Today in KISStory June 12,1973 (June 13)

KISS RECORDED FIRST DEMO

On June 12th, 1973, KISS entered Electric Ladyland Studios in New York to record a demo with legendary producer Eddie Kramer, who worked with Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. The demo included "Watchin' You", "Deuce", "Black Diamond", and "Strutter" and was funded with studio time from Ron Johnsen, as payment for the $1000 owed Paul and Gene for singing backups on two of his projects, Mr. Gee Wiz and Lyn Christopher.

"Eddie Kramer, to us, epitomized the whole British sound, which was what we were looking for. He was the production king of the world" says Gene. The session was quick but the tape radiated with enough energy to light a city and pulsated like a heart about to explode. "It was full of attitude," says Paul. "Nothing compares to being vehement and vicious in what you do, and when we were recording that demo, we knew nothing could stand in our way. When the four of us were together, it was like a tank - you could fall in behind us and follow, but you couldn't get in front of us. If you did you got flattened. That "take no prisoners" attitude was right there from the beginning and no one was going to change us".