The ever-outspoken Gene Simmons has opened up about Ace Frehley’s on-and-off relationship with Kiss, including a striking anecdote about his struggles with the pace of life in the band.
In his typically entertaining fashion, the bass player once recalled how he was ready to throw fists during Frehley’s audition for the band in 1973, only for his playing to change everything. Together, they produced 11 albums, as Kiss battled their way to superstardom, and cemented their place as one of America’s biggest bands.
But Frehley’s time in the band was disjointed, leaving the group twice, in 1982 and 2002. His last show was at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, with his omission from the band’s grand Madison Square Garden farewell in 2022 a sore point for the guitarist.
Simmons, who came under fire for controversial comments following his passing last November, has now suggested Frehley didn’t have it in him to go the distance with the glam rockers.
“It’s so hard for the fans. It’s heartbreaking,” he tells The Moynihan Report. “Ace had a massive influence on guitar players — Dimebag Darrell, Mike McCready, Metallica, just everybody across the line.
“But not everybody’s designed in their DNA to run a marathon,” he adds. “Some people just have a short race.”
Another player who idolized Frehley was Eddie Van Halen, and the premier shredder was reportedly eager to fill his platformed boots following his first exit. Ace had grown frustrated with the band’s change in direction, and played only a small role in the creation of Music from “The Elder” in ‘81.
“Ace told me to my face when he was leaving the band, ‘I’m gonna have a solo career ‘cause if I go out on tour again, I’m gonna kill myself,’” Simmons develops. “The psychological pressures affect different people in different ways.
“I have no problem with anything,” he says. “I’m voraciously ambitious and love the attention, money, and fame. But it doesn’t affect everybody the same way.”
Frehley’s solo career got off to a flying start. All four members of the band – completed by co-guitarist Paul Stanley and drummer Peter Criss – issued eponymous solo records in 1978. Sandwiched between the releases of Love Gun (1977) and Dynasty (1979), Frehley’s album outsold his bandmates, creating parallels with George Harrison’s first post-Beatles record, All Things Must Pass.
But as he did in November, Simmons was eager to highlight Frehley’s substance abuse problems and his struggles with life in Kiss.
“I’m not a shrink, but I think it starts with who you are in your own skin,” he believes. “Regular people every day drink themselves until they’re numb and can’t even walk, and use drugs and become drug addicts, even when nobody’s watching, just because they’re not comfortable in their own skin.
“Ace and Peter handled it for a few years, and then they were in and out of the band three different times. And it breaks the heart of fans…”
In April, Simmons opened up about the future of Kiss, with avatar shows and being bigger than Mickey Mouse as topics of conversation. Guitarist Tommy Thayer, who replaced Frehley in 2002, has now confirmed that new music is very much happening.
Speaking to Guitar World, he says he has recorded “a great new song that Paul wrote,” while detailing the band’s grandiose next steps.
“Kiss has always believed in making things an event,” he details. “So whatever new music comes, it has to feel special and have a reason for existing. You don’t make another Kiss record just because you’re supposed to make another Kiss record.”
