Peter Frampton recently confirmed that KISS borrowed his equipment while recording overdubs for their iconic live album ‘Alive!’ as per Guitar Player.
The revelation sheds light on the recording process behind KISS’s breakthrough live album. The album required additional studio work to perfect the performances captured during their energetic stage shows.
“We were mixing Frampton Comes Alive, and KISS were next door doing the same thing for ‘Alive!’,” Frampton said.
“But they kept on coming to us and asking if we got guitars, amps or basses, as they were doing some fixing on their live record.”
The guitarist has explained how the borrowing arrangement worked between the two recording sessions.
“They just kept on coming in and borrowing all sorts of different stuff,” he continued. “So my equipment is on that album — but not me!”
The story confirms earlier statements from ‘Alive!’ producer and engineer Eddie Kramer. Kramer described the challenges of capturing KISS’s theatrical performances and the subsequent need for studio overdubs at Electric Lady Studios.
Kramer said about the album, “Bombs going off, Gene spitting fire, rockets from Ace’s guitar. And imagine leaping about the stage in those super-high-heeled boots!. It’s no wonder things got a little bit out of whack. KISS was a new band, and the effort they put out in those shows was monumental, so we did a bunch of guitar and vocal overdubs at Electric Lady Studios.”
This equipment sharing between two legendary artists highlights the collaborative nature of the recording industry during the mid-1970s. Both albums were being produced simultaneously at the same facility.
The timing of the sessions makes the story even more remarkable. Both Frampton Comes Alive! and KISS’s Alive! went on to become career-defining albums, not just for the artists themselves, but for 1970s rock as a whole. Released within months of each other, the two records became touchstones of the live album era — a time when capturing the energy of a concert and packaging it for mass consumption could change the trajectory of a band overnight.
For KISS, Alive! was the turning point that transformed them from cult favorites into arena headliners. Before the album’s release in September 1975, the group had struggled to translate their wild stage shows into studio success. Once Alive! hit shelves, bolstered by Eddie Kramer’s meticulous production work (and, as Frampton now reveals, some borrowed gear), it gave fans the first true taste of the spectacle that was KISS in the flesh. The album went gold within a few months and has since sold millions, becoming the ultimate proof that KISS’s power lived on stage.
Meanwhile, Frampton was unknowingly on the cusp of his own breakthrough. Frampton Comes Alive! arrived in early 1976 and quickly became one of the best-selling live albums in history, thanks to hits like “Show Me the Way” and “Baby, I Love Your Way.” That both records were taking shape at Electric Lady Studios at nearly the same time — with Frampton’s gear literally helping KISS finish theirs — adds a fascinating footnote to rock history.
