The KISS Impersonators 1981

The story of the KISS Impersonators could have ended perfectly in 1980. As the quote from the article in The Argus read, "Will the teen-agers stick to their act again next year? Not likely Correia says since they are growing up and moving away from each other." But the story did not end there.

By the time summer rolled around, Troy was dying to get back up in front of people. He decided to see if there was some life still in the group so he contacted Bin and Tim and received a big thumbs up from both. When he contacted Joey he received some disappointing news, Joey was calling it quits. Soon Troy was looking for a replacement. If he were going to pull off another Halloween appearance, this would have to be even better than 1980. In September, Troy was an honorable mention in 16 Magazine's "All-Star Look-A-Like Contest" which he entered earlier in the year. The magazine featured a small photo of Troy from Halloween of 1980. This was a bit of a boost for both Troy and the group in really continuing to ride the success of 1980.

From the time Troy started putting the group back together in July until early October, everything was basically at a complete stand still. KISS were getting ready to release a new album and since they would usually change or alter their costumes with every album, Troy was waiting for pictures of the new costumes to be released so he could make them. While waiting for pictures of the new costumes to surface, Troy found a replacement for Joey. A friend named Henry Gibson joined to become the groups new Ace Frehley.

16 Magazine Clipping

With everything at a dead standstill and Halloween fast approaching, Troy was getting really worried that no photos would surface in time to make the new costumes for Halloween. Troy was still living in Vacaville, Bin lived in Dublin, and Tim and Henry were both in Fremont. Finally on October 22nd, 16 Magazine released a few pictures of KISS in their new costumes. The bands look and costumes were extremely toned down, but that still only left Troy nine days to make four costumes. The odds were stacked against him. With most of the group living miles apart and Troy working a steady job, it looked like it would be impossible to be ready for one more appearance.

Not one to let the negative odds hold him back, Troy worked his magic to beat the deadline. When Halloween arrived the group was in pretty good shape. The costumes needed some final adjustments and finishing touches, but were completed that afternoon. Unlike the year before, there was no newspaper, there were no school carnivals, and the options for the group were limited.

This year they got ready at Troy's girlfriends house in Newark. They began their make-up around 5:00 p.m. and by 7:00 p.m. were ready. They took a few pictures then headed out. They had decided to drive out to Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara. They were having a costume contest there and without any other real options, they hoped they might have a chance to be seen there and possibly even walk away with a prize from the contest. Unfortunately by the time they got in to the park and were able to get the information on the contest, it had already taken place. They were too late. There were not a lot of people at the park that night so not many people got to see them. With the toned down costumes, they did not receive much fanfare from those that did see them. After realizing that the night had pretty much been a bust, they headed back home. The night came to an end and like two years before, things didn't go that great. After the success of 1980, this was a big disappointment.