Spats, temper tantrums and scathing retorts within the Kiss camp are no rarity, and Ace Frehley has been at the center of his fair share of them.
Now the guitarist, who hasn’t donned his Spaceman outfit since the turn of the millennium, wants to set the record straight regarding his two departures from the band.
The facts are straightforward.
Frehley successfully auditioned for the band in 1973, despite his antics nearly leading to Gene Simmons punching his lights out. He stuck around for nine studio albums, and helped turn the band into one of the most commercially successful acts around before making his unceremonious departure in 1982.
After reuniting for the band’s 1995 MTV Unplugged performance, the original lineup — Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss — regrouped the following year. Ace bowed out for a second time after performing at the closing ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, Utah.
But why did Ace leave both times? According to Stanley and Simmons, he was fired. But as Ace tells Guitarist, that's not what happened.
“A lot of the misconceptions were created by Paul and Gene,” he says. "They still say in interviews that they fired me, but I was never fired from Kiss. I hate when I hear that. And they say that both times I was fired. I quit both times.”
According to Ace, he was unhappy with the group's change of direction as the 1970s classic-rock era gave way to the glossy sounds of the 1980s. Although he is credited as a performer on the 1982 albums Killers and Creatures of the Night, his contributions were very minimal. As he tells Guitarist, he already had one foot out the door.
“They didn't want me to leave,” he says. “The first time I quit, Paul showed up on my doorstep, took me out to lunch, and was trying to change my mind, but I had already made up my mind.”
Frehley says he was interested in pursuing a solo career after the success of Ace Frehley, his 1978 solo album. Each of the four Kiss members released self-titled solo albums, but none had the success of Frehely's record. The single "New York Groove" hit number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the highest placement of any solo Kiss record at that time.
“The success of my solo album made me realize that I was more creative away from Paul, Gene and Peter than I was around them,” Ace says, bluntly.
“So time marches on. They've said shit — like, I'm late and I'm lazy. And yeah, maybe not as much as they've said it, but it's true. As far as when I'm working, and I've got an idea, and I'm excited about it — I have tunnel vision.”
Frehley's stints away from the band yielded several solo albums under his own name and Frehley's Comet.
As for Kiss, they did just fine without Ace. His first departure paved the way for guitarists like Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick – who survived one of Kiss's most disgusting gigs, while his second exit saw Tommy Thayer step into his platform boots and walk them all the way to the band's finale.
And as you might expect, Frehley has had plenty to say about his replacements.
In related news, the guitarist has recalled the shocking on-stage incident in 1976 that should have left him for dead, while Gene Simmons reckons the Space Ace stole a classic Doors solo “note-for-note” and claimed it as his own for "She".
Simmons has also recalled the band’s fabled touring days with Black Sabbath. He was determined to one-up the heavy metal heavyweights across those shows, saying, “Once the war paint was on, I became the Demon.”
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