Ace Frehley Says He Doesn’t ‘Believe’ Kiss Is Truly Retired From Touring

Gary Graff
·5 min read
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As he brings out his latest solo album, 10,000 Volts, out Friday (Feb. 23), Ace Frehley is also ready to wave the Kiss flag now that his former band has retired from the road.

“I’m the only game in town because Kiss is supposedly retired — which I don’t believe is gonna happen,” Frehley tells Billboard. “But be that as it may…I actually added two more Kiss songs to my set. We added ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ because talking to people, they go…you gotta do those songs live — and I did and it went over fantastic. We ended the night with three Kiss songs: ‘Shout It Out Loud,’ ‘Deuce’ and ‘Rock and Roll All Nite,’ and everybody was singing along and it was great.

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“As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t even matter who wrote the song. I played the guitar solos on those records, and that’s good enough for me.”

And, as Frehley indicated, he’s not sure how long he will be the only game in town.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they reformed,” says Frehley, who was part of Kiss from its formation in 1973 through 1982, then rejoined from 1996 through 2002. “There were times when I had enough and I had to leave and do my own thing,” he adds, though band leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have indicated that Frehley was dismissed. They did not include Frehley (or drummer Peter Criss) on any of the dates of their farewell End of the Road World Tour.

“I really don’t want to trash those guys,” Stanley said last year, “because we wouldn’t be here today if not for them, if they hadn’t been in the band, and we wouldn’t be here today if they still were. They’re part of the foundation, but at some point, the foundation turned out to be faulty and you have to make repairs…and did.”

For his part, Frehley feels that “Paul and Gene are driven by different things than me. I’m driven by the quality of the music and in some cases they’re driven by money and that doesn’t sit well with me. But they’ve admitted it, so it’s no big deal.” In fact, Frehley says his relationships with his former bandmates are not as rancorous as is often reported.

“We’re still friends,” he says. “I know a lot of people think we hate each other, but that’s not true. We’re just like a family, but sometimes brothers and sisters have arguments and so on. But when the sh-t hits the fan, we’re there for each other. I just wish them the best.” He is not, however, particularly optimistic about the avatar performance concept that Kiss announced during its final show on Dec. 2 in New York, which is expected to roll out in 2025.

“Deep in my heart I have a feeling it may not be as successful as they think it’s gonna be,” Frehley predicts. “That’s not just me talking; a lot of people I’ve talked to feel that way but let them prove us wrong. I want them to be happy and doing their thing, But as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing like a live band on stage with real amps and singing into the microphone. That’s just my opinion.”

Frehley will be doing plenty of that in support of 10,000 Volts, his first album since the covers set Origins Vol. 2 in 2020 and his first of original material since Spaceman in 2018. Save for “Life of a Stranger,” originally sung by French actress Nadia for the 2002 action film The Transporter, Frehley wrote and produced 10,000 Volts‘ 10 other tracks with Steve Brown of Trixter; the two played most of the instruments on the album, joined by a handful of drummers and other musicians.

“Steve and I clicked so magically that I really can’t put it into words,” notes Frehley, whose fiancée introduced him to Brown. “He lives, like 40 minutes from me. He has a studio in his basement; I have a studio in my basement. We bounce back and forth. He’s a great engineer, a strong writer, singer, guitar player. Every song just came together really easily. If I couldn’t come up with a great solo he’d plays something that was real similar to the way I would’ve played, and sometimes I’d double it or duplicate it. I think I left one or two of his solos on the record because they were so good.”

10,000 Volts ends with the album’s lone instrumental, “Stratosphere,” although Frehley says he had more of those pieces around that the two were working on.

“I had three or four instruments that are probably just as good,” Frehley says, “but the record company was getting nervous. The record was really behind It was due months ago. So I just said to Steve, ‘What’s the instrumental you want to do?’ He said, ‘Let’s do ‘Stratosphere’ and I’ll try to do some interesting guitar work under the guitar that you wrote,’ and boom, we had our song.”

Frehley predicts the other instrumentals “will probably be used on a future record,” although he next has his sights on a third Origins volume, covering songs by artists who influenced him. He’s already signed Brown on to work on that and hopes to put it out during 2025. This year, meanwhile, will be all about 10,000 Volts and an anticipated worldwide touring to support it.

“Y’know, here I am at age 72 and I’m putting out one of the best records I’ve ever recorded. The playing is great and the singing is some of the best vocals I’ve ever done. It really doesn’t make any sense, but I’m the kind of guy that’s always broken rules, y’know?”

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