Ace Frehley admits he was “Aggravated” by his former KISS band mates’ comments he made while appearing on ‘The Howard Stern Show’
Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has once again criticized Paul Stanley for recent comments made by the KISS frontman during an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show.”
In March 2023, Howard Stern asked Stanley why he and fellow original KISS member Gene Simmons didn’t perform with Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2014. Stanley replied: “[The Rock Hall organizers] were demanding, quite honestly, that we play with the two original guys, Peter and Ace, and at this point, that would be demeaning to the [current KISS] band, and also would give some people confusion. ‘Cause if you saw people on stage who looked like KISS but sounded like that, maybe we should be called PISS.”
Ace addressed Paul‘s comments in a new interview with the “Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern” podcast. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t know what caused or went through Paul‘s head when he made that statement, if me and Peter performed with them on stage, we’d sound like piss.
“But it really aggravated me and I got really mad and I went on the Eddie Trunk show and promised to come back in a month or two weeks and spill some dirt. And speaking to my attorney and my manager and my agent and my close confidants, they all said, ‘Why don’t you take the high road?’ And I did. And I really didn’t spill anything that most people didn’t know already.”
Also adding whether he and Peter Criss could have actually performed with KISS at the Rock Hall ceremony, Frehley said: “Peter isn’t the drummer that he used to be. I love the guy to death. We were always closest friends and partied together, but he’s had several injuries and he’s just not the drummer he was way back when. I mean, he can still get up there and play three, four, five songs. There was no reason why when we got inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame that Peter couldn’t have performed three songs flawlessly, because he’s still got the chops; he just can’t play two hours.”
When asked if he thinks he will ever get the opportunity to play with Gene and Paul again, Ace said: “I really don’t think it’s ever gonna happen again. I think too much water has gone under the bridge. And I’m super busy with my new career, just as KISS ends up winding down their career, which makes no sense whatsoever. They must think it was some kind of master plan that as soon as they did their last show, I was gonna… And it wasn’t; it wasn’t at all. There was no master plan.
“It’s just that I was rushing to finish my [new solo] record [‘10,000 Volts’] because it was six months behind and, finally, we just cut some corners. The album would have been a lot better if I had another month to do, but I’m still very happy with the record. I don’t think there’s any filler. And there’s a large variety of songs on the record — there’s a ballad, there’s an instrumental, there’s a cover.”
You can listen to the full interview at this location.
Meanwhile, Ace Frehley‘s latest musical endeavor, the 11-track album titled “10,000 Volts,” was co-produced by Frehley and Steve Brown (of TRIXTER) and is set for release on February 23, 2024, via MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music).
Frehley recently spoke with Cassius Morris and was asked how he feels about his musical career outlasting that of his former KISS bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. He responded: “Well, getting sober was probably one of the major stepping stones for me to keep myself going.
“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.”
Leading up to the album release, Frehley unveiled the single “10,000 Volts” on November 28, 2023. The track’s music video, directed by Alex Kouvatsos from Black Wolf Imaging, has garnered over a million views on YouTube.
This upcoming release will mark Ace Frehley‘s first all-original album since “Spaceman,” which was launched in October 2018 under the eOne label.
