KISS bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons recently opened up on whether he had any “good conversations” with late KISS guitarist Ace Frehley before Ace died last October at the age of 74.
Simmons said his relationship with Frehley has been difficult for decades, explaining that fans often don’t understand why band members were removed. He compared it to a family situation where the full story isn’t visible, saying fans only see the good side.
Speaking with Inside Of You With Michael Rosenbaum podcast, Gene said: “It’s been up and down for 50 years with Ace. And the fans often would hate me for telling the truth. When the kids are at home and there’s mom and dad and all of a sudden dad gets thrown out of the house, the kids don’t understand — they love mom and dad — why mom kicked dad out of the house. And she tries to explain to them: ‘He was a drunk, he was a loser, he was late, didn’t show up on time, didn’t do what he was supposed to do, was barely around the kids, but he’s your father.’ And the fans are like kids. They don’t know.”
He claimed Frehley struggled with reliability due to substance issues, often being late or missing important work, while also noting Peter Criss faced similar problems as fame and money affected both of them. Simmons emphasized that despite their talent and influence, their behavior created ongoing issues within the band, leading to repeated departures that fans struggled to understand.
Gene continued: “If you would’ve met Ace at the beginning [of KISS] — God bless him — you would’ve fallen in love with the idea, who he is and all that. And then [as Niccolò] Machiavelli [said], [when you] have power, [you must sometimes] abuse it. It affects all of us in different ways. Me too. But Ace turned to beverages and chemicals. Early on, he wouldn’t show up… I mean, he wouldn’t show up to do his guitar parts on even ‘Destroyer’ early on. And the fans don’t like to hear this because he’s so talented and everybody, all the new guitar players, were influenced by him and all that. Yeah, but when you’re together in a band, you’re together more time than your family members or your wife or kids. So he’d be late and all this stuff. And Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer], we love him, and God bless, he’s still around, but really from the early days, as soon as the money and the fame came in, it was like the dark cloud came over. And they were both in and out of the band three separate times. And the fans just couldn’t understand it.”
Gene Simmons gave an example of Ace Frehley’s unreliability, recalling that Frehley once failed to show up for a major Eurovision performance, forcing the band to perform as a trio. He said the issues were ongoing, but the band tolerated them because of their success.
Simmons also explained that when Frehley first left, he insisted on pursuing a solo career despite being encouraged to stay and do both. He claimed Frehley made poor decisions and even expressed extreme personal struggles at the time, which made the situation “heartbreaking.”
Despite the problems, Simmons praised Frehley’s influence, noting that many legendary guitarists were inspired by him. He added that Frehley was proud of the band’s achievements later in life, but ultimately missed out on major honors due to his choices.
“We were doing the Eurovision contest, and we were the headliners. People in America don’t know what that is, but 600 million people at that time, now a billion people, tune in to the Eurovision where all the countries in the world basically send their representatives and it’s music based. It’s one of the few times such a large audience in the early days would tune in. Ace didn’t show up. We had to do it as a trio. It just went on and on and on… And had we not been as popular, we would’ve asked Ace to leave.
“But strangely, the first time Ace left, he turned to us, and it’s sad, and said — this is a quote; he said it to me two times, twice — ‘I’m leaving the band. I’m gonna have a solo career.’ And we tried to talk to him — I know I did — in front of the manager and everybody else: ‘Stay in the band. Have your solo career. Have your cake and eat it too. We don’t want anything from you. If you’re not happy, do other stuff, but don’t break up the band. That’s lunacy.’ And he just never made smart decisions. So, he said on the way out, ‘You just watch. I’m gonna sell 10 million copies of my solo record.’ That’s a quote. And we said, ‘No, don’t do that. Just stay in the band.’ And he said, more than once, ‘If I don’t leave the band and if I do another tour, I’m gonna kill myself.’ So whatever was going on, it breaks your heart.”
