New New Orleans 1976 footage discovered (June 24)

June 23, 2009
FILM ARCHIVE PROJECT UNCOVERS GOLDMINE FOR KISS FANS

Fan filmed footage of KISS performing in New Orleans, LA on December 4, 1976 during the Rock and Roll Over tour was recently shared on YouTube by a small group of die hard KISS fans who are working to preserve the 8mm film legacy of the band. This footage has been in collectors circles for nearly 3 decades, but now the actual audio of the same concert has been added, giving it new life.

"It all started years ago when we discovered KISS were indeed performing Acrobat on the Long Beach 1974 footage." says Nick Vivid, CEO of MegaPlatinum Entertainment LLC and frontman for NYC rock band FRAULEIN. "We synced audio to it and in turn helped contribute to Kissology. We're really proud of that. These silent films of KISS in the 1970's may not seem like much on the surface, but when sound is added, we sometimes uncover findings of major historical significance. Who knows how long it would have taken for someone to discover the band was performing Acrobat on that film had we not lead the charge?"

That historical significance is being uncovered in real time. Along with a small collective of die hard fans, Nick recently created the unofficial KISS 8mm Film Project in an effort to properly archive all existing 8mm films of the band, sync audio to them, and find any possible rarities in the process. So far, nearly 40 films have been uncovered, but the work doesn't end there. "There is so much misinformation about these films and we've had to hunt in strange places to find upgrades and masters - which we're still in the process of doing. We have to really do our homework to figure out what's what at
times."

Thanks to people like Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs, co-authors of the book Kiss Alive Forever, the workload has been a little easier. "Curt and Jeff did such an amazing job with that book and it's helped tremendously in our efforts to make this project as historically accurate as possible. Hopefully our research helps them, as well."

Along with the aforementioned "Acrobat" film, the collective has discovered a snippet of KISS performing "Mainline" in 1975. "We have found some interesting things while doing this project and are in the process of discovering more. Some of the rarities are on tapes that have been in fans' collections for decades. There may be a film out there of KISS performing Hard Luck Woman on the Rock n Roll Over Tour or Kissin' Time from 1974. You never know."

The collective is hoping that KISS will be interested in the project when it's done and that other groups and organizations, such as Bill Sagan and Wolfgang's Vault, will be interested in having the team work on other bands' silent films. "We've been able to really make these seem as real as possible, even if the audio isn't from the same show. We've got a very talented group here and have a proven track record of adding value to silent archival films that already exist."

The collective is also hoping other fans can help upgrade films, provide missing details, or come forth with canisters of films that may be in attics or otherwise collecting dust. Fans are encouraged to contribute to the project by contacting kiss8mm@megaplatinum.net

You can also visit the Youtube page for the unofficial KISS 8mm Film Project at http://www.youtube.com/kiss8mmfilms