If you want to know who played which instruments on a Kiss album, the liner notes will probably not tell you the complete story.
"A lot of the Kiss records, they way things are done is that sometimes the instruments that you think are members of the band are not members of the band at all, or the member of the band you think is playing the instrument," Gene Simmons explains in the band's 2005 book Kiss: Behind the Mask.
Below you will find a list of 17 musicians who secretly performed on one or more of the band's studio albums, including three guitarists who would later wind up officially joining Kiss.
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Of course, to maintain the band's mysterious image, none of these guest musicians were listed on the original credits for the albums on which they performed. "They wanted to make it seem like the group is playing everything," Lou Reed and Alice Cooper guitarist Dick Wagner (who played on two Kiss albums) explained in Behind the Mask. "So at that particular point in their career they didn't really want to give credits. I'm sure today they'd feel differently. There's always a feeling of 'It would be nice if they gave me credit.' But to say that it made me crazy, no. I had a lot of fun with them. They're great guys, it was fun to hang out with them."
Dick Wagner
Destroyer (1976), Revenge (1992)
Dick Wagner, who had worked with Bob Ezrin on classic albums by Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, was recruited by the producer for some secret contributions on Kiss' 1976 album Destroyer. He can be heard on "Beth," "Flaming Youth," "Great Expectations" and to Ace Frehley's extreme displeasure, performing the solo on "Sweet Pain." "I had done a solo on 'Sweet Pain' and it was okay," Frehley recalled in Behind the Mask. "I said, 'Maybe I'll come in tomorrow and take another shot at it.' Instead... When I first played the record back, I go, 'That's not my fucking solo! What the fuck is this shit?' I called Gene and tore him a new asshole. He gave me some bullshit saying, 'We tried to call you but we couldn't find you.' one of many bullshit stories, lies, lies, lies." (Frehley's solo was restored for 2012's Destroyer: Resurrected reissue.) When Erzin teamed up with Kiss for a third time on 1992's Revenge, he called in Wagner once again for the solo on the ballad "Every Time I Look at You."
Just as Tommy Thayer wasn't the first Spaceman in Kiss, Ray Simpson wasn't the first cop in the Village People. He took over the role and lead singing duties in the popular disco band in 1979, two years after appearing as a backup singer on Love Gun's "Tomorrow and Tonight."
Bob Kulick auditioned for the job as Kiss' lead guitarist back in 1972. Though he was beaten out by Ace Frehley, the rest of the band were impressed enough by his work to invite him back when Frehley was unavailable to record new songs for the studio side of 1977's Alive II. In 2018 Kulick told UCR he had no problem keeping his contributions a secret. "In this circumstance, being friends with Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley], it was important to me that when they said 'This has to be between us and us only,' that I'm going to keep my word. It's all about integrity, and that's how I'm able to keep going."
Anton Fig's Spider bandmate Holly Knight also appeared in an unaccredited role on 1980's Unmasked, performing keyboards on the album after bumping into Gene Simmons at their manager's office. Wanting to have proof that she had played on the record, in 2017 Knight told SleazeRoxx.com that she xeroxed and kept her royalty checks: "I still have them!" She would go on to have a highly successful songwriting career, co-authoring hits such as Aerosmith's "Rag Doll," Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield," Tina Turner's "The Best" and Kiss' "Hide Your Heart."
After playing on Gene Simmons' 1978 solo album, studio drummer extraordinaire Allan Schwartzberg - who's played on everything from James Brown's "Funky President" to Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" and Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" - was occasionally called in to help Kiss out with specific songs or overdubs. "We started playing 'I' and Eric [Carr] had just joined the band and couldn't cop the feel so we had to use Allan," Simmons said of Schwartzberg's work on 1981's Music From 'The Elder.' "Eric just couldn't play that feel and he was devastated."
Ace Frehley quit Kiss after 1981's Music From 'The Elder,' but with the band's commercial fortunes already in free-fall the group tried to keep the news quiet, leaving his face on the cover of 1982's Creatures of the Night while secretly replacing him with a variety of guitarists. The relatively unknown Vinnie Vincent wound up playing on six of the songs and co-writing three tracks. He would up being chosen as Frehley's replacement for the tour in support of Creatures of the Night, although personality conflicts would see him exit the group after just one more album and tour.
Three years before his band Mr. Mister had two chart-topping hits with 1985's "Broken Wings" and "Kryie," guitarist Steve Farris was briefly in the running to replace Ace Frehley in Kiss. After auditioning for the group he was peppered with a series of questions: "They said, 'Will you dye your hair black?' 'Sure.' Can you wear high heels?' 'I'll give it a try.' ... For a couple weeks I thought I might be the new guitar player," he told Tone-Talk. The solo he played for the song "Creatures of the Night" during his audition wound up being used on the record - without being credited, of course - but ultimately Kiss decided to go with Vinnie Vincent instead.
Paul Stanley and Eric Carr are the only two members of Kiss to perform on the title track from Creatures of the Night. In addition to Steve Farris' previously mentioned lead guitar work, the duo were joined by Toto bassist Mike Porcaro on the track. Talk about a missed opportunity for a supergroup.
Robben Ford
Creatures of the Night (1982)
Jazz-fusion guitar hero Robben Ford described his time with Kiss as the weirdest gig of his career. The Yellowjackets member played the solos on "I Still Love You" and "Rock and Roll Hell." He told D'Addario (as reported by Guitar Player), "I spent nine days in the studio with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. And that was rather unusual. That whole situation there was rather unusual. I'd heard a lot about their stories and was playing music that I don't play, and I never listen to."
Jazz fusion bassist Jimmy Haslip, who was in the short-lived band Blackjack alongside Michael Bolton and Bruce Kulick, found himself welcomed into the world of secret Kiss collaborators as the result of a breakup. In a 2008 interview he recalled Creatures of the Night producer Michael James Jackson calling him late one night. "He sounded really desperate and he said to me that he had a deadline to have the album ready in about three days and Gene Simmons refused to play his bass parts because he had just broke up with Diana Ross and he wasn't in a mood for that stuff! He asked me if I would be interested in coming by the studio and lay down some bass tracks for the album. When I entered the studio... at about 12 midnight... they were all there... Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Vinnie Vincent...in another room was Eric Carr with Steve Ferris and I think there was also Bob Kulick in there. I think that every single person who was in the studio that night was used by Kiss for a recording session."
After secretly performing on Kiss' Creatures of the Night, Vinnie Vincent officially replaced Ace Frehley as Kiss' lead guitarist on their next album, Lick it Up. He soon found himself on the other side of the equation when his solo for the opening track "Exciter" was switched out for one performed by Rick Derringer. "I don't think Gene and Paul liked what I played on the song, and I did.. I loved it," Vincent explained in Behind the Mask. "I that that it was one of my best pieces and it angered me quite a bit, because I wasn't told about it until after it was done." In the same book, Paul Stanley stands by the decision: "Moments like this were difficult for Vinnie, but the attitude all of us maintained was that the quality of the record would always be the priority rather than anybody's ego."
After Vinnie Vincent's acrimonious departure, Kiss selected Mark St. John as their third lead guitar player. Bruce Kulick, who's brother Bob had secretly played on several Kiss albums by that point, knew it was a bad fit. "I had respect for Mark St. John," Kulick told UCR in 2014, "and I was very shocked they chose him [as their new guitarist], because he was into Allan Holdsworth, a brilliant guitar player. He was into John McLaughlin. He was into these more very fusion-jazz shredders, that I was like, 'That's not Kiss!'"
Sure enough, St. John quickly drove Paul Stanley crazy with his flashy style and inability to replicate the same solo twice. Kulick was called in to provide uncredited solos for two songs on 1984's Animalize. After a medical condition forced St. John off the road, Kulick became Kiss' new lead guitar player, a position he held for 12 years before the group reunited with their original lineup. Even then, Kulick wasn't done with Kiss. After Stanley and Gene Simmons decided Ace Frehley and Peter Criss weren't up for recording a new album, Kulick was brought in to play bass and / or guitar for five tracks on 1998's pseudo-reunion album Psycho Circus.
With Gene Simmons largely absent from the sessions for 1984's Animalize due to his pursuit of a career in Hollywood, Paul Stanley recruited his friend and former Plasmatics bassist Jean Beauvoir to play three songs ("Get All You Can Take," "Under the Gun" and "Thrills in the Night," the latter of which he also co-wrote) on the album. The following year Beauvoir co-wrote and performed on the Asylum singles "Who Wants to be Lonely" and "Uh! All Night."
After Gene Simmons produced two Black 'N Blue albums, he stayed in touch with the band's guitarist, Tommy Thayer. The duo co-wrote "Betrayed" and "The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away" for Kiss' 1989 album Hot in the Shade. Since the band decided to add overdubs to their original demos instead of completely re-recording the songs, Thayer's guitar can be heard on those two tracks. "'Betrayed' ended up being the B-side of the single 'Forever," Thayer told The Story of Rock and Roll Radio (as reported by Bravewords). "That was a big song - it was a Top 10 record. I didn't have any money at the time, and one day I went to my mailbox and there was a check from the publishing company for $25,000. I couldn't believe it."
Thayer also served as the secret primary lead guitarist on Kiss' 1998 in-name only original lineup "reunion" album Psycho Circus, and permanently replaced Frehley in 2000.
Just like Tommy Thayer, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers drummer Kevin Valentine first worked on a Kiss record via Hot in the Shade demos - although he was working with Paul Stanley, not Gene Simmons, on the tracks "King of Hearts" and "You Love Me to Hate You." When Eric Singer had to briefly leave the studio during sessions for 1992's Revenge Valentine came in to play on the song "Take It Off." "I'm sure if Eric had time, they would have done some more takes and it would have been fine, but he had to go," Valentine told Bravewords. He was then called in to perform on all but one song on 1998's Psycho Circus, but later admitted he preferred Criss' work on the track "Into the Void." "Truthfully, I like it more than the stuff I played on because it sounded like the early original Kiss stuff."