Ace Frehley: News, History & Updates

Ace Frehley Biography by Greg Prato

Excerpts from Greg’s books for Alternative Nation

DON JAMIESON: [That Metal Show co-host, comedian]: For as much crap as Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons] have given Ace about his drinking and his drug use and that he couldn’t play, let me tell you something – I defy anybody to go online in those early days of Kiss and find any shows where Ace was not playing absolutely precisely and perfectly every night. When, some of the other people in the band were not.

JESSE HUGHES [Eagles of Death Metal singer/guitarist]: He was humble, he was good-natured. I mean, right now, since his death, you can see all these compilations that people have put out of him laughing. All these crazy compilations of his laughter, and every one of his jokes are hilarious. Like, “I’m a plumber.” That’s one of my favorite fucking interviews [from The Tomorrow Show]. He just goes into that cackling laughter, and you see Gene and Paul pissed, just furious that that he’s doing that. But that’s just how he appears.

TRAVIS STEVER [Coheed & Cambria guitarist]: I remember people were saying something about how Ace was saying that he could tap with the best of them, but he just didn’t tap as often because that wasn’t his thing. And I remember even being like, “I don’t know about that.” But there’s some stuff that has surfaced recently – especially with his death – and he was doing a lot of that stuff during the mid ’70s. And people didn’t give him credit where credit’s due.

So, the immediate connection for me, guitar-wise, was the swagger that he brought to any song. Like, the solo in “Love Gun.” I’ve bit that pentatonic run however many times. Everybody has. There’s a very similar kind of thing that he would bring to Kiss that I fell in love with a lot of the guitar playing in Thin Lizzy. And the harmonies he would add to his parts, too. That was some OG shit.

PARRIS MAYHEW [ex-Cro-Mags guitarist]: The thing about Ace is like he’s tricking you, because if you look at Ace’s body of Kiss solos, on the surface, it appears that he’s got, like, a couple of stock licks that he kind of uses a lot. And some of them are very Chuck Berry-type riffs. They’re not difficult to play. They’re kind of stock. But when he plays them, they are Ace. They are completely him. If there are six notes in a classic lick, he’ll use four of them, and the other two make it sound like nobody else in the world. And he completely tricks you. He draws you in with the simplicity. And his string bending. It’s just so emotional and so powerful and so out of left field. It’s just one solo after another that is weird and quirky.

ALEX SKOLNICK [Testament guitarist]: I really like the early solos – especially the live versions. To me, the live solo on “Black Diamond” is just next level. It takes you to a different place. It does what music is supposed to do – it transports you. Actually, there’s a couple different solos on that, but the “finale solo,” where it slows down, and it’s almost psychedelic, and it’s very melodic. It sounds like he’s just playing off the cuff, but yet it works perfectly with the music.

EDDIE TRUNK [Radio DJ and TV host, ex-vice president of Megaforce Records]: [Ace’s first post-Kiss band] was initially going to be presented as “Frehley’s Comet, a band.” The name of it was going to be Frehley’s Comet, and then the record would be called something. And the whole plan was to present it as a band. And Atlantic and us rethought that in the 11th hour. And we said, “We got to put the best shot forward here, and the record has to be billed as a solo record. It has to be ‘Ace Frehley.’ It has to be at the top of the record jacket.”

So, we literally striped in the name Ace Frehley at the top of the graph of the cover, and made the name of the album Frehley’s Comet – purely for marketing, just to put his name front and center. That didn’t sit well with John [Regan] and Tod [Howarth] – they felt like it was a band and should be a band. But, we had to do it. But that being said, Tod still had a couple songs on record, and then Tod ended up singing “Breakout.” So, it all worked out.

DAVID ELLEFSON [ex-Megadeth bassist]: I think it’s always shocking when somebody passes. I’m on tour, and I did see the news push through that Ace had been admitted to the hospital. I didn’t see what it was. I didn’t know the seriousness of it. A week or so later, I get the news: “Oh my gosh, there’s a rumor that Ace may have passed away.” And it hadn’t been confirmed yet. And then within an hour or two, Rolling Stone put out the confirmation – and there it was.

I didn’t know Ace was 74. And I think, “God, 74 human years is a lot. 74 Ace Frehley years is like…150 years old!” Ace lived a true rock n’ roll lifestyle. And I always say that rock n’ roll years are not the same as normal civilian years. So Ace, as sad as we are to ever see any anyone pass – let alone our heroes – it was shocking. And it was because he’s the first of the original line-up to pass away. And there aren’t many groups left where the original members are all still intact.

KIM THAYIL [Soundgarden guitarist]: And I do not doubt that the most special place that Kiss occupied in their heart would have been occupied by Ace Frehley – of all the members of Kiss. He certainly was most often referenced – it was either Ace or Gene. But I think the one that was most referenced in terms of affection, was certainly Ace.

QUOTE SOURCES (CLICK LINK FOR ORDER INFO):
All quotes are from Talk to Me: Conversations With Ace Frehley