In a wide-ranging new conversation, Gene Simmons reflected on the long and complicated relationship he shared with late Ace Frehley, admitting that he now regrets not stepping in sooner to help the guitarist during his struggles with substance abuse.
Speaking on the Inside Of You With Michael Rosenbaum podcast, hosted by Michael Rosenbaum, Simmons was asked whether he had any meaningful conversations with Frehley before his passing last October at the age of 74.
“It’s been up and down for 50 years with Ace,” Gene responded (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “And the fans often would hate me for telling the truth. When the kids are at home and there’s mom and dad and all of a sudden dad gets thrown out of the house, the kids don’t understand — they love mom and dad — why mom kicked dad out of the house. And she tries to explain to them: ‘He was a drunk, he was a loser, he was late, didn’t show up on time, didn’t do what he was supposed to do, was barely around the kids, but he’s your father.’ And the fans are like kids. They don’t know.”
Simmons went on to describe Frehley as an immensely gifted musician whose personal struggles often overshadowed his talent, particularly during KISS’s early years and rise to global fame.
“If you would’ve met Ace at the beginning [of KISS] — God bless him — you would’ve fallen in love with the idea, who he is and all that,” Gene continued. “And then [as Niccolò] Machiavelli [said], [when you] have power, [you must sometimes] abuse it. It affects all of us in different ways. Me too. But Ace turned to beverages and chemicals. Early on, he wouldn’t show up… I mean, he wouldn’t show up to do his guitar parts on even Destroyer early on. And the fans don’t like to hear this because he’s so talented and everybody, all the new guitar players, were influenced by him and all that. Yeah, but when you’re together in a band, you’re together more time than your family members or your wife or kids. So he’d be late and all this stuff. And Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer], we love him, and God bless, he’s still around, but really from the early days, as soon as the money and the fame came in, it was like the dark cloud came over. And they were both in and out of the band three separate times. And the fans just couldn’t understand it.”
He also recalled a particularly striking example of Frehley’s unreliability during a major international performance.
“We were doing the Eurovision contest, and we were the headliners,” he said.” People in America don’t know what that is, but 600 million people at that time, now a billion people, tune in to the Eurovision where all the countries in the world basically send their representatives and it’s music based. It’s one of the few times such a large audience in the early days would tune in. Ace didn’t show up. We had to do it as a trio. It just went on and on and on… And had we not been as popular, we would’ve asked Ace to leave. But strangely, the first time Ace left, he turned to us, and it’s sad, and said — this is a quote; he said it to me two times, twice — ‘I’m leaving the band. I’m gonna have a solo career.’ And we tried to talk to him — I know I did — in front of the manager and everybody else: ‘Stay in the band. Have your solo career. Have your cake and eat it too. We don’t want anything from you. If you’re not happy, do other stuff, but don’t break up the band. That’s lunacy.’ And he just never made smart decisions. So, he said on the way out, ‘You just watch. I’m gonna sell 10 million copies of my solo record.’ That’s a quote. And we said, ‘No, don’t do that. Just stay in the band.’ And he said, more than once, ‘If I don’t leave the band and if I do another tour, I’m gonna kill myself.’ So whatever was going on, it breaks your heart.”
Despite the turbulence, Simmons emphasized Frehley’s lasting influence on generations of guitarists, naming him as a key inspiration for some of rock’s biggest names.
“You look at his body of work, and guitar players from Eddie Van Halen to — who’s the kid from METALLICA? God, I just forgot it — they point to Ace, or Tom Morello and everything, ‘I cut my teeth on guitar by listening to Ace.’ Of course. And he was so proud and so happy to hear from the White House — not from the president — that KISS had won the Kennedy Center awards thing [last year],” Gene revealed. “And he so much looked forward to [being honored last December]. As a kind of a street kid joins a band and goes to the highest level of American — I don’t know — awards. And he just didn’t make it.”
It was in this part of the interview that Simmons turned more reflective, admitting that in hindsight he wishes he had taken stronger action to intervene.
He noted: “I should have, and could have, but I should have, a long time [ago], when you see the disease starting to get ahold of him, I should have, decades ago, took, took him aside — it’s called an intervention — and forced him to understand he’s not just hurting himself by his lifestyle choices, but his family, his child and the fans. It was a stupid and shameful decision on all our parts — I know mine too — is, ‘No, you don’t wanna get the fans upset. Let’s make believe he’s in the band and everything’s okay at home.’ And it it’s tough. It’s really tough.”
Simmons added that public perception often misses the reality behind Frehley’s struggles, especially when he was not sober: “Right now the fans who are gonna listen to this are gonna [say], ‘Prick Gene, he never says anything [positive].’ … But the kids at home don’t understand [what it was like when Ace was loaded on drugs and alcohol]. They never met and spent time with Ace. When he’s straight — lovable, everything’s great. Early on, and when the stuff started to take hold, it was Jekyll and Hyde. You just can’t make smart decisions when you’re drunk or high.”
Despite everything, Simmons made it clear there was still affection between them, even during the most difficult years: “Look, over the years, whether it was up or down, he’d call and ask for my favor: ‘Can you come up and write some songs with me?’ At the height of me telling him, ‘You’re a moron. You’re making horrible life decisions’ and stuff. But he calls: ‘I’m doing a new record. You wanna write some [songs with me]?’ ‘Sure.’ I got in my car, drove out to the desert where he was, and we wrote two new songs.”
Asked whether those sessions were enjoyable, Simmons said: “Sure. Because Ace was focused. He cared and was committed to him, which is understandable. We all love our stuff. But when it came to being around other guys… And when it came to guitar, nobody touched him. But when it came to songwriting, unfortunately, there were other guys — Paul [Stanley, KISS guitarist/vocalist] and myself — that wrote most of the stuff [in KISS].”
Simmons’ comments come months after he issued a public apology for earlier remarks about Frehley’s death.
“On reflection, I was wrong for using the words I used,” Simmons wrote on X. “I humbly apologize. My hand to God I didn’t intended to hurt Ace or his legacy but upon rereading my words, I see how it hurt everyone. Again, I apologize. I’ve always loved Ace. Always.”
The KISS bassist and vocalist’s comments come after a previous interview with the New York Post, in which he reflected on the challenges that marked Ace Frehley’s later years. “He refused [advice] from people that cared about him — including yours truly — to try to change his lifestyle. In and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart,” Simmons said.
Simmons also shared his memories of Ace’s private funeral, held on October 22, which was attended by the surviving founding members of KISS. “Peter Criss, our founding drummer, Paul [Stanley] and myself went to the funeral, open casket. It was just heartbreaking. Saddest of all perhaps is that Ace just couldn’t stay alive long enough to sit there proudly at the Kennedy Center and listen to — I can’t even tell you who’s going to come out … really impressive people, just to say how much KISS meant to them. What can you say — sad,” he recalled.
Frehley passed away on October 16, 2025. The Morris County Medical Examiner determined that his death resulted from blunt force trauma to the head following a fall, ruling it accidental. The report detailed contusions and fractures at the rear of his skull, as well as hemorrhages and a subdural hematoma. Additional injuries included bruising to his hip, thigh, and abdomen. Medical records also noted that Frehley had previously suffered a stroke.
Frehley played on some of KISS’s most legendary albums, including Kiss (1974), Destroyer (1976), Love Gun (1977), and Dynasty (1979), writing and performing classics like “Shock Me,” “Rocket Ride,” and “Talk to Me.” His 1978 self-titled solo album, featuring the hit single “New York Groove,” remains a fan favorite.
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