Background
The song was written by Ace Frehley and talks about how cold gin affects on the male sex drive. Ace said he wrote the song while he was in the subway. The song was recorded in 1973 and was one of two songs from the band's debut album written by Ace Frehley, the other being the album's instrumental "Love Theme from KISS", which was written by the whole band. Although "Cold Gin" was never released as single, it has remained a concert staple during the years.
The studio version differs a lot from the demo version. In the demo version, after the solo Paul Stanley shouts "Whoa! Alright! C'mon!", but in the studio version, Paul shouts "Whoa yeah!". Also, the second guitar solo was cut and the outro was shortened.
As Frehley was insecure in his singing ability, Gene Simmons sang the song on the original studio version and in most live versions (despite the fact that Simmons is a teetotaler), although during the Alive/Worldwide Tour, Frehley would sing parts of the song. Frehley would provide the lead vocals when touring with his solo band.
A Los Angeles-based Kiss tribute band was named after the song. The band featured ex-Black 'n Blue guitarist and current Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer as Ace Frehley, Thayer's bandmate from Black 'n Blue Jaime St. James as Peter Criss, Chris McLernon of Saigon Kick Gene Simmons and Anthony White as Paul Stanley.
Read more about this topic: Cold Gin
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