| JANUARY 31, 2024 – Speaking exclusively to Rock Candy Mag as part of an in-depth 14-page cover story, founder member and much-loved guitarist Ace Frehley explained to writer Andrew Daly why he never made it on stage one last time with Kiss for their final show at Madison Square Garden last December after last leaving the band back in 2002.
“Fans would constantly reach out to me and say, ‘Ace, please come back to the band,’ Frehley explained. “So the fans were and are my primary motivators, and I want them to know that I did try, but I couldn’t make it happen. They never asked me.” Frehley dismisses the idea that his well-documented troubles with drugs and alcohol could ever have been a reason for former bandmates and Kiss leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley not reaching out to him.
“I’m sober, and all my friends and associates will tell you as much,” he states categorically. “I got to the point in life where drugs and alcohol had taken me over, and I’m just so happy to be away from all that.”
Despite the much-reported rifts with Simmons and Stanley over many years, nevertheless Frehley insists that he still has affection for both of them.
“I want people to know that I do love Paul and Gene,” he says. “I wish things would have been different, but it wasn’t to be…” Nor does Frehley hold any animosity towards his replacement Tommy Thayer.
“He’s a good guy and deserves a break. He’s not me, but he was never going to be me. In a lot of ways, his task was impossible.”
With a new solo album, ‘10,000 Volts’, just released, Frehley is excited about his future away from the band that made him a star.
“My new music will be a smash hit,” he insists. “The cheques might not be flying in, but I’m satisfied with what I’m doing musically. I can wake up each day and know that my soul is mine… I got my soul and my music back.”
You can read our 14-page Ace Frehley special, together with many other fascinating stories about Megadeth, Foghat, Madam X, Damn Yankees, and more in issue 42 of Rock Candy Mag. For more details visit www.rockcandymag.com.
ABOUT ROCK CANDY MAG
Rock Candy Mag is a 100-page, full-colour bi-monthly rock mag, created in the UK. It covers the sights, sounds and smells from the greatest era in hard rock music, the ’70s and ’80s. The brainchild of: respected UK rock journalists Derek Oliver, Howard Johnson and Malcolm Dome – all frontline writers for the legendary Kerrang! magazine in the golden era. |
