Kiss Army

Kiss Army is the name of the official fan club of the American hard rock band Kiss. At the same time the name is now the world as a collective term for all Kiss fans that it does not have to be members of the fan club. Even Paul Stanley, guitarist and singer of the group, speaks to the visitors of concerts with Kiss Army.

History

In January 1975, the two young Bill Starkey and Jay Evans, the local radio station in her hometown of Terre Haute began to ask, to record songs from Kiss in his program. This request was from the transmitter, Rich Dickerson program director, rejected, which meant that Starkey and Evans began by phone with the name " Kiss Army " log in to the station and to write letters, for example, with " Bill Starkey - President of the Kiss Army " were signed. In some of her letters, the two even threatened to blow up the transmitter into the air.

In July 1975, the station finally began to play Kiss singles, and often took the presenters regarding the Kiss Army, so that some of the listeners phoned to ask how they could join the Army.

On November 21, 1975 to be held in Terre Haute a Kiss concert in the Hulman Civic University Center, which was nearly sold out by the use of Starkey and Evans immediately despite ticket. About the radio station Kiss took publicist Alan Miller on 10 November 1975 Contact with Starkey and explained to him that impressed with his idea of ​​the Kiss management is and intend to use them for a national fan club. He asked Starkey to use the radio station for a call to attract as many members as possible for the Kiss Army.

As Kiss on November 21, 1975 ended up in Terre Haute, they were accompanied by a fan escort to the radio station, where she appeared as disc jockeys. During the concert in the evening Starkey was then brought to the stage and honored by the band with a plaque.

Shortly after the concert in Terre Haute was the Kiss Army, the official fan club of the band, advertising for him began with the publication of the Kiss album Destroyer in November 1976.

An important goal of the fan club was the sale of merchandising. The club began with an annual fee of five dollars and quickly gained a large number of members. Ron Boutwell, head of the merchandising department of Kiss, reported that the club reached an estimated revenue of up to U.S. $ 5,000 per day, and had nearly 100,000 members. From Boutwell also the idea that membership in the fan club and the merchandise came to compete directly with the sold records.

In 1979, Kiss was in severe financial difficulties. The financial problems was that the fan club now was no longer able to cope with the incoming mail: In a warehouse Thousands lay unedited letters from fans with money and checks, so that the task of the fan club a specialized mail order company ( Don Jagoda Associates), has been transferred. Until then, the company founded by Niocua Kiss manager Bill Aucoin had organized the fan club and the merchandising trade.

After the fan club was a few years on ice and was not pursued, Kiss announced on 23 August 2007 announced that the Kiss Army was once again the official fan club.

The then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited on the edge of a political meeting in Stockholm in 2008 a concert of the group and joined the fan club.

Today, the annual fee for the Kiss Army is 50, - U.S. $ for Americans, members outside the United States pay 75, - U.S. $. Included in the post is a special Fan Club T -shirt, a membership card, a sticker, a pick, a bracelet and a buttons. In addition, members of the Kiss Army to receive special price advantages, for example, when shopping in our online shop and buying tickets for Kiss concerts. Here each member can purchase up to four tickets per year before they go to the official ticket, also special seats are in the U.S., where the halls are meeting usually sold to the fan club members.

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