Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer says the band’s upcoming Las Vegas event will celebrate the legacy of late guitarist Ace Frehley, with all four current members set to perform songs from his catalog.
Co-founder Frehley first left the band in 1982 and rejoined in 1995 before departing for a second and final time in 2002. Throughout the years, his relationship with former colleagues Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons — and his various replacements — was sometimes confrontational.
But Frehley’s unexpected death in 2025 at the age of 74 brought back memories of happier times. At their Land-Locked in Vegas event, taking place November 13 through 15, each of the four current Kiss members will choose a song from Frehley’s catalog to perform.
“It’s an important thing,” Thayer tells Ultimate Classic Rock. “That was a huge loss last year for everyone and I think it really hit us. I mean, particularly Paul and Gene. But it hit me too and it left an emptiness. There’s been some issues and interpersonal stuff through the years and this and that. But at the end of the day, I think everybody loves each other.”
Thayer also credits Frehley with helping shape Kiss’s identity and inspiring generations of guitarists.
“He was such an important part of creating what they did in the first place. Even for me personally, Ace Frehley was such a huge part of my teenage experience — learning to play guitar, learning to mimic his guitar parts and things, which to me were so quintessential and so signature at the time. He made a huge impact on a lot of people.”
Frehley’s best-known songs include the Kiss cuts “Shock Me,” “Cold Gin,” “Strange Ways” and “Into the Void,” and his solo hit “New York Groove.” He was reportedly working on a follow-up to his 2024 solo album 10,000 Volts when he fell down a flight of stairs and sustained serious head injuries. He died on October 16, 2025, after his life support was switched off.
“When something like that happens suddenly, and he’s gone, everybody kind of loses part of themselves, I guess, in a way,” Thayer adds. “I had the same feeling when Eddie Van Halen passed away. It leaves kind of a hole in your heart and your musical soul… it’s very strange.
“So we’ll be having a nice Ace tribute. It’s going to be well planned and everybody’s going to be involved. I think it’s really appropriate.”
