On 1. July 1980, Paul Caravello (Eric Carr) got the call inviting him to be the new drummer for Kiss, after auditioning for the band 23. and 27. June. Peter Criss had officially left Kiss on May 18, 1980, or as Kiss says “Was voted out of the band”.
On July 1, 1980, Eric received a call, and while events are now fuzzy due to different press releases about the event, Eric was told that for “all intent and purposes” he was now a member of Kiss. “As far and I knew,” Eric remembered, “IT was in the band. And I figured, ‘Okay. Well, I’m certainly not going to do anything that’s going to screw it up. If they like me enough to rehearse with me, believe me, it’s just going to get better.’ I don’t remember exactly when they said that I was a band member, but as far as I was concerned, as of July 1, I was a member of Kiss. And July 25th was the first show, so we had less than a month to put the first show together.”
– “Black Diamond: The Unauthorized Biography of Kiss”, book by Dale Sherman.
