In a new interview with the Inside Of You With Michael Rosenbaum podcast, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons was asked if he had any “good conversations” with late KISS guitarist Ace Frehley before Ace passed away last October at the age of 74.
Simmons responded (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net), “It’s been up and down for 50 years with Ace. 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.”
He continued, “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. 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.
Offering an example of how Frehley was unreliable, Simmons said, “We were doing the Eurovision contest, and we were the headliners. 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.”
He went on to say that despite his issues with substance abuse, Frehley was one of the most influential guitarists of his era.
“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]. 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.”
When asked what he would tell Frehley now if he had a chance to address him, Simmons said, “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.
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.”
After podcast host Michael Rosenbaum noted that it’s obvious how much Simmons loved and cared about Frehley, he said, “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 if writing songs with Frehley again was an enjoyable process, the bassist 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].”
Last December, Simmons apologized for suggesting Ace‘s death was the result of the guitarist’s “bad decisions”.
51 Responses
the problem with drinking and drugs isn’t doing it so much as feeling guilty about doing it…if you wake up at 9am and drink a beer it’s not that big of a deal unless you make it one…that is the road to addiction
Everybody just needs to lighten up! Including and especially Gene! C’mon Gene, have a drink on me! I’ll buy! As I have said many, many times, even Jesus drank some wine from time to time! 😉 Hey Gene, how about some Cold Gin?! You know, “Cold Gin,” the song that Ace wrote, but you actually sang, remember? Come on, don’t be a phony, fake hypocrite, the cheapest stuff is a all you need, right Gene? – “It’s time to leave and get another quart…
Around the corner at the liquor store!”
It’s funny how back in the day you were advocating drinking, – as long as you benefited and profited from it, right Gene? Cheers!!
Bro, well stated. I’ve always thought similar about Gene singing that Ace composition, “Cold Gin”.
KI$$ also sells Wine and Beer as part of their brand catalogue…..
Yep, that’s right! And what about Rock & Brews?? Gene and Paul are constantly condemning drinking and people who drink, yet they want you to come to their Rock & Brews restaurants and eat AND drink as much as you can! Talk about hypocrites!! Gene and Paul are totally the definition of a walking contradiction!
That is true Doug. However, that’s business – so I’m sure it’s fine.
Plus anything for the fans…remember?
– as long as they get your money
Gene’s mouth usually gets him in trouble. When Gene and Paul opened a Rock & Brews restaurant on Maui, Hawaii in 2014, Gene boasted that Rock & Brews will “take over and conquer the Hawaiian islands”. The other partners had to tell Gene to shut his mouth about saying “take over and conquer the Hawaiian Islands” because it was upsetting the local/native Hawaiian people who are already mad about American business interests leading a coup to overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom in the 1890’s.
Yeah, Gene just doesn’t know when to shut his mouth cuz to him, any publicity is good publicity in the entertainment business.
Doug R: I’ve played in bands with members who think it’s ok to stagger onto the stage. It’s not ok. It’s incredibly stupid. Other guys in the group working hard while others get mad at things they don’t remember anything about? It’s toxic, not fun and not the reason why anyone picks up an instrument. Foolishness.
MRAR, I agree with that, I have stated how difficult it must have been for Gene and Paul who were 100% focused (in the 70s, until Gene wanted to become a movie star in the 80s) on the music, and Ace and Peter (particularly Ace) were not always focused on the music if you will, had to be really frustrating when you’re ready to record, or perform, only to have to wait for the other guys to show up, and even then not being able to give 100%, my problem with Gene and Paul (especially Gene) is when they “Demon”ize people who drink, like we’re all out of control losers and that IS NOT the case at all! Get sick of Gene sometimes acting like he’s Mr. Perfect, always right about everything, and singing Ace’s song “Cold Gin,” opening up a restaurant that encourages drinking, and then turn around and condemn people who drink?? Whatever!
Gene loves beating that dead horse. Gene sure does project a lot. Trying to teach and prove to everyone that he’s a sage. He makes me chuckle. What heartless pecker head.
Gene’s intelligence is very high. A high IQ. He knows it. I believe he may also be a realist at most times. He is trying to explain that drugs are a nasty, unhealthy thing!! I see people in my area getting dumber and dumber daily from smoking to much weed. 2. Why is Ace’s supposed friend Eddie letting these type of articles that put down Ace or show one side of him on his website? This website does put down or insult some artists time to time. I can’t imagine if Ace’s daughter is reading this!! At this point I would like to remember Ace as a great guitar play who had this very unique sound who rocked all our worlds and that is it! Pinheads!!
George,
I assume that pinhead would be me? It appears that you get great joy from belittling Eddie and I, you really are such a hater, but cannot seem to stay away.
I have no idea how that works, because my brian functions in a linear pragmatic way. If I don’t like something, or someone, I just avoid it and don’t whine about it. I only b-tch about things that I cannot control, anything within my own purview, is on me.
I think what I find most ironic about your statement, is that you seem to imply that based upon the news I choose to feature, you feel as though I am picking on Frehley. Um, knock, knock, HELLO? And you never pick on me or Eddie?-LOL! The irony of your comment is so lost on you it is comical.
Finally, I do not post these stories as a means of disparaging Frehley, but rather as a reflection upon Simmons and to generate discussion.
Guys, is it me or does it seem as though we just recently had the same “discussion” with George? I feel as though this is a constant Groundhog Day, where I am always finding myself on the defense and having to explain for the nth time (and I will bold it this time), if you don’t like a band, a story or the content of the story, SKIP IT. YOU HAVE FREEWILL, no one is forcing you read anything, or even visiting, the site.
Anyone who willfully chooses to engage in things they find displeasurable, clearly has masochistic tendencies. Whine all you want, I will even offer some cheese with it, but when you constantly use it as an excuse to demean, and bash others on a semi-regular basis, please don’t come back anymore. This same dance around the room is annoying and exhausting. I don’t tolerate trolls.
george, the post is so we can, again, point out how inaccurate Gene is…..it’s not to bash Ace, but to point out how ridiculous Gene sounds….these guys treated Ace, who just had the most successful solo record, had the only songs that the fans and critics liked on their next two records, like the janitor when it came time for the Elder…”…just put your spacesuit on, and stand over there along with this other knucklehead we just hired…” this is a band Ace helped build and then he’s the most popular one in the band, and the thing is…Ace was right, the Elder bombed just like he said it would…and he’s supposed to be the messed up one? to add insult to injury they put his face on the next record that he’s not even on….the irony of that zombie photo of him…I think it’s funny to some, but to me, Ace, was suffering….you know, Gene and the Kiss consoritorium also tried to re write Beth with A World Without Heroes…it’s actually the same song if you hear it right….there’s this story that Gene actually drove to Peter’s house in CT and played it for him, and told him it would be a bigger hit than Beth, and Peter threw Gene out of his house…..Gene is actually ghosted on more Kiss records than anybody else in the band, that’s put together…lol…so, again…the point of the post, if you had any grasp of the people who run this site, was to give us the opportunity to point out the logical fallacies Gene puts out there….Dana, is super cool, she’s is not a pinhead by any stretch of the imagination.
Thank you, I just left a message for Tony…
Not sure I am super cool, maybe average cool? 😉
George, I, like you, will always remember Ace as an influential guitar player who had a unique playing style that inspired countless people to play guitar and own Les Pauls. But don’t blame Dana, or Eddie, for reporting news that you don’t like. If you want to blame somebody for keeping the stories of Ace’s troubles alive and reminding the fans of it, blame Gene $immon$, and to lesser degree, Paul Stanley. Those two are the mouthpieces that keep it alive, not Dana or Eddie. Perhaps Gene $immon$ keeps doing it to try to stay relevant cuz his comments make “headlines”, when he could have answered questions about Ace’s troubles with a response similar to “I’ve already addressed it, let’s move on”.
And you don’t need to resort to name calling on this site just cuz you don’t like an article. Like Dana mentioned in her reply to you, if you think you will not like the story, just don’t read it. Be cool, dude. This is a fun music forum for us to express our thoughts, but don’t shoot the messenger for reporting things you don’t agree with being reported.
Thank you, as always Rattle, it is so much appreciated.
This is a conscious of crisis for me, because I am a strong believer in the 1A. However, I am also human, and there is a limit to how much I can tolerate being someone’s constant whipping post.
Also, for those who wonder, even though Eddie gives me carte blanche here, I do tend to run things like this by him, because it is still his site. So I believe, he should have the final say, before I ban someone.
Years ago, back when the site did not require one to register to comment I showed him, some of the racist, brutal comments, that I received. He told me, back then, anyone who “speaks” to me like in even a borderline disparaging way, he has no problem with me permanently deleting their comments.
Super Cool, that’s an easy one
🙂
As I have stated before, I’m newer to this forum, been only positng on it for a few months. An I enjoy it immensley!!
Opinions are like a-holes, everyone’s got one. The land of the free. Free speech, Free will and so on. I truly get it and this is why I enjoy this forum.
We may not all agree, but 99% of the discussions on this site are done with class and dignity. FREE to express our thoughts and opinions.
But in the short time I’ve been on here this is like the third time this dude has “crossed the line” with the hate comments and belittling. It really needs to stop. There is no need for childish comments. We are all adults. Dana and Eddie did NOT write the article! It was simply posted on this site. Dana you defend yourself VERY well on these comments, but everyone has their breaking point. I fear that you will throw your hands up one day and say “screw it, I don’t need to deal with this crap anymore” And I hope it NEVER comes to that!! So if booting this guy off the forum is what it takes then I’m all for it!!!!!!
Hi Scott,
Thank you so very much for your kind words. Don’t worry, I would quicker pull the thorn out of my backside, than leave.
My other option is to edit out his snarky and disrespectful comments, should I choose to do so, at all. Quite frankly, he deserves the same level of respect he dolls out, which after constant warnings, is very little.
Kiss should’ve released another live album after Unmasked, those songs sounded tougher live….the fans would’ve gotten excited to hear their new drummer live…it would’ve reset Kiss as a hard rock band…and then release Creatures with Ace still in the band…and Eric singing Rock and Roll Hell…