in doing it all. I was the one who sent him the promo package with the bio and invitation to the Hotel Diplomat show. I wanted somebody who wasn’t just going to manage the band but somebody who had a point of view who understood visuals and television and promotion. He came to the Hotel Diplomat and he was the one who pitched to manage us.
Bill was very, very important to the band. He introduced us to his live-in relationship with Sean Delaney, who we didn’t know about it that way and didn’t really care. It never mattered. Sean Delaney played a very important part in the beginning of the band as well. He was a road manager, he would suggest moves. He co-wrote songs with the band. He was more of an idea guy.”
– “Kiss Behind The Mask: The Official Authorized Biography” by Ken Sharp & David Leaf.
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.
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.
John Ałtyn:
“And, it was on that fateful night, August 10, 1973 when a fellow with a receding hairline and a bushy mustache sat down right next to me on my left. KISS was having amplifier trouble and that fellow who sat next to me, told his associate who sat to his left, “Let’s Go”.
I turned to my left (just for the detail record: That night at the Hotel Diplomat: I was wearing my old Boston Bruin hockey jersey, with the sleeves cut to the shoulder and I was wearing a white Benjamin Moore “Dutch Boy” painters hat backwards) and we told this fellow, “No! You have to stay and see KISS!
They are great!” He looked me dead in the eye, and he must have seen my sincerity, he then turned to his associate and said, “OK, We’ll stay”.
I know Rik, AnneMarie and the Criscuola sisters also implored him to stay and that he did.
That fellow with the receding hairline and bushy mustache, was Bill Aucoin how became their manager and as Ace would say, “The rest is KISStory”.”
Gene Simmons:
“Bill was terrific. He was a showman, a guy who believed in doing it all. I was the one who sent him the promo package with the bio and invitation to the Hotel Diplomat show. I wanted somebody who wasn’t just going to manage the band but somebody who had a point of view who understood visuals and television and promotion. He came to the Hotel Diplomat and he was the one who pitched to manage us.
Bill was very, very important to the band. He introduced us to his live-in relationship with Sean Delaney, who we didn’t know about it that way and didn’t really care. It never mattered. Sean Delaney played a very important part in the beginning of the band as well. He was a road manager, he would suggest moves. He co-wrote songs with the band. He was more of an idea guy.”
– “Kiss Behind The Mask: The Official Authorized Biography” by Ken Sharp & David Leaf.
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.