Chris Czynszak | Decibel Geek

Original KISS road crew member, Peter “Moose” Oreckinto returns to the Decibel Geek podcast for a 2^nd week to continue discussing the early days of the band and the struggles they encountered.

In this long-form discussion, Oreckinto discusses pivotal early concerts for the band including the Fillmore East showcase for record executives in January of 1974, television tapings for ABC’s In Concert and the Mike Douglas Show, and a strange concert at an Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska in front of some very surprised soldiers.

This in-depth discussion also has Oreckinto recounting his return to the band after injury rehabilitation in a management role on the Destroyer tour and how playing baseball stadiums differed from the early club days.

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Tim McPhate | KissFAQ

Today, KissFAQ launched Back In The Solo Album Groove: The KISS Albums. 35 Years Later…, an ambitious multi-week retrospective dedicated to arguably the biggest milestone in KISStory: the 1978 KISS solo albums. In conjunction with the launch, the site has posted the retrospective’s first interview, a conversation with renowned artist David Edward Byrd. 

Any KISS fan who bought the KISS solo albums on vinyl will remember the cartoonish mural posters contained within each album. Many a fan placed these murals on their walls as part of their KISS shrine. Once the exclusive poster and program designer for Bill Graham’s new Fillmore East, Byrd recalls a tight deadline and “hellacious” experience in creating the mural posters.

The following are excerpts from Byrd’s interview with KissFAQ’s Tim McPhate:

On the timeline for creating the murals:

DEB: But the mural thing was just hellacious. I think they called me on Friday and they had to have all four murals done by Monday.

KF: No kidding. Wow.

DEB: Oh, it was horrendous. And fortunately, I had two assistants. One of them is a very famous artist now, Arthur K. Miller. And Rita [was the other]. And they both were students of mine at the School of Visual Arts. So we did this crash thing — I mean, I can’t tell you how fast we had to do these big paintings. We did them in acrylic and you know, and we had to do these montages of everybody. And then they had to interlock. And, Oy gevalt! It was like three days to do it. You know, they always call the artist, like, “Oh, he can do it.”

The concept:

KF: Was there a definitive concept explained to you in terms of what was required for this job?

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