On 28. September, 1973, Kiss played a showcase for Casablanca Records at LeTang’s Rehearsal Hall for producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise, Neil and Joyce Bogart, Bill Aucoin, Sean Delaney, and other executives at the fledgling Casablanca label. It is at this showcase that Gene admits “borrowing” the facial grimace and tongue work from Richie Wise, who had done the same when performing with Dust. This was the first time Neil Bogart (and possibly Sean Delaney) saw the band. Blown away by the show, Bogart decides to sign the band as the first act on his new label.
Bill Aucoin:
“Neil had just found out that the Warner Group was going to give him money to start up a label with Warner Bros.” KISS’s demo tape ended up on top of the slush pile in Bogart’s office where record producer Kenny Kerner rescued it one Friday afternoon. Kerner liked it enough to play it for Bogart the following Monday. Aucoin picks up the story again: “Neil called me and told me, ‘Everyone seems to want to do this band. Let’s do a little showcase so that everyone in the future company knows what we’re going to sign. And if everything’s OK, then we’ll sign them to the new label.”
– “Kiss Alive Forever” by Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs
Paul Stanley:
“We needed a place where we could showcase and there really weren’t music rehearsal studios in the city. Some of them wanted nothing to do with you because they didn’t want loud music, but LeTang’s was game. It was a dance studio located in midtown Manhattan that was owned by a photographer named Henry LeTang.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Kenney Kerner:
“One night, Bill, myself, Joyce [Aucoin’s business partner], Richie [Wise], Neil, Bucky Rheingold, Larry Harris, the Kama Sutra/Casablanca promotion staff, went into this little rehearsal studio called Le Tang Studios. The room was as big as a shoebox – the back of the stage to the front door couldn’t have been more than 30 feet. The group came in and they looked 12 feet tall. They had platform shoes that had to be a foot high and the stage was about a foot off the ground so they looked like skyscrapers. They all wore black outfits and their faces were painted. Gene had his tongue going. They came on in such a demonic way – Gene especially looked really demonic – that I was scared shitless. I could see kids just going nuts for this stuff.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Gene Simmons:
“It was a small room with a small stage and mirrors all over the walls. You’d fit maybe forty people in there.
Bill was sitting next to Neil Bogart and was talking to him while we were onstage. I was incensed that they were talking while we were singing our songs. We were playing “Nothin’ to Lose” and there’s a section where we encouraged the audience to clap their hands. I stepped off stage and put my nose up in front of Neil’s nose to get him to stop talking. Bogart’s eyes are popping, like “What the fuck’s going on?” I took his hands and literally forced him to start clapping.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Gene Simmons:
“We came out and did our five songs. Neil Bogart’s mouth is hanging open. He has no idea what’s going on. During ‘Life in the Woods,’ we put down our guitars and ran into the audience. I grabbed Neil’s hands and was clapping them for him. Literally, his mouth is wide open. At the end of the last song, ‘Firehouse,’ we threw the confetti in his face. And then we ran out of the room while the equipment was still feeding back.
“Finally, somebody unplugged the equipment, and for a long time, there was a lot of silence. Nobody knew what to say. Neil wasn’t sure if it was gonna happen or not. But Sean Delaney was jumping up and down. ‘Wow! I never saw anything like it! Great band! Wow!’ Neil didn’t quite know what to make of it.”
– “KISS: Behind the Mask” by David Leaf and Ken Sharp
Sean Delaney (Kiss road manager/choreographer):
“They finished the first song and no applause. Gene walks down to Neil Bogart, grabs both of his hands, and makes him clap… Neil started applauding because he was scared to death. And I said to myself at that moment, “I wanna be involved in this.” Because that’s the kind of balls you have to have to do anything.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Joyce Bogart (wife of Neil Bogart):
“After the show, Bill, Neil and I met in a tiny room. We stood in a small circle, the group in full costume and make-up as Neil told Kiss he wanted them to be his first signing for Casablanca. When he finished his speech outlining their future and telling them that he thought they were stars, Peter Criss fell down. He just fell off of his high heels and landed with great force on his rear. We all roared, including Peter. You might say it sealed the deal.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Ace Frehley:
“Clearly, though, Neil was impressed, because not long after that we had a deal with Emerald City (soon to be Casablanca) Records, and a distribution arrangement with Warner Bros. Neil had a lot of faith in KISS; there was a bit of the old carnival barker in him, and so he could appreciate what we were trying to do and see the potential for reaching a massive audience. But even Neil wondered whether we were a little too far out on the fringe for our own good. He loved the music and the brashness of our performance. But the makeup?
“I’m not so sure it’s necessary” he said.”
– “No Regrets” by Ace Frehley
Peter Criss:
“We got all dressed up as if we were going to play a club and set up our equipment in that little rehearsal room. Bill set up a few chairs for Neil and a couple of people from his label. We turned off all the lights before we began, and then we cranked it up and all hell broke loose. They probably heard us over in Jersey. After the first song there was no reaction, so Gene came down off the makeshift stage, walked over to Neil, and grabbed his hands and forced him to clap, just like he’d do at the Daisy. Then during “Firehouse,” Paul did his usual gimmick. He ran up to Neil with what looked like a bucket of water in an old red fire bucket and threw it in Neil’s face. But the bucket contained confetti, not water. And Neil started laughing hysterically.
When we finished, Neil seemed to be in total shock. But I noticed that Joyce had her arm around Neil, who was a married man, and they looked pretty chummy.”
– “Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of Kiss” by Peter Criss
Related Kiss posts:
On 28. September, 1973, Kiss played a showcase for Casablanca Records at LeTang’s Rehearsal Hall for producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise, Neil and Joyce Bogart, Bill Aucoin, Sean Delaney, and other executives at the fledgling Casablanca label. It is at this showcase that Gene admits “borrowing” the facial grimace and tongue work from Richie Wise, who had done the same when performing with Dust. This was the first time Neil Bogart (and possibly Sean Delaney) saw the band. Blown away by the show, Bogart decides to sign the band as the first act on his new label.
Bill Aucoin:
“Neil had just found out that the Warner Group was going to give him money to start up a label with Warner Bros.” KISS’s demo tape ended up on top of the slush pile in Bogart’s office where record producer Kenny Kerner rescued it one Friday afternoon. Kerner liked it enough to play it for Bogart the following Monday. Aucoin picks up the story again: “Neil called me and told me, ‘Everyone seems to want to do this band. Let’s do a little showcase so that everyone in the future company knows what we’re going to sign. And if everything’s OK, then we’ll sign them to the new label.”
– “Kiss Alive Forever” by Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs
Paul Stanley:
“We needed a place where we could showcase and there really weren’t music rehearsal studios in the city. Some of them wanted nothing to do with you because they didn’t want loud music, but LeTang’s was game. It was a dance studio located in midtown Manhattan that was owned by a photographer named Henry LeTang.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Kenney Kerner:
“One night, Bill, myself, Joyce [Aucoin’s business partner], Richie [Wise], Neil, Bucky Rheingold, Larry Harris, the Kama Sutra/Casablanca promotion staff, went into this little rehearsal studio called Le Tang Studios. The room was as big as a shoebox – the back of the stage to the front door couldn’t have been more than 30 feet. The group came in and they looked 12 feet tall. They had platform shoes that had to be a foot high and the stage was about a foot off the ground so they looked like skyscrapers. They all wore black outfits and their faces were painted. Gene had his tongue going. They came on in such a demonic way – Gene especially looked really demonic – that I was scared shitless. I could see kids just going nuts for this stuff.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Gene Simmons:
“It was a small room with a small stage and mirrors all over the walls. You’d fit maybe forty people in there.
Bill was sitting next to Neil Bogart and was talking to him while we were onstage. I was incensed that they were talking while we were singing our songs. We were playing “Nothin’ to Lose” and there’s a section where we encouraged the audience to clap their hands. I stepped off stage and put my nose up in front of Neil’s nose to get him to stop talking. Bogart’s eyes are popping, like “What the fuck’s going on?” I took his hands and literally forced him to start clapping.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Gene Simmons:
“We came out and did our five songs. Neil Bogart’s mouth is hanging open. He has no idea what’s going on. During ‘Life in the Woods,’ we put down our guitars and ran into the audience. I grabbed Neil’s hands and was clapping them for him. Literally, his mouth is wide open. At the end of the last song, ‘Firehouse,’ we threw the confetti in his face. And then we ran out of the room while the equipment was still feeding back.
“Finally, somebody unplugged the equipment, and for a long time, there was a lot of silence. Nobody knew what to say. Neil wasn’t sure if it was gonna happen or not. But Sean Delaney was jumping up and down. ‘Wow! I never saw anything like it! Great band! Wow!’ Neil didn’t quite know what to make of it.”
– “KISS: Behind the Mask” by David Leaf and Ken Sharp
Sean Delaney (Kiss road manager/choreographer):
“They finished the first song and no applause. Gene walks down to Neil Bogart, grabs both of his hands, and makes him clap… Neil started applauding because he was scared to death. And I said to myself at that moment, “I wanna be involved in this.” Because that’s the kind of balls you have to have to do anything.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Joyce Bogart (wife of Neil Bogart):
“After the show, Bill, Neil and I met in a tiny room. We stood in a small circle, the group in full costume and make-up as Neil told Kiss he wanted them to be his first signing for Casablanca. When he finished his speech outlining their future and telling them that he thought they were stars, Peter Criss fell down. He just fell off of his high heels and landed with great force on his rear. We all roared, including Peter. You might say it sealed the deal.”
– “Nothin’ to lose: The making of KISS (1972-1975)” by Ken Sharp
Ace Frehley:
“Clearly, though, Neil was impressed, because not long after that we had a deal with Emerald City (soon to be Casablanca) Records, and a distribution arrangement with Warner Bros. Neil had a lot of faith in KISS; there was a bit of the old carnival barker in him, and so he could appreciate what we were trying to do and see the potential for reaching a massive audience. But even Neil wondered whether we were a little too far out on the fringe for our own good. He loved the music and the brashness of our performance. But the makeup?
“I’m not so sure it’s necessary” he said.”
– “No Regrets” by Ace Frehley
Peter Criss:
“We got all dressed up as if we were going to play a club and set up our equipment in that little rehearsal room. Bill set up a few chairs for Neil and a couple of people from his label. We turned off all the lights before we began, and then we cranked it up and all hell broke loose. They probably heard us over in Jersey. After the first song there was no reaction, so Gene came down off the makeshift stage, walked over to Neil, and grabbed his hands and forced him to clap, just like he’d do at the Daisy. Then during “Firehouse,” Paul did his usual gimmick. He ran up to Neil with what looked like a bucket of water in an old red fire bucket and threw it in Neil’s face. But the bucket contained confetti, not water. And Neil started laughing hysterically.
When we finished, Neil seemed to be in total shock. But I noticed that Joyce had her arm around Neil, who was a married man, and they looked pretty chummy.”
– “Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of Kiss” by Peter Criss