KISS: At Midnight ’75

KISS: DTK ’75

BUZZ Newspaper Article Jan- Feb 2017 (#70-kD)

By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0
When I was a kid in Jackson, MS. my childhood friends Spencer & Chris came to visit from Iowa & for my 14th birthday they gave me the LP “KISS: Dressed To Kill” now I was a little confused by the cover photo, but as I recall my friend Spencer loved it. I do vividly remember my favorite songs were: “Anything For My Baby” & “Love Her All I Can” So here is another except from My Book on ‘KISS’ “Send In The Klowns”.

> Down To Kill<

In New York “DTK” on the streets, was any acronym for “Down To Kill”. KISS’ 3rd album was originally titled “KISS: At Midnight” but due to Bob Gruen’s (NYC 1945) photo shoot for “Creem” magazine (April ’75 Vol.6 #11) where the band are “Wall Street” types on their way to work when they read in the “Journal” that “Rock & Roll” record sales are at an all-time-low, & KISS is called into action to save Rock & Roll from John Denver. The location was on the southwest corner 23rd St & 8th Ave in front of Port Authority Subway station, Peter had his own suit form his wedding (to Lydia in ’70), however the other 3 had to use Bill Aucoin’s (29 Dec 1943- Ayer, MA. 28 Jun 2010) suits.

Neil Bogart (1943 -1982) owner of KISS’ Record Label, being a record producer himself in the late 60s, decided to let go of Kerner & Wise, the duo that produced the 1st 2 KISS LPs, in order to cut costs,  Bogart decided to produced the LP with the band. Criss: “We smoked a lot of pot for those sessions & would mix the songs at night & the next day when we came into the studio straight we would think what the hell, this sounds like S***”. Stanley: “Ace was playing an Amp he made himself housed in a cardboard box, & he borrowed a riff form ‘The Doors’ song “Five To One”, we used acoustic guitars for the rhythm tracks to fill out the sound, we borrowed that Idea from ‘BTO’ , “Love Her All I Can” was a song I wrote in the early 70s derived form 2 other songs “Can’t Explain” & “Open My Eyes” 

It was on this, their 3rd LP that the band members started playing other roles, Paul Lead On “C’mon & Love Me”, Gene rhythm guitar on “Ladies In Waiting” & Ace played Bass on “Getaway” because, as the legend goes; “Gene wasn’t quite gettin the hang of of the song & would rather have been with this groupie that was hangin around the studio, anyways”.

>Are You Ready To Rock<

While Gene & Paul were prolific song writers & Ace had a stash of unused songs too, KISS very rarely recorded more songs than were used on any specific album, there were several demo songs recorded at that time including”Drive Me Wild” which did evolve into “Rock & Roll All Nite” as well as”Burning Up With Fever” & ”Man Of A Thousand Faces” by Gene & “Mistake” by Paul, these songs did not find their way onto this album. Strangely they did re-use 2 ‘Wicked Lester’ songs Simmons: “We had been playing “She” since the 1st KISS tour, so we thought we should put it on an album”
‘Dressed To Kill’ was released on 19 Mar 1975 on Vinyl & 8-Track & Charted at #32 in Jun ’75. 2 singles were released “Rock And Roll All Nite” on 2 Apr ’75 & charted at #68 on 14 Jun ’75 & then “C’mon And Love Me” 10 Jul ’75, again in order to cut costs (as they would only have to master 1 side of the new single) both 45s had “Getaway” as the B-Side. Back in the “olden days” most people bought vinyl LPs but the older kids with money & cars bought “8 Tracks” which always had a different running order so some of us remember the tracks in a completely different order & are kind of hard to come by these days, so here is the

8- Track listing:

*CAB F-87016 (Mnfr. By: AMPEX)

Ladies In Waiting

Anything For My Baby

Love Her All I Can

Two Timer

Getaway

Rock Bottom

C’mon And Love Me

Rock And Roll All Nite

Room Service

She

>Are You Ready to Roll<

The Tour for “DTK” started on 19 Mar & ran through to 28 Aug 1975 for 72 concerts, the band ‘RUSH’ has the unique distinction  of being the band  that toured most with KISS in the 70s, a total of 51 shows together. What some fans do not realize that the Band wore; what is considered to be the ‘Hotter Than Hell’ suits for the 1st part of the tour up until 11 May ’75. Frehley: “I remember the 1st time we sold out 2 nights at the Beekman (Beacon Mar ’75) Theatre in New York, now that was a thrill; I really felt we had made it”

 

On 1 April 1975 the band filmed 4 songs for NBC’s ‘Midnight Special’ TV Show they were: “Deuce” “C’mon And Love Me” “She-Ace Solo” “Black Diamond” 2 of these were aired in July & 1 other in Sep ’75. There is some 8mm footage filmed in Milwaukee on 6 may ’75 showing the band still wearing what is commonly known as “HTH” Suits. In May a company developed the suits commonly referred to as the “Alive” suits, with the new suits the band filmed “Promo Video’s” for “C’mon And Love Me” & “Rock And Roll All Nite” on 15 May for the new costumes debut.

>Put Your 2 Lips Together & KISS<

The very 1st time KISS played St. Paul my friend Mike (Taco) V. was in attendance; here is the set-list (to the best of our knowledge)

 

Monday May 19 1975

St. Paul Civic Ctr. Theatre

With: HYDRA

Deuce

Strutter

Got To Choose

Hotter Than Hell

Firehouse

She/Jam #49

Ace’s Solo
C’mon And Love Me
Room Service
Nothin To Lose
100,000 Years

Peter’s Solo

Black Diamond

Cold Gin

Let Me Go Rock N Roll

Rock And Roll All Nite

>Tour Tribute<

If you’re wondering what it would have been like to see KISS back then, Local St.Paul Tribute Band “KISSin Time”  (check them out on “fb”) re-creates the 1st Tours up to May ’75. They will be appearing locally;

14 Jan @ Lee’s in MPLS

18 Feb @ Pickled Loon in St. Cloud

19 Feb @ Dugout in Mahtomedi

18 Mar @ Mayslack’s in MPLS

24 Mar @ Dugout in Mahtomedi

24 June @ Neisen’s in Savage

So there you have it what was happening a mere 42 years ago today … until the next time.

Have a Rock & Roll Ball … MrZerr0

Mr. Zero’s *Est.2009

1744 Lexington Ave. N.

Roseville, MN. 55113
www.MrZeroS.Com