Kiss is thrown off the tour with Argent

On 3. May, 1974, Kiss was thrown off the tour after their show at the Ambassador Theater in St. Louis, Missouri, supporting Argent for their first US tour. Kiss was simply too popular, playing multiple encores, while Argent had a strict no-encore rule for their opening acts. The night before in Grand Rapids, Kiss had performed their show, then went to go back onstage for an encore, when the manager of Argent cut their power. Following this dispute, Kiss road manager J.R. Smalling locked Argent’s road manager in an anvil case to ensure Kiss finished their set, resulting in the band being kicked off the tour.

Russ Ballard of Argent wrote Ace’s hit “New York Groove” and Kiss’ cover song “God Gave Rock and Roll to You”.

Top photo by Paul Benedict.

Gene Simmons:
“During one show our set went well as usual, and the audience was in a frenzy. We got to the end of our eighth song, and they were screaming as loud as they could, and we all braced for the lights to go dead — but they didn’t. They stayed on. So we played an encore, and the crowd was still screaming. At that point we really didn’t have any more songs, so we actually went back and replayed some of the songs from earlier in the set. Finally, after the third or fourth encore, we came off, drenched in sweat, completely confused about Argent’s change in heart. It turns out that we owed our good luck to Junior Smalling, who had gotten into a little argument with Argent’s road manager and pushed him into an anvil case and locked it shut. Needless to say, we were thrown off that tour too”.
– “Kiss and Make-Up” by Gene Simmons.

J. R. Smalling:
“One night at the Ambassador Theater in St. Louis, KISS was onstage. Our cases were lined up against the back wall and all set to pack up and get out of there as quickly as possible. We used these huge Ampeg bass cases that were about five feet tall. We could tell that Argent’s production manager, this Indian guy who grew up in London named Solomon, was getting ready to cut the band’s set short and turn the lights on. So I made my way over to him, shoved him into one of the amp cases, and locked the fuckin’ case [laughs] until the band was off the fuckin’ stage. The band’s playing and he’s banging away inside of the case and no one could hear him [laughs] until the band came offstage. After, one of Argent’s crew lets him out of the case. We’re standing on this big proscenium stage and this guy said something to me like, “You think you’re pretty smart. What would you do if I put a knife to your throat?” So he puts a knife to my throat, and I took the knife and turned it on him [laughs] and he was holding the knife to his own throat [laughs]. That definitely settled the argument, and Argent never messed with us again.”
– “Kiss Behind The Mask: The Official Authorized Biography” by Ken Sharp & David Leaf.

Paul Stanley:
“And, of course, we had a road crew to set up and tear down our stage and effects, to maintain our instruments, and, it often turned out, to fight with the headliners’ road crews when they demanded we tone down our act since we were just the opening band. The road crew drove a big truck with all the gear—except for the four Samsonite makeup cases, complete with mirrors. Those stayed with us in the station wagon.
When we played a few dates with the band Argent, their crew kept cutting our set short, pulling the power before we finished. They also fought us tooth and nail on all of our effects — it’s tough to follow a band that leaves the place filled with smoke to remind everyone throughout the rest of the concert that World War III had just been fought and won by four guys in eight-inch heels, black leather, and makeup. Then on the last night of our tour leg with them, we miraculously had a trouble-free show. Afterwards we found out why: our crew had locked the guy in charge of their production in one of the huge road cases we carted our gear in. Our road crew believed in the cause.”
– “Face the music: A Life Exposed” by Paul Stanley.