Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the first gig of the legendary KISS; Yep, on this day back in January of 1973, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley performed together under this name for a mere handful of people at a place known as the Popcorn Club. This venue would later be renamed to The Coventry which is very familiar to those who know their KISStory. The band wore garish makeup and each of them was a character of their own design with The Demon, The Starchild, The Cat and the Space Ace and it was a shock to the Rock and Roll system of the time when they all appeared together in this manner.

Click The Logo For Our Past KISS Coverage

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I’ve never been shy of admitting how KISS is my favorite band above them all so when there is something cool being released I love being able to speak a little bit about it and that brings us to this release broadcast. I figured it was alright to do this one because I have been discussing when big catalog issues such as Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd and The Beatles had come out. While this is a singular release, it still spans a lengthy amount of releases and years. Take a look at the official specs below the logo. I coped the official press release for easier digestion.
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In celebration of the bands release of their 20th studio album “Monster”, the masked Metal maniacs of the mighty KISS will be doing a special concert on “Live On Letterman” which will air live on CBS.com and then be available to enjoy via its streaming archive afterwards.

I think its awesome to find KISS doing a concert in the same place where The Beatles made their first televised appearance to US fans and that is why I am posting this blog with a link that will allow you to enjoy the stream so set your timers or alarms on your phones and tablet devices if you are keeping mobile and will not be home to sit at the PC. Sorry that we cannot just embed it here for you but that was not how this is set up. Not to worry though because the CBS.com streaming is fantastic and I use it all the time to catch up on the shows that I miss or that run off my DVR’s scheduled times thanks to late running football events. I’m actually attending this event and hope to bring some kind of report to the blog as soon as possible.

Tune in tonight at 8pm, and prepare to “Rock and Roll All Nite” with the legendary KISS.

Official Webcast Link: http://www.cbs.com/shows/liveonletterman/
Official Band Link: http://www.kissonline.com

You can order the bands newest release “Monster” or their “Destroyer Resurrected” albums along with an amazing “Gold” greatest hits package via these Amazon.com links below. Put your two lips together and KISS!!!

I am pretty much a lifelong KISS fan and can safely say that I have been behind the Motley Crue initiative since their first album so when it comes to an announcement like this I tend to geek out for a little while. You cannot blame me for this because when it comes to me being a fan of music, KISS is kind of the reason that I started following the heavier side of life way, way, way back in the dawn of my own upbringing. That being said many of my earliest memories of flipping around on the radio dial come flooding back to me when I hear a particular KISS track. With Crue I remembered first hearing of them when a band I knew was attempting to do “Public Enemy #1″ with their Metal band because they had just heard this new bands album. I rushed out to get a copy even though their take on the tune was not all that great. As we have said before, every now and again we like to use the Official Blog for PiercingMetal.com to broadcast event items of note because it sparks up some of the fans and keeps people talking about the live scene. That is never a bad thing. That being done, how friggin’ cool is it to envision KISS and Motley sharing the same stage. I say its pretty damn cool and to me makes much more logical sense than when KISS and Aerosmith co-headlined a tour back in uhmmm, you know, back when they did this a few years ago. Check out the super cool poster.

The dates for this massive happening will begin in June I am reading and while some are curious/concerned over who is actually headlining, I think its safe to assume that KISS will close out the run of the dates. They will likely each be doing a 1.5 hour show and believe me that lets everyone focus on their very biggest hits. You are not going to risk hearing a whole lot of new stuff at a show like this outside of maybe a tune or two. These bands know full well what the audience is clamoring for and they always deliver in spades. KISS as a concert for me is a religious experience and while two of the original lineup are no longer in the costumes, I still manage to have a great time at their shows. When it comes to Motley Crue, I last caught them in the summer of 2011 and felt that they were back on their game and kicking some serious ass again. I had been unimpressed by one or two of the performances I caught previously but I can be a fuss given the whole concert reviewer status I have now at 8.5 years as press. I will guarantee that the fans will not be disappointed at all and leave with smiles from ear to ear and probably a whole lot of tour merchandise.

Tickets for this major Metal happening will start being sold on March 23rd and obviously given what we have seen from each band in the past there will be some exclusive (and expensive) VIP stuff to indulge in as well should you have that level of cake to play around with. Sometimes these VIP things are awesome as you get a really good seat, a bag of coolness and get to be photographed with the band as well. I do hope that the photograph is only you and the band and not some cluster f**k of other fans because that is hardly fair to do based on the price that it commands.

So what do you think? Are you excited for this one or could you care less? I will admit that I am, even though I fully realize that trying to be media for this kind of affair will be a daunting task for almost any web resource. These seem to be the kind of shows that make everyone come out of the woodwork for and make the same demands of the press contacts in case you were curious as to how it all works. We might have a whole lot of you global readers interested in our views and photographs but we still fall way down on the food chain when compared to some of the heavies out there. Should the higher gods that work the big machine be in our favor we shall surely offer up the kind of quality documentation that you expect here on PiercingMetal.com – That much I promise.

Closing up let me just make sure that any of you new visitors to the planet who have somehow not yet experienced any KISS or Motley Crue music have a couple of leads. These are two solid recommendations to purchase if you have a few extra bucks.

They say time flies and I have to say that it really does.   I agree with the statement for a number of reasons and today its more based on the fact that I cannot believe how twenty years have gone by since the music world lost the presence of the mighty Eric Carr who passed away on this day in 1991.  As most Hard Rock and Metal fans know, Eric Carr (born Paul Caravello) was the second drummer in the band KISS and had replaced their founding member Peter Criss in 1980.  By the time 1980 had come around I was already a KISS fan for a number of years and I had just started to find an interest in the drums myself.  Peter was an initial inspiration but Eric Carr became the one who I was most taken with for some reason.  I guess it was because he was bringing something new and different and perhaps even a little more exciting to the group that I publicly declared as my favorite of them all.

Eric Carr Ludwig Drums Advertisement

As a member of KISS Eric recorded “Music From The Elder”, “Killers”, “Creatures Of The Night”, “Lick It Up”, “Animalize”, “Asylum”, “Hot In The Shade” and “Revenge” (one song).  He’s also been featured in a large amount of the bands videos from these albums and on the bands extensive compilation packages.   If you own any of these releases you will have to agree that KISS had some new life breathed into them when Eric sat on the drum throne.   There was just “a way” about him that everyone seemed to love.   His masked man role in KISS was The Fox even though he was originally supposed to be The Hawk.  Trust me folks The Fox worked which you will agree with me on if you ever see photos of the proposed Hawk costume.  Yikes.

Eric Carr "Creatures Of The Night" Era

Here’s a great shot of Eric sans the Fox makeup of course leaning over his massive kit during the “Asylum” tour if memory serves me correctly.  I’ll admit that when it came to enjoying his presence in the band, half of it was wondering what kind of cool drum set he was going to showcase and what kind of slamming they would get during the show.  Well, at least for me this was the case.   I was so affected by his creations in terms of kits that I became a Ludwig drummer myself and even built a set up of many different components.   Bands did that to a lot of people I knew back in the day.

Sadly Eric would fall ill in early 1991 and be diagnosed as having the very rare heart cancer.  While it had seemed he would eventually recover from this after operations he would suffer an aneurysm that would lead to a brain hemorrhage and his eventual death at aged 41.  Before he died he would appear in the KISS video for “God Gave Rock and Roll To You”.  Strangely enough, the music world would also lose the great Freddie Mercury from Queen on the same day.  What a terrible day huh.    Looking back I have to say that I still miss him and sometimes wonder just what else he might have delivered to the fans had he recovered or never gotten ill in the first place.  A big “What If” case scenario like we find in the comic books.  Too bad that sort of thing is just a fantasy and we are left with the music he left us with and the empty space.  Since I’ve been offering up memorial thoughts in the PiercingMetal blog when we lose someone of note, I just felt like making some kind of tribute for him here based on how important he was to so very many people.   I still miss him to this very day because of how much he influenced me.  I guess I will be playing those KISS albums and of course some Queen to honor Freddie today as well.  I think you readers should do some of the same so get cracking.

Eric Carr Official Website HERE.

Learn more about Eric Carr the man and musician via his Wikipedia entry HERE.

If you were a ever a KISS fan over the course of your life you just had to be over the moon when it was announced that two nights with guitarist Ace Frehley would be happening down at the legendary Times Square venue B.B. King Blues Club and Grill.   Each of the shows would be opened up by The Biters who I had never heard of before but was looking forward to as well since that is always something that adds to the value of seeing a show.  You can check out the full concert report by clicking the logo below as that will bring you over to the main site where we keep that and all the photos we shot.  Then feel free to scroll down for some additional side images.

The last time Ace played in NYC to my knowledge was over at the Best Buy Theater which was still called Nokia if memory serves me correctly. I didn’t make that show for some reason so I was very excited to see the guitarists name up on the Times Square lights of B.B. Kings. Here is the marquee that I always love to present to you all.

Ace Frehley Two Night!!! Get It? No? Two Nights

Build up your collection of venue show posters with this little bit of coolness right here. I told some of the venue management that having these for the fans to snag if they are early is a great thing and they become quite collectible. Personally I keep the smaller 3 * 5 cards as they are easier to stockpile at this stage of my life.

Ace Is Back & He Told You So....

As mentioned just above a few lines ago, Ace Frehley was not only touring for his loyal subjects, but also hoping to promote his new autobiography.  The book is called “No Regrets” and you can order a copy for yourself by clicking the link to Amazon.com that we have placed for you at the end of this narrative.   We were lucky enough to get a sneak peak at this tome and a signed Gibson guitar at the recent NY Comic Con which has been covered on the website already.  Feel free to dig that HERE.

Ace Frehley's "No Regrets" & Les Paul Guitar

Now that we’ve whet your palate about the musician and his new tome, just head over to Amazon.com via this code and order a copy. By doing so you’ll be showing them how PiercingMetal helps to see the artists we are writing about and that is never a bad thing.

Isn’t it amazing? I know that it makes my jaw drop when I realize that KISS’ legendary album “Destroyer” is officially 35 years old today. Released on March 15, 1976, “Destroyer” was the fourth KISS studio album and directly followed their seminal “Alive” double album live presentation. I’ve been a KISS fan for a very, very long time and while “Destroyer” is one of my very favorites of their catalog, it was not the first album that I ever purchased. I think that I bought “Alive II” when it first came out at The Record Factory and then ordered a whole bunch of the older studio albums via one of those music clubs where you bought one album at their club price but got five or six albums for a dollar apiece. I don’t remember exactly but I think it was something like that. I digress.

The album “Destroyer” really has some amazing KISS tunes on it, and many of them are regularly played by the band in concert to this day in 2011 and very likely going forward into the furture as well. It’s here that the world first heard “Detroit Rock City”, “King Of The Night Time World”, “Beth”, “God Of Thunder” and “Shout It Out Loud”. Not bad stuff to have five giant tunes in the repertoire on one single album is it. I’ll admit to also keeping a kind smile to “Do You Love Me”, “Great Expectations” and “Flaming Youth” but I never really took to “Sweet Pain”. That is just my two cents. What are your favorites from this album and what about it appeals to you the most? I would love to hear from you on it. I just wanted to use the official blog for the site to congratulate KISS on this particular milestone. Reaching 35 years is one thing, but reaching that anniversary and having the album still be as exciting as it was when it was first released is something absolutely magnificent.

Official Website: www.kissonline.com
Album Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyer_%28Kiss_album%29

The KISS albums were remastered in 1997 and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a special edition of this particular release at this time. That’s a shame but you can at least order the original remaster via the Amazon.com link below. Check out a very old review that was done on PiercingMetal.com for the album back in 2006 by clicking HERE.

When KISS released their “Sonic Boom” album back in the summer of 2009 it set off a marketing blitz that I documented in a blog posting entitled “KISS Invades Wal-Mart”.  The reason we felt that writing this up was so interesting was based on just how much product with their branding had been delivered to the consumer in addition to the album which at the time of this writing has sold over 500,000 copies. We featured a number of images from the massive campaign that the kings of the nighttime world had presented to their fans at the Wal-Mart store and offered up our thoughts on them as a lifelong fan and a consumer so please check it out via that title above. With that being said, we were certainly never expecting this sight when entering one of the local 7-Eleven convenience shops in our neighborhood.

The Hottest Big Gulp Cup In The World - KISS!!!

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And now a little rewind for you.

NY/NJ KISS Expo

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“You Wanted The Best & You Got The Best, The Hottest Band In The World……….KISS!!!”  Yes, the boys were back in town and playing a show at Madison Square Garden. When KISS comes home to New York City it is always bound to be an awesome night and we could not pass up the chance to be a part of the fun. This evening we would not be on “official duty” per se, but surely could not pass up on the chance to let you know what we thought about the night and try to present a few visuals from the event. Click the logo below to be taken to our item on the main PiercingMetal.com site and then continue on to see some other special moments from the gig.

PiercingMetal.com recently took some time to go adventuring when the band’s new release Sonic Boom 2 CDs + Live in Buenos Aires DVDand their merchandise took over Wal-Mart stores across the nation.  You can read all about our findings HERE. Our review of the album can be found on the main PiercingMetal.com site or by clicking THIS LINK.

If you’ve never been to a KISS show yet or attended one of their many fan conventions, you probably don’t know that at these events many people dress up in costumes and some of them really manage to pull it off with fantastic results. While at the show in NYC I ran into an old friend from such similar events and he had once again pulled out all the stops. He and a friend dressed as Ace Frehley or Tommy Thayer (depending on how you are looking at the big picture nowadays) are shown with me. I’ve always admired how much work Chris puts into his Gene outfit and only wish he played the bass so we could see him in a cover band doing this against music someday.

Ace Thayer, Ken Pierce, & Chris U. as Gene Simmons

KISS Klones & Two Lovely KISS-ettes

While talking to Chris and his buddy, two lovely young KISS-ettes approached them and wanted a photo taken as well. We snapped one of them and felt it came out nice. The only thing that would have made it a little better was if one of them had been sporting the Star Child’s face paint instead of Ace’s. As you might have realized there were plenty of other folks doing stuff like this at the show but I really didn’t have enough time to focus on them based on the show getting ready to kick off. To close out I wanted to direct reader attention to a super old photo gallery that I did which finds two members of the band ZO2 (and stars of IFC’s “Z-Rock” program) sporting the KISS uniforms when they were active members of the tribute band KISS Nation. Paulie Z. was Paul Stanley while Joey Cassata was Eric Carr. They have long since moved on to focus on their original band, but you can enjoy this legacy visual by clicking THIS LINK. When it comes down to it, this was actually one of my very first photo shoots.  Enjoy and keep the KISS spirit strong in your own fashion as much as possible.