Binky Philips, who went to high school with guitarist Paul Stanley. “But Gene [Simmons, bassist] saw himself in the mirror and realized he looked like a pro wrestler in drag.”The only way they could make it work was to create theatrical characters inspired by comic-book superheroes: a starchild, a demon, a spaceman and a freaky-looking cat.But success was a long shot.
Former yeshiva boy Simmons and opera-loving Stanley were nobodies who couldn’t cut it at Manhattan hot spots. Instead, Kiss played its first gig, in 1973, to an almost empty Popcorn Club in Sunnyside.“Most musicians thought the kabuki makeup was lame,” Philips told The Post. “They made a big noise as a group but, individually, there were no stellar musicians in Kiss.
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