In a recent interview conducted by Cassius Morris, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was asked about his sentiments regarding the longevity of his recording career, which has surpassed not only those of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley but also that of KISS as a band.
“Well, getting sober was probably one of the major stepping stones for me to keep myself going,” he responded. “I’m much healthier now than I was 10, 15 years ago. But Paul and Gene, over the years, have always kind of dragged my name through the mud. To try to validate the fact that they had Tommy Thayer in the band, they used to make statements. You can look ’em up in videos — there’s dozens of ’em — where they say, ‘Oh, Ace wasn’t up for the job.’ ‘Ace was unemployable.’ ‘He was always late.’ And that got to me. And to this day, it still bothers me, but it doesn’t hold water.”
He continued: “I made this statement before this record even started. I said, ‘This album’s [his new solo album 10,000 Volts] gonna embarrass them,’ because they can’t do a record this good. I dare them to.”
In a last month’s interview with Finland’s Chaoszine, Ace Frehley was asked about his thoughts about KISS‘ farewell tour and the fact that neither he nor former members Peter Criss and Bruce Kulick were not invited to band’s last show.
“I don’t really understand what happened six or seven to eight months ago when Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons] were in the midst of the “End of the Road” tour. They were saying really nice things about Peter and Bruce Kulick and me.
“They were saying, ‘We called Ace, we called Peter, and they’re going to be on stage with us and play a few final songs,’”’ you know, ‘“’brotherhood’”’ and all that bulls**t. And then, the last month, once the show was sold out and they didn’t need our help to sell out any more tickets, Paul Stanley went on the Howard Stern show and said, ‘Well, if Ace and Peter got up on stage with us, you might as well call the band PISS.’ That was completely opposite from what he was saying 6-7 months ago, and I don’t know why he said it, but it pissed me off, and after hearing that, I decided I wasn’t going there.
“Even if he had invited me and given me a personal invitation after he had hit us below the belt with that comment, I would not have gone there. You know, I can play rings around Paul Stanley on guitar. I can even sing better than him and don’t have to use backing tracks. “Laughs.”
After touring for 50 years, KISS played their final show in Madison Square Garden on December 2nd, 2023. However, this doesn’t mean the end for the band. KISS will be transforming into digital avatars, created by Industrial Light & Magic, allowing them to continue performing and pushing the boundaries of rock and roll. This new era is a partnership with Pophouse Entertainment Group and will include immersive avatar-powered music concerts.
