GENE SIMMONS, VAN HALEN, AND ELECTRIC LADY STUDIOS

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.