Gene apparently
tried really hard to convince Ace to return for this album but was unsuccessful.
Ace's playing is nowhere to be found on Creatures. Steve Ferris played lead
guitar on the title track, Paul Stanley on I Love It Loud, Robben Ford
on I Still Love You and Vinnie on the remainder of the tracks.
The record company didn't want the fans to know that Ace Frehley was no longer
in KISS so they decided on having him on the original cover, having him perform
in the video for I Love It Loud, and do some promotional appearances. It wasn't
until December 1982 that Polygram released a press notice saying that Vinnie
would "temporarily" replace Ace on the tour due to his car accident. It wouldn't
be until August 1983 that an official announcement was made that Ace was no
longer a member of KISS.
Bryan Adams co-wrote 2 more songs on this album: Rock and Roll Hell
and War Machine.
'Rock and Roll Hell' was recorded earlier by Bachman Turner Overdrive
with different verses but the same chorus.
Creatures of The Night was re-released in 1985 with a different, non-make-up
front cover, someone's butt in leather pants on the back cover, and the tracks
'Killer' and 'Saint and Sinner' reversed. The cover was changed
in hopes that it would boost sales as Kiss' popularity had taken off again
in the mid-80's. Bruce Kulick, who like Ace, did not play on the album was
featured on the cover. The 1997 Mercury remastered series returned Creatures
of The Night to its original cover (YAAA!) and track order.
Guitarists who tried out for KISS as Ace's replacement were Richie Sambora
(Bon Jovi) and Juan Croucier (RATT). Since Vincent Cusano was already writing
songs with the band anyway, he was their final choice to replace Ace, and
would become known as Vinnie Vincent.
Many
guitarists contributed to the album, including Bob Kulick, Vinnie Vincent,
and several session players. To this day, it remains unclear whose guitar
work is on the final album. Most seem to think that Vinnie performed much
of th rhythm guitar work.
Eric Carr plays bass on I Still Love You and Paul Stanley plays bass
on Creatures of The Night, apparently because Gene didn't like these
two songs. According to the book 'Black Diamond' once Gene found out that
Paul hated I Love It Loud, the two compromised and put both tracks
on the album. Oddly enough, both are excellent tracks and continued to be
played well into the band's non-makeup years.
Thrills In The Night was written at this time but would not show up
on an album until 1984's 'Animalize.'
It's My Life and When The Legend Dies, two tracks written for
Creatures, would appear on the Gene Simmons-produced, Wendy O. Williams album,
W.O.W..
In his down-time, Ace Frehley produced the demo record for shock-rockers W.A.S.P.
in the fall of 1982. After this, he would virtually disappear from the music
scene with the exception of some club appearances, until the release of his
solo project, Frehley's Comet,
in 1987. Bootleg tapes of these club performances were being passed around
to fans long before the album became available.
To the dismay of fans, The Creatures tour saw the last time Gene would perform
God of Thunder until 1992's 'Revenge' tour.
Howard Marks, KISS' business manager from 1976 to 1988, stars as the father
in the I Love It Loud video.
Eric first sang with KISS on the tour lending his vocals to Black Diamond.
' Creatures of The Night' was KISS' worst-selling album up to that point.
In fact, the album wouldn't reach Gold status until 1991. Most agree that
it wasn't because of the music, which was a return to heavy metal, but because
people had given up on the band long before the release and had just grown
tired of the bands constant experimenting.
Creatures of The Night only reached # 45 on Billboard's album charts.
It was during the Creatures tour that KISS decided that they would permanently
remove their makeup for the next album.
After a disappointing tour of North America, KISS traveled to South America
for the first time.
The response that they got in Brazil was enormous. KISS played to the largest
audiences in the band's history with crowds averaging over 200,000 people
per show!
The band's tank drum riser for this tour would be used again for the 'Lick
It Up' tour.
