The "Creem" photos of Kiss without makeup (1974)

GROTESQUE FORMS. Back in 1974 it had been reported that Kiss were duped into being photographed without make-up by Rock magazine Creem. The band had been promised a generous spread in the magazine on the proviso that they also allow themselves to be photographed without the make-up. Now as everyone knows, back in Kiss' heyday, no one knew what they looked like as photos without the greasepaint in the 70's without the make-up. These photos are some of the first to appear of the band without the trademark war-paint.

Says Charlie Auringer, Creem photographer, " It was early in 1974, and Kiss hadn't established their "no make-up" rules yet. I had the chance to photograph the process of them putting on their make-up. It was at our Creem office in the bathroom down the hall that we shared with the dentist's office. Some patients would walk in, be shocked, turn around and walk right out. So, they got their make-up on, and we went out back behind the Birmingham Theater and got the profile photos of them clowning around with the beer cans. They cleaned off their make-up and as they were leaving we re-staged the same profile shots without their make-up on. Next day we get a call from Casablanca Records: "Well, we have decided we don't want you to publish those photos in Creem without the make-up." They had just established the no-photos-without-make-up rule. We agreed to not publish the no make-up photos to keep the mystery alive."

Says Paul Stanley, "We got duped into doing that photo for Creem without make-up. We were doing a photo-shoot at their offices and they said, "We just spoke to your management and they said we could take pictures of the band without your make-up." And being green we said, "Really?" And they said, "Yes, really." And we said, "Okay!" It's a cool picture in terms of marking a certain period where most people never got a chance to see what we looked like..."

Music: Kiss - Deuce (Gene Simons, 1972). This song became a piece central to the band for the rest of their career and one of their signature live pieces.

According to Gene, "The song was written on a bass just because I didn't have a guitar around. I started fooling around with the bass figure for "Bitch" by the Rolling Stones, and then I started to subvert and morph the bass figure into my own" (Box Set liners). The song came quickly with some seemingly nonsensical lyrics it was, "More concerned with conveying attitude than making sense" (Guitar World,1992).

As was the case with many early Kiss songs, Paul Stanley had a hand in the creation song, contributing the intro section. "When I brought "Deuce" into the band, Paul suggested the opening signature, which begins on guitar, and the song war born. We had to pick five songs to record with Eddie Kramer for that very first demo he produced for us and "Deuce" was certainly high on the list. "Deuce" was also the first song we played to audition Ace Frehley. To this day Ace says it's his favorite Kiss song" (Box Set liners).

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