Eddie Kramer Reflects On Producing KISS Demo - The Todd Shapiro Show

[@ericeakes7733]

Of all the ppl I've ever wanted to meet from the rock world, Eddie has always been the guy I'd live to set and meet. This guy made so many bands bigger and better than what they really were.

[@dmanonbass]

What a cool man. His input was vital to a key ingredient he mentioned: Ace. Ace had the raw talent but it was people like Eddie and Joyce Bogart who came up along side him and gave him encouragement. Ace respected and was in awe of Eddie from his work with Hendrix.

[@ronaldshank7589]

Agreed. In the beginning, Ace had a very serious problem with self-esteem. Thankfully, he had friends, that were willing to help him.

[@stanleye.9038]

Mr. Eddie Kramer had done something to Alive! that makes you imagine as though you were "there"... the excitement of being on the upper tier, looking down -- seeing everything from above -- the amps, drum riser, pyro effects -- instead of just the front of the stage. I've had that album for over forty years; and, when CDs came out, it's one of the first albums I had purchased (after Destroyer). Brings back memories of when I was young -- even as I hear it these days; that and Destroyer (by Mr. Bob Ezrin) made me want to play guitar.

[@lousekoya1803]

Thank you !

[@shelbytc16v]

How I wish Eddie would produce the next KISS album.

[@jesuscampos8136]

That demo he recorded was better than kerner/ wise version

[@svdd10]

Sure was and a real shame it wasn't the one released!

[@jesuscampos8136]

@@svdd10 I guess you can't blame them, management was trying to save money

[@jesuscampos8136]

Kiss should have put Black Sabbath to shame but they had to carry that record label on their shoulders. They had to save themselves and the the label

[@azzamzamzam1822]

"Absolutly"

[@phishfan]

I love Eddie, but I think KISS was a better band than he gives them credit for. If you watch old footage from the early 70's they sound exactly like they do on ALIVE! Also, I'd love for him to work with Phish on an album.

[@jamesrockford2626]

Peter was from Brooklyn

[@ronaldshank7589]

After 3 Albums that went to Gold Status (But certainly not Platinum), KISS decided to do a "Make it or break it" Live Album in 1975, which had their better-known music on it, that being, of course, KISS ALIVE..... and, wonder of wonders, suddenly, that Album not only did business on the Billboard Hot 200, but it sold Gold...then Platinum...then Double Platinum...then Triple Platinum...then, over the years, Quadruple Platinum...at the very least! KISS finally got it right! After that, they released Destroyer in 1976, which sold quite well for awhile...and then, stalled. That is, until one night, when a DJ at some Radio Station played the "Wrong Side" of a 78 that they had from KISS, and that "Wrong Side" that was played, was the B-Side song "Beth"...a Peter Criss song. The Station Manager came in, and jumped all over this poor DJ'S case, and nearly fired him, when, all of a sudden, the Phone Lines started lighting up, across the bottom of the Phone! It was a load of people, that wanted to hear this song again! The word spread like wildfire, Nationwide, about this song, and, before everything was said and done, KISS had, quite possibly, the most unexpected hit on their hands, that they never even saw coming! This song took off, in terms of sales...and THAT SONG pushed Destroyer past the 1,000,000 Albums sold mark, and Destroyer became their first ever Studio Album to ever go Platinum! The moral of the story is: Sometimes, it's the "Little Things" in life, that end up helping us the most!

[@lukecold8562]

Peter's from Brooklyn actually.

[@cooltheengines]

I don't care what anybody says, KISS are much better musically than they're given credit for. Even Bob Ezrin said so in an interview.

[@countvond233]

People used to give me crap and push Aerosmith on me. 'Smith is a good band but they had a lot of filler songs. Kiss had everything my 11 year old self needed.

[@azzamzamzam1822]

"The KISS are huge musically but underestimated because they are theatrical : signed Lenny Kravitz who is not just anyone musically"

[@azzamzamzam1822]

"I'm sorry but to say such stupidity you don't know KISS'@@countvond233

[@taergehtsiram]

I realize I am not Eddie Kramer and I was not there, but I disagree on some of his Kiss memories. Kiss did not get their idea from Kabuki theater. It was just a coincidence that what they did looked like that art form. And...Gene did not come up with the characters. Everyone came up with their own designs. Gene probably was very focused and vocal about developing the ideas more fully. And he DID do sketches of ideas, but many of them were ideas that the band never used.

[@CrueMagnon]

I wasn't aware Todd had his own radio show. Good to see!

[@URTH-yb5xh]

Eddie has done so much fantastically

[@glenaliano6790]

Eddie kicks ass!

[@whitecloud_94]

fucking genius.

[@Vigilante311]

This man has recorded and worked with so many amazingly talented rock musicians, he also worked with kiss

[@GaelDT]

Truth is Kramer wasn't even in the studio during the recording of their first demo, it was an assistant who supervised the whole thing, as stated in Paul Stanley's autobiography. Nice try to get credit for that Eddie, but you didn't do shit until 'Alive I'.

[@Dan.50]

Bill Acoin was the secret weapon.

[@TruthSurge]

The makeup was 100% improvement to their looks. That's why they wore it. Hid the actual look of their faces and also gave them more anonymity in public. Glad he admitted Ace was the real star and best guitarist of the band. to me, Gene was trying to be scary and horror themed and okay, that was kind of cool. Paul was trying to be sexy but.. short ugly Jewish guy with a weird voice.... okay, whatever. Gene tall ugly Jewish guy but to their credit, they could sing okay and play at the same time. Peter, best singer of the 4. Ace... iconic solos on many tunes with the most musical vibrato probably ever heard up to that point because he would vibrato IN TIME with the music. And vibrato a whole step from dom 7 to root or 4 to 5 in time with the tune. That was just brilliant. 4 average musicians, 2 workaholic ambitious womanizers, 2 chilled alcoholics..... what could go wrong? Interesting to hear their guitars get more and more distorted as time went by.

[@flashboy2020]

I think he"s selling the musicianship of KISS a bit short.

[@cooltheengines]

Wouter T I would have to agree. KISS has better musical skill than they're given credit for.

[@AZCobraman]

I think he's being generous. :oP

[@jamesrockford2626]

They weren't as good as Zeppellin or Rush but Kiss were as good as any other rock band then. they were better than Velvet underground and the fucking NY dolls and all that pussy shit

[@69zenos1]

But they are assholes.. At least Gene and paul are

[@jonesy2111]

Wouter T So many people put Led Zeppelin and other English bands on a musical pedestal which really isn't the truth... most great art is 99% hard work and 1% inspiration...

[@klepetar]

to be honest.. eddie kramer is a legend and rock and roll.. recorded tons of classic bands and tunes..but to my opinion, i think he was deaf or something..because jimi hendrix .. sounded bad.. the music was good but it played yuk in my stereo.. even today, they can't make sometthing decent with the recordings so the new 'master digital recordings ' of hendrix still sound terrible..

[@creepshowcrate]

"Couldn't play in tune?" So he's saying the guys didn't tune up to each other before they played? I seriously doubt that.

[@JulioArreola1]

What he meant is with all the jumping, running, moving on stage; is sometimes hard to play 100% exact. Some failures come. And sometimes with that, guitars lose their tune. In those days each member only have one axe on stage at night. Can't replace them if one of them get out of tune. Greetings from Mexico

[@nkmcfrln]

@@JulioArreola1No, the problem was with what they wore on stage. Seven inch platform heels, armour, spikes etc.

[@nkmcfrln]

Eddie Kramer explained it himself in the video.

[@moonglow785]

E K ... Legend.

[@sataniccommunist9045]

Ace was the best in the band..

[@anderssvensson3894]

Best this Best that ! How old are you ? - 12 !

[@coldacre]

there are a multitude of Kiss concerts on youtube. I challenge anyone to show me one concert where the guitars are out of tune. go on..... just one. (Hendrix on the other hand....)

[@memphisslimbo9837]

I won't dump on people that dig Kiss- you like what you like- end of story. But I lived through that area and personally, I could never get into them at all....

[@AZCobraman]

Perfect explanation of how Gene got to be cool character and the rest of them looked like idiots.

[@ksteiger]

AZCobraman I worked on 2 Kiss albums and Paul is no idiot.

[@AZCobraman]

So Ace and Peter were the idiots? ;o) What I said was, "Looked like idiots" as in, their costumes sucked compared to Gene's. I'm sure they are all fine gentlemen.

[@donrutter6765]

+AZCobraman Musically Ace and peter were the band, and the other 2 waxed their carrots.

[@TheGodYouWishYouKnew]

Don Rutter Peter couldn’t play drums.

[@TheGodYouWishYouKnew]

@gibsonman121 “couldn’t be touched” 🤪

[@jetsamperes5762]

Detroit's Cobo Arena 1975. Live albums recorded. Kiss Alive! Bob Seger's Live Bullet. J. Geils Blow Your Face Out and a Rolling Stones bootleg.

[@69zenos1]

That wasn't really recorded there. Only the audience is on the record. Do your homework.

[@martywhite1084]

69zenos1 Do your homework. Fucking typical douchebag response.

[@chris_bouchard]

With all due respect to Mr. Kramer and his work with Hendrix, Zeppelin and all, there is a lot of rubbish in that short segment. Some presumably honest mistakes, some forgivable misconceptions, but also some entirely made up BS. Also, watch raw footage from the early days - they may not have been the greatest musicians, and the stage antics did get in the way, but they could play on time and in tune. I've seen way worse performances by some way more respected bands. This is what happens when a producer becomes a star and a legend in their own right I suppose... I'd be curious what the session engineer has to say. I suspect his recollection would be much more accurate. Some producers have been known to slap their name across other people's hard work. One might even suspect that Mr. Kramer's contributions were negligible, as stated by Paul Stanley. And in terms of production, even if the feel and rawness is not on par with the demo, the songs themselves are structurally better and more solid on the first album, in my opinion (no long, aimless solos or sections).

[@CoCotheTurtle]

Fun stuff! No insight whatsoever about producing the KISS demo.

[@jamesrockford2626]

He never even answers the original question

[@richardthompson3104]

Ya it would have been interesting to hear about the session.

[@jimcharles651]

If you read between the lines he did. Ace......

[@jamesrockford2626]

How do you read a video? I don't get it? lol... He asks "how did Gene stay clean".. And Kramer goes on an on like an dizzy azzhole

[@jimcharles651]

You're right he didn't answer that

[@nickstrapko4301]

Go find out there enough out there Hint Never wanted to upset his mom, who is a concentration camp survivor

[@69zenos1]

in a nice way he says THEY SUCKED AND STILL DO...

[@nickstrapko4301]

Hes not saying they sucked. He did 5 records with them. The Live experence was rocky because of the jumping around, and all the onstage stuff, But In the studio they were fine enough to craft memorable songs, .

[@TheRikkiSixx]

It's not them that suck, it's you!

[@outoftheforest7652]

KISS does not suck!.

[@Beck5442]

KIss Sucked

[@dudeinlasvegas]

Google SECOS E MOLHADOS 1973 (one year before KISS) band and you will see who inspired KISS to wear .make up

[@chrisellis1089]

and to this day Kiss are still one of the most embarrassing bands to have existed . .

[@mikeoneill4926]

Kiss sucked then & sucks now. End of story

[@roquefortfiles]

Only someone who knows nothing about music would say that. Back in the day they were a very tight band.

[@countvond233]

Be gone before someone drops another ball sack on you.