There’s a photo that has made the rounds for decades online: of the four original members Kiss in full make-up with Soundgarden backstage. Which leads one to wonder, what the heck is the story behind the pic?
For my 50th book overall, Talk to Me: Conversations With Ace Frehley, I finally got to the bottom behind the photo. Which you can read all about in this excerpt from the book, in which Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil fills us in on the backstory. This is an exclusive Alternative Nation excerpt.
“We were touring Australia, and Kiss was, too [in early 1997]. And we had a day off in Sydney, and Kiss was performing that night. And a couple guys who worked for our crew, one of the guys who had done our security, a guy named Eric, he was a rigger with the lighting crew for the Kiss tour. So they invited us down.”
“We got to meet the guys before. I think I’d already met Gene a couple times in New York, and we’d spoken on the phone a number of times. Gene was trying to involve me and Soundgarden in some projects they had. We weren’t able to do so and coordinate it with our schedules at the time. Also, I think my enthusiasm was a little bit greater than that of some of the other Soundgarden members.”
“So, we got to say hi, talk to them briefly. We posed for a few pictures, then we went to go watch the show. And I’d seen Kiss a couple times before. Of course, Matt had, but neither Ben [Shepherd] nor Chris [Cornell] had seen them, so it was the first time for them. As a matter of fact, I believe Chris, and maybe it was Ben, they went with Eric, our former security guy, and they went up on the catwalk, and they helped him release the balloons or confetti during a particular part of the set.”
“I didn’t go up on the catwalk. I didn’t want to go on an adventure that took me away from watching the show. So, those guys went with Eric, and it’s kind of cool. So, just make a little note that half of Soundgarden was responsible that night in Sydney, Australia, for releasing the balloons and the confetti.”
In addition to a brand new interview with Thayil for the book, you’ll also find previously unpublished chats with Eddie Trunk, Coheed and Cambria’s Travis Stever, and Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes, among others (as well as a foreword provided by Matt Pinfield). And as stated in the book’s title, you’ll find all of the many interviews I conducted with rock legend Frehley over the years, who sadly passed away on October 16, 2025, at the age of 74.
Talk to Me: Conversations With Ace Frehley is available as paperback, hardcover, and Kindle versions.
