Gene Simmons to Release Kiss Demos Featuring Van Halen
Gene Simmons is reportedly preparing to release three long-lost Kiss demo tracks featuring Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex as part of his solo box set The Vault.
Van Halen News Desk says the songs in question are “Christine Sixteen” and “Got Love For Sale,” from Kiss' 1977 album Love Gun, and “Tunnel of Love” from Simmons’ self-titled 1978 solo album.
Simmons told Rolling Stone last year how the recording session had come about in 1976. “I discovered the band," he explained. "I saw them and signed them. I produced their demo – 15 songs – which I still own, but the band just doesn’t want it to come out. They did me a favor. I was in Los Angeles, and I called Alex and Ed. ‘Listen, I got three songs. I’m going in at 2AM. Do you want to help me?’ Usually I put down all the parts, but I wanted to do three songs instead of one. So we did ‘Christine Sixteen,’ and I put the keyboards on, everything else. Ed did the solo to the rhythm guitar, bass, and Alex was on drums.’”
After the Van Halen recordings failed to generated much interest, everyone went their separate ways. “I gave the demo back to the band," Simmons told BraveWords. "I told them I had a tour to go on and afterward I would try to get them a record deal. But until then, I tore up our contract and set them free. It didn’t take them long to get on Warner Bros.”
Simmons’ box set is scheduled for release on Sept. 12, with more information available at the Gene Simmons Vault website. “The Vault is 150-plus never-before-released songs I’ve written, going all the way back to when I was 14 years old, to some of the songs that became Kiss classics,” he noted earlier this year. Along with the set's 10 CDs of music, Simmons also plans to include “an exclusive Gene Simmons action figure, an ‘In Gene We Trust’ medallion, a book packed with photos from my personal archives and a very special surprise item from me to you. You’re not going to believe the things we found.”
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