The Fat Angel Sings

LEAD GUITARIST WANTED with Flash and Ability. Album Out Shortly. No time wasters please. Paul

In Nothin’ to Lose, the oral history of Kiss’ early years, drummer Peter Criss estimates the fledgling New York band auditioned around 60 guys after guitarist Paul Stanley placed a “Village Voice” classified Advert. Auditions were held at the East 23rd Street space the group, who weren’t really about to drop an album, rehearsed at. All sizes, shapes, ages and types of guitarists answered the ad. Including a poncho-clad flamenco guitarist and a love-bead-sporting chap claiming to be “a big star in Italy.” Page/Hendrix-influenced guitarist Ace Frehley was in such a rush to depart for auditions he put on one orange sneaker and one red by accident, before his mom drove Ace and his Marshall amp in the family Cadillac from their Bronx home to the Kiss loft. For the auditions, Criss, Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons would play the first verse and chorus of an strutting original song called “Deuce,” and then the prospective lead player would do a solo. “As soon as he started playing, both Paul and I looked at each other when Ace started soloing,” Simmons said in Nothin’ to Lose. “We finally heard the sound. There was a dangerous volatility about him but also glorious playing.”