Artist Spotlight

Steve Farris

The guitar solo on Kiss’s “Creatures of the Night” was his. Then came Mr. Mister.

Steve Farris played the solo on Kiss’s “Creatures of the Night.” He was at the Record Plant to audition as Ace Frehley’s replacement. Paul Stanley counted him into the song, Farris played, and the solo stayed on the record. The band liked his guitar playing. The job fell apart when they asked him to sing at a later rehearsal. Farris tells the full story here.

Steve Farris, at right, holding a Fender Stratocaster beside CJ Sorg — Steve Farris at right with CJ Sorg, 2006. Photo: CJ Sorg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Farris grew up in Nebraska and studied jazz at Berklee. He even took a lesson from Joe Pass. Club work brought him to Los Angeles. The Kiss solo was his first appearance on a released record. He soon went out with Eddie Money, then joined Richard Page, Steve George and Pat Mastelotto in Mr. Mister.

On Welcome to the Real World, the guitar has a different job. “Broken Wings” gives him room to hang notes around the keyboards and vocal. “Kyrie” lets the guitar push harder. On “Is It Love,” listen for the tremolo-bar work cutting through the polished arrangement. The records were built around songs, and Farris knew when to leave space.

He stayed through Mr. Mister’s Go On..., then returned to session work. He later played with Whitesnake onstage. The Kiss solo is a great introduction, but it is only one side of a player who could move between hard rock, new wave and studio pop without making them sound alike.

The gear we know about

Kiss: “Creatures of the Night”: In his detailed account of the session, Farris named his custom Valley Arts Strat with an original Floyd Rose, a modified Boss CE-1 chorus, a Goodrich volume pedal and a Marshall supplied by the studio. In a later interview he described the guitar more simply as a Strat. Farris’s account.
His early stereo rig: A Jim Kelley amp and a Dumble, with the modified CE-1 and Goodrich pedal. Farris described using this setup with the Mambo Jets just before the Kiss audition; it is not a confirmed track-by-track list for Mr. Mister. Farris’s account.

A few tracks to play

Kiss, “Creatures of the Night” — the audition solo that made the album.
Mr. Mister, “Broken Wings” — hear how little he needs to play to give the song an edge.
Mr. Mister, “Kyrie” — his guitar against the bigger chorus.
Mr. Mister, “Is It Love” — the tremolo-bar part that a 1986 Mix profile singled out.

For the story in his own words, read Farris’s 2024 Guitar World interview.