ACE FREHLEY: 'Thank God I'm Clean And Sober Today'

December 27, 2007

Jeff Maisey of HamptonRoads.com recently conducted an interview with original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

HamptonRoads.com: When the members of KISS set out to make solo albums back in 1978, was there a competitive spirit to see whose album would sell best?

Frehley: "Oh, yeah. Before we all left to do our own records we had a big meeting. I might have read it wrong but the feeling I got from Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons] was... I remember them saying to me, 'Hey, if you need any help on your record don't hesitate to call.' But I perceived it as a condescending comment, like you're going to need help or something. Gene had everybody and his brother on his record. I did my whole record on my own with me and Anton Fig on drums. I guess my head was in a good place at that time."

HamptonRoads.com: What were the best years of KISS in terms of camaraderie?

Frehley: "In the early days there was a lot of camaraderie. I used to room with Gene. We used to stay at Holiday Inns. Paul and Peter [Criss] roomed together. There was a lot of insanity, a lot of girls, a lot of parties, a lot of crazy times. I don't regret any of it, you know?"

HamptonRoads.com: Where did the smoking guitar idea come from in your KISS days?

Frehley: "I came up with the idea one day when I was up in Canada on the road and bought some smoke bombs. I ended up putting one in the volume control compartment of my Les Paul. I knew there was a canal because the wires had to go to the pickups. I figured if I lit off a smoke bomb in there it would have to seep out from around the pickup, and it worked, but it ended up screwing up the volume and tone control. I did that a couple of times, and then I ended up getting together with an engineer, and we routed out the back of the guitar and put in a metal box, and the smoke came out of the guitar pickup closest to the neck, which was actually a fake pickup."

HamptonRoads.com: In 1987, when FREHLEY'S COMET debuted at No. 43 on the Billboard 200 chart, did you feel vindicated?

Frehley: "From the time I had the success with my (first) solo album I knew that I had to leave the group and make my own way. There was a lot more I needed to express both artistically and musically that I couldn't do in KISS, because everybody wanted to sing lead, everybody wanted the spotlight. It was always a power struggle. I was just noticing some (KISS) videos recently that had been re-edited where I don't get as much spotlight as I originally had. It's just stupid stuff like that, you know? My biggest problem was once I got away from them and I got on my own, I was left to my own devices. Being a party animal ended up doing me in for a while."

HamptonRoads.com: Drugs and alcohol brought your career down, especially during your solo years. How were those days for you?

Frehley: "It was a struggle. Thank God I'm clean and sober today. It's amazing how much easier things are without all that nonsense. Ironically, back in those days I used to think I needed it to perform. It actually made things a lot harder. But that's the disease of alcoholism."

Read the entire interview at HamptonRoads.com.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).