The Catman part III

“Destroyer”, “Rock and Roll over” and “Love Gun” translated into big success for the band and specially Peter. Kiss was selling lots of records, playing on big venues, lady luck was on their side. On his personal life, not that much, everything that glitters is not gold.

Those three records were the beginning of the ‘Cartoon phase” as I like to call it. Don’t get me wrong, I love those records, I love those covers, but Pete and Ace don’t. At this time, musical and aesthetic differences started to appear between members. At the time ‘Love gun” hit the streets, money started to roll in massively.

This is when money takes center stage in Peter’s story. Management made an infamous amount of money in merchandising, everything they created had a market, people were eager to buy anything Kiss related. As their bank accounts got bigger, so the management’s. The influx of money was staggering, everyone involved with them could become rich in a short period of time.

Pitifully, a white powder slowly crept in, his personal life was a train without any means or will to be slowed down. He and his wife began to commercialize the substance between the tour staff just to get some of the good stuff at no cost to him.

He said he quit when he got people knocking at his hotel room door at 5 or 6 in the morning and he got scared of being busted. I don’t know if this is the only reason, but this is the one he told. Maybe could be that he was making so much money with his records that to be a pusher was no longer so attractive for him.

Being addicted to cocaine, he was up most of the time and hardly missed something. And being the kind of guy he was, I’m pretty sure he didn’t miss anything around him. One-night Peter Criss meet the lady that changed his life but not for the better. He was a regular at parties, his weakness for women and white powder got him well into the rock and roll scene of the mid-seventies. One night that he should have missed is the night he met Debbra Jensen. The lady that changed his life but not for the better.

This was around the time when the band embarked on the solo albums. Each band member had to release enough material to fill a complete album. The idea was to release them simultaneously, a big self-indulgent move aimed to cash out the most at the shortest amount of time.

Peter got into his rented white Rolls Royce went to a Rod Steward’s party with one of his bodyguards. At the party, Peter saw Hugh Hefner surrounded by beautiful women as usual. Out on the dance floor, a few more Hefner’s girls were dancing with each other. Peter set eyes on a blonde, after some eye contact and white powder encouragement, he got to the dance floor and made his move.

A few drinks, random conversation and cocaine was more than enough to lure the girl in. She spends the night with him and that was it, a new chapter in Peter’s life was about to unfold.

She was a Playmate centerfold model. Pretty soon his relationship with Lydia crumbled and she became Peter’s second wife. Some say that the only thing that came of any good from that marriage was his daughter. For all accounts, Debra was a drug addict that drained his bank account and screw around on him. When all his money was gone, she left, just like that.

Cocaine, sex, valium, alcohol, those were Peter’s priorities during those days. His demise started with “Destroyer.” Being “Rock and Roll over” the last album he played in full with the band. Was it because he was not a good drummer? I don’t think so, his problem was that he prioritized drugs, broads and alcohol over music.

Peter got out of control, he could not stand being around his bandmates, his marriage with Lydia came to an end a new chapter started when he married Debra. Around this time, he got caught in a bad car wreck accident, it pulled him out for a while.

He and another guy were driving around 100 miles per hour and hit a telephone pole. He flied through the windshield. When Paul came to the hospital, jumped out on him in pure rage. Gene didn’t even go visit, he was furious.

You can see that their frustration was reaching its highest point. This mindless accident was the final straw, there’s no doubt that for Gene, Paul and Ace, it was time to move on without Peter.

His last work with Kiss was done in the video of “Shandi.” After the video shot, Paul and Ace left the dressing room without saying goodbye. Gene was there, Peter asked for Gene’s bass guitar to have something to remember his former band, Gene, stone cold asked:

“Do you really want it?”

“Yes I do,” replied Peter.

Gene gave him his bass and got out of the room with a somber posture. He left Peter there, all alone with a bass guitar and a lifetime of regrets.

Financially he was not at his lowest point, their record company offered him a record deal and he managed to complete an album, pitifully it didn’t sell well and his music career got stalled.

He went into rehab and as soon as he got out started drinking again. His wife took her daughter and left. With Kiss having financial problems he was getting his fair share of the deal. His wife came back eventually, she convinced him to sell the house and move back to California.

Peter did his best to get back to the music business with no luck, Debra began to sell perfume as their main source of income. In a couple of years, the money from selling the house was gone, and so was Debra, taking their daughter with her.

Peter ended up in a small apartment in Hollywood, but there’s an important part that I forgot to mention. Peter was in debt with the I.R.S. His debt reached a bit more than a million bucks.

One of the things he mentioned in his book is the fact that Debra was not a good wife, she was a big spender and screw around behind his back. He is grateful that after the divorce, Debra let him spend as much time as he wanted with his daughter.

Sure, she married him because he was famous and figured it would help her career. Peter married her because she was a young blonde, bunny trophy wife he always fantasized about.

Meanwhile in Kiss, Gene and Paul fired everyone involved in the old Kiss business, took off their make-up and started from scratch.

Kiss started touring doing their acoustic, more intimate show. Peter saw it as a great opportunity to introduce her daughter to this side of his life that she didn’t know about. When Gene knew that Peter was in the audience, he took the opportunity to enjoy some quality time with his former bandmate.

He was even asked to play a song on stage. Gene saw it as a perfect opportunity for a reunion tour and the whole Kiss machinery worked towards getting Ace back to put the original four back on stage. In Kiss fashion, now we don’t know if it was Gene or Paul’s idea to get back together, the only sure thing is that they made the right move and millions of dollars started to roll right in.

End of part III.