On 13. July, 1973, Kiss played a show at Hotel Diplomat, New York, with headliners The Brats and opening band Planets. Kiss used this as a showcase for prospective talent scouts selectively invited. The three bands funded the show 40/40/20 and agreed to split the proceeds by the same ratio at the end of the night with one representative from each band to supervise collection of admissions. Paul rented the venue for a fee of $450.
Source: Kissfaq.com
Eddie Kramer:
“I saw them on Friday, July 13, of 73 at the Hotel Diplomat. Rich Totoian of Windfall Records [Mountain’s record label], Bill Aucoin, and I were invited to that show. It was very off-the-wall stuff. For some people it was revolting, but to me it was very interesting because nobody was doing the full makeup trip. They had a lot to learn. They weren’t great musicians. However, they did have a great stage act and they were very organized.”
– “Kiss Behind The Mask: The Official Authorized Biography” by Ken Sharp & David Leaf.
Gene Simmons:
“We were keeping track of the industry people who came in because while they didn’t have to pay to get in, they had to sign their name at the door when they presented their ticket. We only had a few industry people come down. The genius of the system was we didn’t even mention any of the other bands on the bill when in point of fact they were the ones drawing the crowd because KISS was unknown in New York.”
– “Nothin’ to Lose: The making of Kiss (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp, Gene Simmons, and Paul Stanley.
Paul Stanley:
“Early on the day of the show, July 13, 1973, I rented a van and we loaded in and inconspicuously set up all our gear before anyone else arrived. This was a ruse to make people think we had a road crew. When people eventually showed up, we wanted them to see everything ready for us to walk on to the stage, as if somebody had taken care of it all before we even arrived at the venue. Nobody would realize we had humped it all ourselves. In actuality, we had just one guy, a friend of Ace’s named Eddie Solon, who handled the sound on our PA.
After we had set everything up at the hotel, we went back to our loft on 23rd Street and got ready for the show, doing our makeup and putting on our outfits. Peter was up to his usual shenanigans, threatening to quit the band just as we thought we were on the verge of taking a step forward. In order to make him feel better, Gene and I arranged a special treat. When we all went downstairs to go to the hotel, a limo was waiting at the curb. It made all of us, not just Peter, feel special to show up in that car. I can’t imagine a limo had ever pulled up in front of that place.
The ballroom was nearly full. We realized immediately that we must have covered our expenses-there were probably four hundred people there, and at three bucks a ticket we would be in the black. We stomped through the audience in full regalia and took the stage.
At least one A&R exec showed up for the show, as we had hoped. His name was Rich Totoian, and he worked for Windfall Records, which was the home of the band Mountain – who’d had a massive hit with “Mississippi Queen” a few years before. “Listen,” he said. “You guys are great. But honestly, I don’t know what to do with you.”
It didn’t seem like a big mystery to me. If you thought we were good live, just put out a record. I didn’t think people needed to think about packaging us or marketing us. Just put it out. Of course, it wasn’t the last time somebody was taken aback by our makeup. But by this time, we had confidence – conviction, even-in what we were doing. And since we hadn’t lost money on the show, we also knew we could do this again and get more people to check us out. Maybe somebody would figure us out.
“This is who we are,” we told the guy. “We are KISS.”
– “Face the music: A Life Exposed” by Paul Stanley.
Rick Rivets:
“They must have had at least 100 people on the guest list; it was all record company people. When we got there, the place was packed. You couldn’t even move, it was so jammed. But as soon as they finished, the place cleared out.”
– “Kiss Alive Forever” by Jeff Suhs and Curt Gooch.
Poster for Kiss, The Brats and Planets show at Hotel Diplomat, 13. July, 1973.
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On 13. July, 1973, Kiss played a show at Hotel Diplomat, New York, with headliners The Brats and opening band Planets. Kiss used this as a showcase for prospective talent scouts selectively invited. The three bands funded the show 40/40/20 and agreed to split the proceeds by the same ratio at the end of the night with one representative from each band to supervise collection of admissions. Paul rented the venue for a fee of $450.
Source: Kissfaq.com
Eddie Kramer:
“I saw them on Friday, July 13, of 73 at the Hotel Diplomat. Rich Totoian of Windfall Records [Mountain’s record label], Bill Aucoin, and I were invited to that show. It was very off-the-wall stuff. For some people it was revolting, but to me it was very interesting because nobody was doing the full makeup trip. They had a lot to learn. They weren’t great musicians. However, they did have a great stage act and they were very organized.”
– “Kiss Behind The Mask: The Official Authorized Biography” by Ken Sharp & David Leaf.
Gene Simmons:
“We were keeping track of the industry people who came in because while they didn’t have to pay to get in, they had to sign their name at the door when they presented their ticket. We only had a few industry people come down. The genius of the system was we didn’t even mention any of the other bands on the bill when in point of fact they were the ones drawing the crowd because KISS was unknown in New York.”
– “Nothin’ to Lose: The making of Kiss (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp, Gene Simmons, and Paul Stanley.
Paul Stanley:
“Early on the day of the show, July 13, 1973, I rented a van and we loaded in and inconspicuously set up all our gear before anyone else arrived. This was a ruse to make people think we had a road crew. When people eventually showed up, we wanted them to see everything ready for us to walk on to the stage, as if somebody had taken care of it all before we even arrived at the venue. Nobody would realize we had humped it all ourselves. In actuality, we had just one guy, a friend of Ace’s named Eddie Solon, who handled the sound on our PA.
After we had set everything up at the hotel, we went back to our loft on 23rd Street and got ready for the show, doing our makeup and putting on our outfits. Peter was up to his usual shenanigans, threatening to quit the band just as we thought we were on the verge of taking a step forward. In order to make him feel better, Gene and I arranged a special treat. When we all went downstairs to go to the hotel, a limo was waiting at the curb. It made all of us, not just Peter, feel special to show up in that car. I can’t imagine a limo had ever pulled up in front of that place.
The ballroom was nearly full. We realized immediately that we must have covered our expenses-there were probably four hundred people there, and at three bucks a ticket we would be in the black. We stomped through the audience in full regalia and took the stage.
At least one A&R exec showed up for the show, as we had hoped. His name was Rich Totoian, and he worked for Windfall Records, which was the home of the band Mountain – who’d had a massive hit with “Mississippi Queen” a few years before. “Listen,” he said. “You guys are great. But honestly, I don’t know what to do with you.”
It didn’t seem like a big mystery to me. If you thought we were good live, just put out a record. I didn’t think people needed to think about packaging us or marketing us. Just put it out. Of course, it wasn’t the last time somebody was taken aback by our makeup. But by this time, we had confidence – conviction, even-in what we were doing. And since we hadn’t lost money on the show, we also knew we could do this again and get more people to check us out. Maybe somebody would figure us out.
“This is who we are,” we told the guy. “We are KISS.”
– “Face the music: A Life Exposed” by Paul Stanley.
Rick Rivets:
“They must have had at least 100 people on the guest list; it was all record company people. When we got there, the place was packed. You couldn’t even move, it was so jammed. But as soon as they finished, the place cleared out.”
– “Kiss Alive Forever” by Jeff Suhs and Curt Gooch.
Poster for Kiss, The Brats and Planets show at Hotel Diplomat, 13. July, 1973.