Recently in an interview with Mitch Lafon, Gene Simmons of KISS told the story of producing one of Van Halen’s first demos at Electric Lady Studios:

“I discovered Van Halen playing in a club and signed them to my Man of 1,000 Faces production company, flew them to New York, produced 15 songs at Electric Lady Studios.

And then when I got too busy I tore up the contract and I said, ‘You guys are free. I gotta go back on tour, and if I have time at the end of the tour I’ll go shopping for a deal for you. I can’t ethically, personally, hold on to you guys while I’m off on tour.’

So I did the right thing. And the guys, of course, got signed right away. And in return, the brothers Van Halen were kind enough to appear on three songs that I wrote when we came back from Japan in 1978.”

Listen to the full interview here.