Description

Limited to 100 numbered copies

While “Lick It Up” had been a musically successful album, and both videos had seen wide MTV rotation, the band’s financial situation had not improved. According to CK Lendt, “KISS was millions of dollars in the hole with Phonogram and would need a lucky streak to dig themselves out. Income from song publishing had shrunk since Vinnie Vincent had co-written eight of Lick It Up’s ten tracks. The gross profit on the album would quickly disappear when recording costs, overhead, and other expenses were deducted. Kiss was sitting on top of a cliff. The ‘Lick It Up’ tour was a break-even proposition and once the tour ended in the early spring of 1984, their cash flow had dried up”. Without Vinnie, Kiss was back on the market looking for a new guitarist, and new song-writing partners. One of these prospective candidates was one Mark Norton. Mark was a technically gifted Californian guitarist, who’d be re-christened Mark St. John, but his audition tape had something special, and Paul knew whom the next guitarist in Kiss would be. Gene, on the other hand, took little interest in these matters. As soon as the tour had concluded he had essentially surrendered control of the band to Paul while he went off working on a variety of personal projects. Foremost among these would be his production role on Wendy O. William’s solo album, a Keel album and he where more interesting in acting then writing a new Kiss album. Paul and Gene had decided to cut the cost by producing Animalize themselves. Mark recalled, “Well, I don’t know why they even booked studio time when none of them were there. Gene was doing a movie in a Canada, his ‘Runaway’ thing, so his mind is on other things and he doesn’t even care about doing a record. He is going to be a movie star now. Paul, on the other hand, is in Bermuda with Lisa Hartman that week, and Eric is in Florida fucking some girls. So I’m in the studio recording – just me and a couple of engineers. We laid down a basic track and I just kind of took the guitar and went one way and then other way and filled up both tracks of different guitars. So when they came back they were horrified. It was like, ‘that doesn’t sound like us!’ And I was going, “it isn’t, it’s me. Of course it doesn’t sound like you, it’s not you playing!’ They got all kind of weird about that and decided that they had to be there all the time while I was playing guitar, watching over me. It was one of those dog on a leash things” Once Gene’s focus returned to the album things became worse for Mark. He commented that his situation within the band rapidly deteriorated: “It got to the point where, this kind of pissed me off, it got like a game. It was like what I liked didn’t matter to me anymore. As long as they were happy, I was happy to make them happy. You know what I am saying? It was like I couldn’t care less anymore. And when it comes to that, you really don’t give a fuck about what you are doing. All you want to do is get the fuck out of there and go home, knowing that the next day you are going to have to do it again. What kind of band comradely is that? Give me a break. That really wore me out because Gene would be in one studio and Paul would be in another studio – they wouldn’t record together their egos were so big. So Gene would ask to Paul, ‘Can I use Mark now?’ So then Mark would have to get in a taxicab, go all the way across town to the other studio and record with Gene. Then Paul would call Gene, ‘Can I use Mark now?’ So back and forth I go like a guy delivering pizza! That wore me out because I’m getting up early in the morning, doing that, going home late at night, and then still having to rehearse my stuff to make it sound good for me, I could feel my world shredding, and I’m doing it all over and over again for two weeks straight” . During the 1980s KISS, notably Paul Stanley, was searching for the simple anthem to compete with the rest of the music scene. For “Animalize” the anthem would be “Heaven’s On Fire.” Paul has also commented that he played all of the guitars on the track and is unclear whether Gene played bass. Mark recalled: “Paul would get on his knees and play something, and I’d do a couple of windmills, and play with my teeth, or behind my back and be standing a few feet in front of him, and Paul and Gene would look at one another, and then say that I was trying to upstage Paul”. As for the album, it cause more friction in an already difficult situation, Mark recalled “It was good in a way that the album did go good, it went better than I ever expected. And at the same time most reviews I saw, like 80%, were all about the new guitar player. They didn’t talk that much about Gene and Paul during that little period of time and they didn’t like that at all! Every time we would go to an airport they would get a magazine and they’d say, ‘It’s about you again!’ and they would throw it over to me. Well sorry! Sorry for helping you. It could be worse. The article could be about another band. We wouldn’t be on tour except that this album in two weeks did what, a million? And the last two albums took over a year to go gold? I don’t know if I am stupid or those guys are just fucking assholes”. But as quickly as the bubble inflated it burst, as his hand “inflated.” With Mark’s health issues, and a European tour already booked, KISS knew that they could not afford the time to allow Mark to heal. The band would recall what had happened in 1980 when European shows were scheduled, and then cancelled. Paul turned to old friend Bob Kulick for what was initially intended to be a stand in guitarist. Bob suggested his brother Bruce who was at something of a loose end in his own career. While there were most certainly some health issues with Mark, there is little doubt that the situation could have been overcome and that had the band wanted him back Bruce could have just fulfilled the ‘temp’ role. However, being on tour as a group bonds people together and Bruce’s style integrated him more and more into the band whether it was conscious or not. The experience in the studio indicates that there may have been second thoughts about having Mark in the band. According to Mark, “The arthritis thing was really a cover up for the other reasons; you know what I am trying to say? I think a lot of people might know that. I can still play guitar. The situation was a meeting of East meets West type of thing. We didn’t hate each other, but they solved things ‘their way or hit the highway.’ I just wanted to do it right”. Once again, it was clear that the new guitarist was not clicking with the band, and that the health issues that Mark was hiding could not be allowed to delay the band. Mark’s health issues provided the perfect pretext to get someone else into the band. Bruce recalled, “I got a call from Paul in late ‘84, asking me to fill in for their guitar player, Mark St. John, who was sick. They realized they had the right guy, after they’d had some changes in their lead guitarist and drummer slots”. Bruce was a known commodity to the band, having known them, through his brother, for years. He had already, apparently, auditioned for the band during the “Creatures Of The Night” lead guitarist search. On September 30 the “Animalize” Tour began in Brighton, England. For the first show the band opened with “I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire),” and included “Burn Bitch Burn, “Get All You Can Take,” “Heaven’s On Fire,” and “Under The Gun.” Both “Burn Bitch Burn” and “Get All You Can Take” would quickly be dropped, not surviving past the first show. By the time the European Tour ended on November 5 at Le Zenith in Paris, it was clear that Mark’s position within the band was tenuous, with Bruce Kulick fitting in well with the band and delivering solid performances. On November 27 Mark St. John finally made his live debut with the band at a concert in Baltimore, Maryland. Bruce would play the first part of the show before Mark came on to play the rest of the set (5-tracks). Mark’s playing was not smooth (then again, nor was Gene’s bass solo that night) – compared to Bruce who was already warmed in with the band in a live setting and the set list the band were performing, and these songs see Mark affecting the tempo and letting rip into a Vinnie-esque fret board attack at the end of “Cold Gin,” which probably not the sort of thing Gene and Paul needed to see from him at that point. Interestingly both lead guitarists took bows at the end of the show with the other three members of the band. The following night Mark played the show Poughkeepsie, New York. Finally, on November 29 Mark played his final concert with KISS, playing a full show at Broome County Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Binghamton, New York. Following those three shows, Mark’s career with KISS was essentially over. This rare album features Mark St John’s final show with the band

Track list:
1. Detroit Rock City
2. Cold Gin
3. Creatures Of The Night
4. Fits Like A Glove
5. Heaven’s On Fire
6. Paul Stanley Guitar Solo
7. Under The Gun
8. War Machine
9. Eric Carr Drum Solo
10. Young And Wasted
11. Gene Simmons Bass Solo
12. I Love It Loud
13. I Still Love You
14. Love Gun
15. Black Diamond
16. Oh Suzanna
17. Rock And Roll All Nite