![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Encore-MAY-2012.jpg\" "\\"Encore-MAY-2012\\"")
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KISS WAS A FULL YEAR AWAY FROM SUPERSTARDOM when photographer Norman Seeff shot this L.A. session for the cover of 1974\u2019s Hotter Than Hell<\/em>. When Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley (above, from left) entered his studio in full costume, says Seeff, \u201cI was incredulous. My first thought was, \u2018Are they covering up for mediocrity?\u2019 Of course I was completely wrong about that.\u201d Seeff quickly realized the foursome had a natural gift for improvisation. \u201cThey were almost like an ensemble of dancers,\u201d he says. \u201cGene Simmons got things off and running. He sticks out his tongue\u2014bam, I\u2019ve got the shot. One of the guys laughs at him\u2014bam, I\u2019ve got that. They were moving from one thing to another very quickly.\u201d Seeff, who had just returned from Japan at the time, saw parallels with that country\u2019s tradition of Kabuki theater. \u201cThere were definitely similarities with the makeup and in their gestures,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were a combination of musicians and performance artists.\u201d The session yielded hundreds of images and set a new benchmark for Seeff when it came to photographing bands. \u201cI give those guys great props for the creativity they put out,\u201d he says. \u201cThey had a vision and were pros.\u201d<\/p>\n KISS WAS A FULL YEAR AWAY FROM SUPERSTARDOM when photographer Norman Seeff shot this L.A. session for the cover of 1974\u2019s Hotter Than Hell. When Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley (above, from left) entered his studio in full costume, says Seeff, \u201cI was incredulous. My first thought was, \u2018Are they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1629,3262],"tags":[4265,4262,4261,4266,4260,4264,4263],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6866,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6863\/revisions\/6866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"