Katherine Turman of The Village Voice took a ride with original KISS guitarist, Ace Frehely, around his old Bronx neighborhood. Excerpts from the piece appear below.
Oh KISS’ current guitar player, Tommy Thayer, who also happens to wears Ace’s Spaceman makeup when performing:
“I could sense he always wanted to be me. He used to be in a KISS cover band [L.A.’s Cold Gin],” Frehley says. “He didn’t do anything; he was hired by Paul and Gene to put on my makeup and costume and play my guitar solos — a business deal.
Look, if he wouldn’t have done it, they would have hired somebody else. I walked out on the band; I quit. What they really should have done is, if they wanted to dress up a guy to play lead guitar, they should have come up with different makeup like they did with [other Ace replacements] Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent. That’s what the fans are upset about.”
Guitarist/singer and former Runaway Lita Ford concurs, though she observes, “I always thought that anyone could hide behind Kiss’s makeup. The band could grow old and no one could see through the makeup: a brilliant idea. Tommy Thayer is one hell of a nice guy but he is not Ace Frehley and shouldn’t be in Ace’s shoes. There is only one Ace!”
Well, technically, now there are two, and Thayer is currently pimping a guitar (created with Epiphone) called the Space Man. “I mean, how big are the balls on this guy?” snorts Frehley. “But I don’t really want to talk about Tommy Thayer,” he adds, half-apologetically. “Let’s talk about me.”
Discussing his former bandmate, Gene Simmons:
“The press made out that we hated each other, which wasn’t true. I called Gene just a few months ago when I was mixing my record. I was driving up to L.A., and after five minutes of talking, he started bringing up stuff that happened in the ’70s, when we used to drive around in station wagons. We were on the phone for almost half an hour,” he recalls. “He wouldn’t let me off the phone. There’s all this rivalry that the press tries to draw out of us, to have a dialogue going on.”
Talking about who possibly invented the two-handed tapping technique when playing guitar:
Frehely doesn’t know if he or Eddie Van Halen did it first. He does remember, though, that “Gene discovered Van Halen. He wanted to produce their first album, and we told him ‘No.’ Gene was always going off half-cocked, trying to do more things … like he still does today.” He added, “If Kiss would stop fooling around with football teams and restaurants, they might put out a better record next time.” Despite a few barbs, it’s clear Frehley, still retains a fondness for Simmons — if akin to the true brotherly love-hate you might find in the Kinks or Oasis.
Read the entire at The Village Voice.
Ace Frehley’s latest album Space Invader was released on August 19th and debuted at number nine on the Billboard Top 200 chart.
source: blogs.villagevoice.com
93 Responses
tommy doesn’t want to be you, ace….he actually shows up on time and is sober when he does.
I have never seen such hate for a band for changing members so they could continue. I have been a fan since 76 and yes the original 4 created timeless music but people it just A BAND! Members come in go all the time in other bands, who cares who’s behind the mask. As long as the product is still good, I saw them last month and they still rock in my opinion.The nonsense about them being an imposter band or gimmick is getting old. And who isn’t in the entertainment business for money! They are a rock band with some different members putting on a rock concert like rock bands do pure and simple. This crap has got to stop.
I’ve been a fan since 1975. I could care less who wears what, I love the music and show. However, when they started, it was supposed to be an extension of themselves, now its a never ending character. Sometimes in the now when Gene or Paul talk about the past they mention the fact that it was an extension but for the business brand it’s just a character.
PSA.. I never thought Ace was from Jendell
Kiss is just a band like any other band? So, the Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd are in the same category as Kiss? There are only 2 bands (not counting solo performers like Elvis) that have instantly recognizable members without even showing their band name. Kiss and The Beatles. That is SPECIAL, and not to be taken lightly. Kiss created a special band like no other. You do not trounce upon that without getting backlash. I take it to heart, always have for the last 38 years I’ve been a Kiss fan. Morph and change all you want, it’s a free country. But don’t you dare say it’s the same.
So what your saying is that the stones don’t have instantly recognizable members in the band? People out there don’t know who Mick, Keith , Ronnie, and Charlie are. To say that KISS and the Beatles are the only bands out there with instantly recognizable members is pretty asinine. Sabbath, Motörhead, Crüe, Judas Priest, among other bands are just other bands that if you saw apicture of them are pretty recognizable too.
Aaron: Go ahead and show a photo of Judas Priest to any random person on the planet, any age, and see if they tell you who it is. Good luck, pal. EVERYBODY knows the faces of Kiss and The Beatles, even if they can’t tell you the names of the members.
Joe you don’t think people don’t know who Rob Halford is. The Metal God himself. Do not forget that in the early 80’s that Priest was huge ALL OVER The world and still are huge. While Kiss has to co-headline with Def Lep, Priest can tour by themselves and still sell out places that they play.
One other thing Joe, I am a KISS fan and have been since I was 6 or 7 years old. I think that when you go to see a KISS concert there is no other live experience like them around. To say though that KISS is in the same league as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones is crazy. When you compare Kiss, the band, to the Stones or Beatles they are not even in the same ballpark musically, or lyrically as The Stones or the Beatles. The rolling stones arguably wrote and recorded the greatest rock album, ” Exile on Main Street”, ever and The Beatles wrote a lot of the Best Songs ever. Added to those 2 I would put Thin Lizzy, Sabbath, Zeppellin, and The Clash ahead them, among others. Hell the only group that i would compare Kiss ‘s songwriting is Spinal Tap.
The tap dance that Medved talked about was as good as Sammy Davis Jr. at the Desert Inn doing Mr. Bojangles in ’71. His new album is now drifting at about 193 per week. Has he paid his back taxes? Lost his house? Hey Ace, get the Pro Tools out for the club tour hoss you sucked huge on Kimmel.
Lee, your posts are great. Keep em coming.
You’re on fire today Lee…in a good way..and the Sammy Davis Jr. reference, brilliant and hysterical!
You know what Tommy is ? He’s a FART in a SPACE SUIT !!!
Good Grief Ace give it a rest already. He’s in your out get over it and move on.