When I was ten years old, I heard a song that changed my life -- ROCK AND ROLL ALL NITE (The version off of Dressed to Kill). I was then shown the LOVE GUN cover (which had just been released) and I was hooked. I had to hear, feel, look and somehow be a part of what it was I had taken in. Pretty esoteric for a ten year old, eh? I then, like millions of other people, was becoming a KISS fan right before my parent's eyes.

Soon after I had every wall covered with posters, every album, a light show in my bedroom (Radio Shack strobe and disco ball along with some Christmas lights) and a brain that ate, drank, and slept KISS. I thought I was a freak until I met hundreds of other kids who felt the same way. For some reason this band belonged to us, not our parents.

In 1979, I had my first chance to see KISS live. I took two cameras in and made it to the front of the stage, eagerly awaiting the band. During the concert I was two feet off of the ground. At one point Ace Frehley came over to me, looked me in the eyes and pointed at me. He then threw a pick right at me. Just like in the movies, I put my hand up and the pick landed right in it. From that moment on I knew I wanted to play Rock and Roll for the rest of my life.

During the next years my parents bought me a guitar and I began to learn every KISS song on my own. I would just sit in my room playing for hours. I just couldn't get enough of the music and my fingers kept playing along. Everybody thought I was weird, but I knew something that they didn't...it was that feeling.

By the time I was 14, I was playing in local bands around town and then started to tour when I was 16 years old. People used to look at me and say "when are you gonna give up this dream and get on with it?" Well, I used to just look at them, point to a picture of KISS and then tell them one day I will have something to do with all of this. They all laughed...but I knew.

When I was 17, the next generation of my band formed -- it was called UNCHAINED. We toured everywhere in Canada and the US developing our originals and image. Which takes us to the good stuff.

1987, KISS is coming to town with the CRAZY NIGHTS show. I had a mission -- to get our demo tape to someone in KISS. I then proceeded to hang outside the Four Seasons hotel in Vancouver with my friend Ronn Roxburgh from Firehouse Magazine (The KISS Fanzine) in an attempt to get to KISS. Well, three days in the cold had gone by and no sign of them yet. It was show night and we headed to the concert. It kicked ass and all that, but we knew that after every show Eric Carr always went to the Bar in the hotel for a drink. We took our chances and headed back to the Four Seasons. When we got there, people were all over the place. We then looked across the street at the Delta and noticed a roadie type walking in. We just looked at each other and went in. Right away a security guy grabs us and tells us we have to go. We then hear a voice that says "hey...you looking for me?" It was Eric Carr, he was a perfect gentleman, I gave him the demo tape, Ronn got him copies of his magazine and we were off...
Mission accomplished!

Four days later I get home from practice. It is three in the morning and all the lights are on in the house. Now either the dog has died or someone just won the lottery. I get inside and my sister says go check the answering machine,

"Hello, this is Paul Stanley. Can you please get Benny to give me a call at ***-****".

It was at that moment that I knew everything was going to change. I called him back, we talked for a while, he asked about the band and what it was we were doing, he then asked if I could come to the Seattle show to meet and talk business. Talk business with Paul...holy shit I thought!

I went to the show and headed back to the hotel to meet him. John Harte, the KISS security man came out and told me to wait for him and sit tight. An hour past, the elevator doors open and Paul walks out and towards us. I could not believe my eyes; he looked so much different in person than in pictures.

We then went to his room and he put on my tape. He said that he thought it was cool and he would like to keep in touch with me. He told me that Eric Carr called him into his room and said, "you gotta hear this tape...it's cool". Paul agreed.

Time passes, we work on songs, and Paul keeps calling every couple of days for updates, and then drops a cool bomb on us. "I want to manage you." So after much paper work, we are now a 'Paul Stanley Entertainment' band.

We went to Los Angeles to record with Paul at the producer's desk. He has a few record companies interested. But during the recording session we realized that our singer was not going to cut it. We decided that we would have to find another singer and fast. Well, fast did not happen. Between Paul and us some 400 demos were submitted, but nothing was right. Three years rolls by-still no singer- and the other members decide that they want to move, to get married, and so forth. I wish them the best and we part ways.

As I talk to Paul about the future, he tells me that the kind of music that I was doing (a cross between KISS and Van Halen) was just not getting signed anymore. I told him that I don't want to be another Pearl Jam or any of those other bands that were taking over. I then suggest to Paul "I think that I could do a KISS tribute." He says that it would be a great thing to do right now; it will keep me busy and growing as a performer. I could continue to write and when the time was right, play original music again. He told me that he thought I would do a good job and to get right on it.

Well, as the saying goes "the rest is KISStory".

I just want to add that I am so very honored to be doing this. There have so many new KISS fans that never had the chance to see the pre-reunion band in makeup. When we play shows and have 6-year-old kids in costume and make-up, come to the shows with their parents and meet us like we are the real KISS (and to them we are) I am just overwhelmed. I know just how they feel; it's like seeing Christmas through their eyes.

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