For lead guitarist Ace Frehley, the album had the hard edge and streetwise feel that Kerner and Wise had aimed for. “Exactly the way they were live.”Īccording to Wise, the whole album was recorded in six days, with a further seven days of mixing. “We decided that this had to be a real street album, a real raw album,” Kerner said. They came away with a simple remit for the job ahead. It was at Le Tang Ballet Studios, right across the street from Bell Sound, that Kerner and Wise saw Kiss perform live for the first time. I said, ‘Shit, this is exactly the kind of stuff Neil should have on Casablanca – a legitimate and credible rock group.’ I brought that tape back to him Monday and said, ‘You want to sign these guys.’ So that’s how we became involved with Kiss.” It was on a Friday night that Kerner pulled out the Kiss demo recorded by Eddie Kramer, and as he recalled: “It just blew me away. “I would come by once a week and pick them up.” “Neil Bogart would leave demo tapes for me outside of his office,” Kerner said. And it was this partnership, between record company mogul and savvy producers, which led to Kiss becoming the first act signed to Casablanca Records. Their next production for Bogart – a novelty song, Back When My Hair Was Short by Gunhill Road – made the top 20.įrom there, more hits followed. They also co-produced for the first time on what turned out to be Dust’s final album, Hard Attack. Kerner wrote all of the band’s songs with Wise. Kiss backstage in 1974 (Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images) Kerner and Wise had first hooked up with Bogart when, as boss of the Karma Sutra label, he signed Dust, a New York power trio in which Wise played guitar alongside bassist Kenny Aaronson, who later backed Joan Jett and Billy Idol, and drummer Marc Bell, who went on to become better known as Marky Ramone. Neil Bogart, a brash record company executive, had founded a new label in 1973 – christened Casablanca Records in reference to his famous namesake, Humphrey Bogart. And I worshipped The Beatles.”īut while Kramer had the kudos, it was Kerner and Wise who had the connection that paid off – for them, and, in no small measure, for Kiss.
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All the bands that inspired me were British. As Paul said: “I’d been an Anglophile since I was a young teen. Given this pedigree, the four members of Kiss were thrilled to work with Kramer. In the summer of 1973, before Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise were enlisted as producers, the band had cut demos of Strutter and other key songs – Deuce, Firehouse and Black Diamond – with a guy who had worked on some of the biggest and most influential rock records of the late 60s and early 70s.Įddie Kramer, a South African expat, had served as recording engineer for The Beatles (on All You Need Is Love), the Rolling Stones ( Their Satanic Majesties Request), the Jimi Hendrix Experience ( Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland) and Led Zeppelin ( Led Zeppelin II and Houses Of The Holy).