Excerpts from: Chapter 2 – The Clubs

May 4, 1973
New York, New York
Bleecker Street Loft, Eighth Floor
Headlining Acts: Queen Elizabeth featuring Wayne County, The Brats
Promoter: The Brats

Keith West of The Brats: "I had a record store in Queens called The Music Box, which had become the center of the early glitter scene. One day Paul comes in and says, 'You guys are really big and we're just playing some dive out in Amityville.  Can we play with you guys?'"

"We told him that we were having a loft party and that they were welcome to open the show," continues Brats guitarist Rick Rivets.  "On the afternoon of the show, we went over and picked up their equipment and that was the first time I met Ace and Peter.  Ace had just gotten these Keds sneakers, and he put silver glitter all over them so everywhere he walked he left a trail of glitter behind.  They had two Marshall stacks, one each for Paul and Ace, and I think Gene had an SVT [a speaker cabinet made by Ampeg] and Peter had this giant drum kit.  We were freaking out, because none of the bands had equipment like that."

"While they did their sound check, our drummer and I were standing by the door listening and as soon as they hit the first song, he and I looked at one another and said, 'We're dead.'  It was like playing on a bill with a band like Zeppelin or Deep Purple; everything was so tight.   They had the harmonies down, they had the leads down, and sheer volume was amazing, but you could hear everything clearly.  And that was just the sound check!

"After that, they said they had to go get ready.  We had no idea what they meant by 'get ready.'  I told them they could use the bathrooms in the loft, but they said 'No, we've got a hotel room.'"

The Bleecker Street Loft was hardly the Taj Mahal; in fact it didn't even register a blip on the New York glam scene radar. The venue was chosen for two simple reasons: it was The Brats's rehearsal loft and it was cheap.  West continues, "The loft kind of had an interesting look when you walked in; there was equipment all over the place. The guy who owned the factory would always think that people were going to steal things, so he would pack up everything and just leave the machines out.  You would set up between the rivet makers in this factory that took up the eighth floor.  We would have the windows open because it was so hot, and people would be doing drugs and hanging out the windows; in those days you just made your parties anywhere."

Rivets: "There were a lot of Warhol people in the crowd: Jackie Curtis, Hollywood Lon, Taylor Mead, and Eric Emerson.  All the Dolls were there and I'm pretty sure that Joe Perry and Steve Tyler were there as well.

"It was time for KISS to go on and we're wondering where they are.  Then the elevator opened and they came walking out in full costume; everybody was just freaking out because no one had ever seen anything like that.  'What the fuck are they going to do?'  They started their set and it was just flawless.  People's mouths were hanging down.  They didn't do any encores and that was it, they got up and walked out. Then, we had to follow them?"

West: "We were on the floor with the audience and they were right on top of you.  We encircled the band with this rope to keep the gear from getting ripped off, and that little rope is all that separated the audience from the band."   The rope wasn't much of a security measure-Paul's LeBeau guitar was stolen anyway.  Eddie Solan recollects, "He and Gene had a matching LeBeau guitar/bass set.  I was doing the sound, and we weren't watching the equipment and someone walked off with Paul's guitar."

Headliner Wayne (now Jayne) County performed a theatrical transvestite act that was popular at the time.  Part of the extreme act occasionally included blood-spitting, which may have inspired an attentive Gene Simmons to add the stunt to his repertoire.  "It wasn't really part of my act but I had done it a couple of times," recalls Jayne County.  "My act was also big on the tongue thing.  They knew if KISS did a show with Wayne County it would be a big audience, so when they got the loft party together, we were booked.  I have very fond memories of that evening.  It was a great night.  It was kind of a shock to see them for the first time."

A review in The Village Voice noted that a man in a cowboy hat was archiving Wayne County's set on videotape.  While no one knows whether any of KISS's set was taped by this mystery archivist, if any of their set were archived, it would be the earliest known footage of the band.

Back to Chapter list