GUITARIST ACE FREHLEY SAYS HE NOT SPOKEN WITH FORMER KISS BANDMATE GENE SIMMONS, BUT SAYS HE STAYS IN TOUCH WITH PAUL STANLEY

Before KISS began their End Of The Road tour in January, original guitarist, Ace Frehley addressed some comments made by bassist Gene Simmons about about a possible reunion of the band’s original lineup, dismissing claims that he had been fired three times (Ace cliams he quit) and alleging that Simmons groped his wife, Rachel, during one of the Simmons’ Vault Experience events in Los Angeles. Additionally, Frehley accused  Simmons and KISS frontman Paul Stanley of trying “to derail my solo career multiple times over the years.” After the allegations, he included a threat, writing, “Without a complete and heartfelt apology, an offer to give me my old job back and removing Tommy [Thayer] from the throne I created, the s–t will hit the fan and they’ll [sic] be no stopping it. It’s on!!!” He concluded the post with an image of him pointing at a camera emblazoned with the words, “The gloves are off!!”

Asked in a new interview with Alan K. Stout of The Weekender (as per Blabbermouth.net) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania if he has had a chance to try and mend things with Simmons, Ace said, “I have had no contact with Gene, and Gene hasn’t commented on Rachel’s accusations. He hasn’t said ‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’ or denied it, or apologized. It’s just very unsettling and an unfortunate situation that that had to go down. I don’t know the specifics, exactly, because I did not witness anything. In reality, talking hypothetically, if Rachel decided to sue Gene … in the court of law, I would have to have to say, if they put me on the stand, that I did not witness anything. It’s a tough situation. And that’s all I really have to say about it.”

Frehley added that he has had some contact with Stanley, who wrote in his latest book, Backstage Pass, that he is glad to have rekindled a friendship with Ace.

“I spoke with Paul last week,” Frehley told The Weekender. “I just touched base. He didn’t really want to talk about the feud between me and Gene. I heard he’d said some nice things [in the book], and I actually sent him a text thanking him for the kind words …. That’s what prompted me to get a hold of him and thank him, and wish him luck on the European tour that they’re on right now. I always try to keep the door open.”

This past February, Simmons told the Los Angeles Times that he didn’t want to go into detail about Frehley’s accusations. “I’m not gonna say anything in print other than I love Ace and Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer] and I thank them forever — they’re every bit as important as Paul and myself for launching the band,” he said. “I’m not going to make any guesses of why the emotions are so volatile, but it’s happened before.”

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