Interview with ACE FREHLEY (formerly of KISS) (conducted in 2009)

This episode features my interview with the legendary guitarist and founding member of KISS, Ace Frehley! Ace helped form KISS in 1973 and remained in the band until 1982, when he embarked on a solo career. In 1996, he re-joined KISS for a reunion tour, and remained in the band until 2002. Ace Frehley, along with the three other original members of KISS, were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I conducted this interview with Ace during the run-up to the release of his solo album, Anomaly, in 2009. This was his first solo release in 20 years, and the expectations were high. He and his band were about to begin an international tour in support of the album, and that tour began in Council Bluffs, IA, which is a mere 10 minutes from midtown Omaha. 

I have been a lifelong KISS fan, and this was, literally, a dream come true for me. I hope you enjoy the episode. This interview has never been aired anywhere. It is 100% exclusive to this podcast.

Find The Dark Stuff on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thedarkstuff

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is Eddie Eddie from the greatest market in the world. This is just a meeting. This is another.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

This is a spiritual.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

This is just a little bit more. You're looking at the Doctor Stuff. You're listening to the Doctor Stuff podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Hey Dave.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Hey, how are you doing, Ace? Great. All right. Thank you very much for taking the time to uh to do this interview with me. I appreciate it. Hey, my pleasure. All right. It's been a long time. I've been wanting to talk to you, but don't worry, I'm not going to pester you with really obscure kids questions. I'll keep it to the new stuff. No problem. All right. Well, I figured we'd talk a little bit about the new record and the tour and stuff, and then maybe we'll I'll get into some older questions and just some kind of miscellaneous stuff. Sure. All right. Now the new record, um, anomaly. It's your first record in 20 years. First solo record in 20 years. Yeah. And it kicks off with a track called Foxy and Free, which I gotta tell you is probably like the heaviest riff I've heard you record in all the years I've been listening to your music. Were you trying to make some type of statement with such a heavy opener?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Um I don't know. I ha I have the the music for that kicking around for years, and then you know I put lyrics to it.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah. So no nothing real sp I mean, not like, hey, this is my first record in twenty years, I'm gonna really hit him hard with that first track or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Yeah, well, that too. I mean, you know, obviously when you finish mixing all when I finish mixing all the songs, I uh you know, I th I was just kicking around all different types of uh, you know, orders, you know, song order, and basically, you know, that one kept ringing true as an opening track.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah, that's definitely a good call. It's a great opening track. Now, how you've been making records now and recording for uh over thirty years. How has your writing process changed over the years?

SPEAKER_02 2:10

My writing process?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

It hasn't changed at all.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

No?

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Uh uh you know, unlike some people, I don't have uh any type of form that I use. You know, you know, sometimes I'll start off with a guitar riff and add lyrics. Sometimes I'll come up with a a lyric idea and add music to it. Sometimes I'll just be tinking around on my acoustic guitar and uh you know, play something kind of folky and then do an electric guitar track over it and then add words or vice, you know, there's no set formula that I use to writing songs or where I get my ideas from. Now are you?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Are you the type of guy that can just uh set aside a time to write or do you need uh sort of the inspiration to hit you first?

SPEAKER_02 3:00

I never set a time set aside time to write.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

You just whenever it hits you, you just do it.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yeah, usually I'll pick up a guitar when I'm not doing anything, and immediately something just starts happening. And I always carry little digital recorders around with me.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Oh, that's good. Always prepared.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yeah. Gotta be. Yeah. Now is making records uh these days is e is it easier or harder after all this time?

SPEAKER_02 3:25

It's easier.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Easier.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

It's a lot easier because of all the knowledge I've accumulated over the years, uh, you know, I know the process of recording, you know, really well now because I work with some great producers and you know the amount of albums I play on basically, you know, I know what I want and I know how to get it. I don't have to think too hard about uh where uh where I need to go, you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I'm familiar with the process. And y and now this this new album is the first album I did totally digital.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

And uh pretty much uh That's with like the Pro Tools stuff?

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Yeah, pretty much I got Pro Tools down now. You know, I knew a li you know, I've I've I've had it for years, but I never really mastered it, you know. But working with Marty Fredericks and Anthony Fox, I learned so much.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Now, was that the um when you record at your home studio, is that the same studio you had back in the day, like your old home studio uh right after you left KISS, or is this a different studio that you work at now?

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Uh I mean when I left KISS in two thousand No, no, no, in the old days.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Uh uh talking like 8081, like that studio.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

No, that was a different studio.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

A different studio.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

That's what we recorded, the older there. That was up in Connecticut. This one my new studio is in Westchester, New York.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

And uh it's just a big converted house into a studio.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Now, is it something that only you use or do you let other artists uh have other any other artists recorded it in the studio?

SPEAKER_02 5:01

I'm the I'm the only one that's recorded there, pretty much. It's uh yeah, but it's gonna probably be, you know, the East Coast space for uh Bronxbourne Records. Okay. My new label, and uh, you know, eventually I'm probably gonna want to produce other bands that are there that are on my label and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Well that brings me up to the next question here. You you did put out the new record on your label, like you said, Bronxbourne. Now, why did you decide to go the independent route? And do you think that the traditional music industry, the way it existed, is over?

SPEAKER_02 5:32

It's definitely over. The internet has changed everything. Not only the music industry, but the way everybody does business. So, you know, there's no going back. It's just, you know, figuring out what's the best way to to to go about it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

You know, a lot of the labels, you know, have c have folded over the years. Record stores are closing left and right, and uh, you know, you know, I spoke to a lot of different people. I mean, I even I even remember calling Paul Stanley, uh you know, after he put his uh solo album out, you know, and he said, Hey don't go with a big label. You know, better off doing it yourself. And uh, you know, so uh, you know, I did some research, you know, I hooked up with rocket science, you know, great marketing team, you know, they're just done a uh great job, you know promoting the record and coordinating stuff.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

And now Bronxbourne is not just gonna be a label for you, like you just uh suggested. You're gonna work on some other artists as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Eventually, sure, when I have time, you know. Right now I'm I'm you know tied up with it uh a world tour, which will probably go through through the rest of this year and 2010, you know, but you know, time allowing, sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Excellent. Well now um a lot has been made over the last couple of years about uh you're getting sober for the first time in a long time, and I'm wondering how your sobriety has affected your uh writing and your playing, because I did notice on a couple of tracks on the new record, like Change the World and Little Below the Angels, there is a little bit more of a serious tone on some of those tunes. Yeah. So is that is that due to that or is just sort of just the general. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

I mean obviously Little Below the Angels is kind of autobiographical about you know some of my struggles, but you know. You know, I mean I'm you know, I'm able to focus a lot better now. I think I'm writing and playing better and singing better. And looking better, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah. Now I've seen some recent pictures, Ace. You're looking great. Thank you. Now, how much of this new record um was written before the KISS reunion and then shelved, and how much of it was since you left the band again in wh whenever 2001.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Oh, most of it was written after.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Was written after. Okay. So uh because you uh from what I understand you were working on some stuff prior to the reunion. Did that stuff just get pushed aside or you're not gonna work with that anymore, or could you re- maybe come back to that at a later time?

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Uh I mean, you know, Sisters was written prior, uh you know, Foxy and Free, you know, some of the music was was written before, but you know pretty much all the other songs w were written after.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

You know, except for the remake Fox on the Run.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Now how'd you choose that cover? Because you've done a lot of good covers over the years, um, you and KISS actually, and uh there's so many good songs to choose from. Do youah is the one that comes to mind, the uh was that ELO or the move or something? I can't remember who did that one first, but how did you choose Fox on the Run?

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Oh, Fox on the Run, you know, a good friend of mine, uh Pam came up with that idea. And we just ran with it. That was actually the last track we recorded. I re we actually recorded that out in LA. I flew out to LA to mix the album and uh actually took a day off mixing to to track that in Marty Frederickson's studio. And that's the only track he produced on the album.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Oh, okay. And the rest of it, you're credited as the producer. Now, um did you consider working with someone that you'd worked with before, like an Eddie Kramer type of guy, or were you always set on I'm gonna do it myself for this new record?

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Well, you know, uh I did this record, you know, on all you know on on my own time and you know, over such a long period of time, it was really hard to find a producer that was willing to work, you know, crazy hours and you know, on and off, on and off. You know, most people that most producers who sign on to a project want to take it from its, you know, beginning to, you know, its end and uh Fortuny I wasn't working that way because I didn't have all the songs ready when I first started tracking and you know, it was a long tedious process and you know I uh I really couldn't find a producer that was willing to work, you know, in that in that capacity.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Right. Well that makes sense. Now let's uh let's jump to the tour. I understand you're kicking off the tour this Thursday here in in Omaha slash Council Bluffs. Yeah. Um now for those of us there are plenty of people that saw the show two years ago when you when you were there. Now, how is the show different this time uh than it was two years ago? Do you have the same band that you're playing with, and what what are we gonna see in the set that's different?

SPEAKER_02 10:19

It's the same lineup. There's gonna be some new songs obviously added, you know, new songs off uh Anomaly, you know, and probably one or two new songs that, you know, weren't performed the last time we were there.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Any hints?

SPEAKER_02 10:33

No hints.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

No hints, okay. Now, since you have so many songs uh over the years, how do you approach picking what songs you're gonna use on the tour?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

You know, I try to get feedback from people whose opinion I trust and fans, you know, uh you know, when I ask fans questions like that, and you know, I keep getting the same, you know answer, you know, then usually I I go with that, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Yeah. Like uh hard times off dynasty or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Yeah, right. Let me uh we'll jump off to some different topics here. Now, at the time that you got back with KISS back in the nineties, you know, everyone was talking about how great it was. Oh, it's we're look just like the old days where everyone's getting along. Was that actually true and and how long was it before it was pretty much like it was at the late seventies when everybody was not getting along really well?

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Well, I mean, you know, we got along, it just you know I you know, I you know, when you when you're a a co-founder of a band, and then you know, you go back to do a w at one tour and then you know they want to extend it, and then you know you get involved w in a situation where you're not really in control of your destiny and other people are making decisions for you. You know, it's really not the ideal situation, so I have to move on with my career.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Yeah. That same same goes for uh for Peter, you think?

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Well, you'll have to ask Peter that question.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Well, we'll see if I ever talk to the guy. We'll we'll find out. Now, um the track you wrote into the void that was on the uh the psychosircus record, um, was that something that you wrote specifically for KISS for that record, or did you have that already sort of uh in the pocket there?

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Well, I you know I had I had a group of songs that uh I submitted, but you know, they were all rejected uh and I actually had to do a rewrite on on Into the Void, you know, before, you know, they would take it seriously. And even after I rewrote it, you know, I had to really fight tooth and nail just to get that on the record.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Well it's so bizarre because that's easily the best track on the whole album. And it's the only one that sounds like Kiss. Yeah, well that's me speaking, you know. You don't have to you don't have to uh comment on that one if you don't want to. Um now what do you think it is about your music and the music of KISS that it's so timeless because as you guys get older the fans get younger. I mean I've I've been to your concerts, I've been to Kiss Jo's, and uh there are still younger and younger fans. You see all kinds of groups uh from even newer groups like the Foo Fighters and whatnot covering your stuff. Um what do you think it is about the music that's so timeless?

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Oh I don't I have no idea. No, you know, I just make the music and hopefully people are gonna like it, you know. Uh I don't I don't have a formula, I just uh do what feels right, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Right. You let other people worry about that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yeah. Now I I just came up with some different kind of fun questions here. Now, in all your years of touring, what would you say is your most spinal tap moment?

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Uh have you had it? Spinal tap moment.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

No? Well, you think about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

It's uh there's nothing there's not one incident that that comes to mind immediately.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah, it's funny 'cause it's true, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Now if you could make a dream band to play with, if anyone that's ever played music, live or dead, to back you on this current tour, who would you choose?

SPEAKER_02 14:12

John Bonham on drums.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Uh or Keith Moon. Uh on bass. John Antwistle.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

And uh on guitar with me? Uh Hendrix.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Alright, that sounds like a pretty solid band.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Yeah, that would be really good. I I'd I'd pay money to see that group. Now you've been friends with Anton Figg um from the Letterman band for a really long time, going back to the 70s, and he played on your uh solo record, your KISS solo record. How did you guys meet and why have you been able to work so well together? Uh what do you think it is about the two of you that that w that you work so well together?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Oh well, I mean we connect musically, obviously. And uh, you know, the more we work together, the easier it is to uh understand each other's uh ideas and you know get them down on t on uh you know you know, in the recording process. A lot of times, you know, I can just look at Anton and he kinda on almost knows what I'm what I'm trying to say. It's it's so weird. We almost have mental telepathy. It's uh So it it's really painless and and you know working with Anton. You know, we've he's we've worked on so many projects over the years that you know I don't really have to explain myself. He kinda, you know, I'll I'll play a guitar riff and he usually just kinda, you know, gets it. It's just simple as that.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, well that's great. I mean now he doesn't he doesn't do tours with you because of his commitment to the Letterman show, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Pretty much, okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

I mean it for like on the new album, you know, w Genghis Khan I thought was one of his best drum tracks on the record. And I really didn't have to explain much to him. I just said, you know, let's just get a a a heavy groove going, you know, a John Bonham, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

And you know, he just nailed it. You know, that was like, you know, we just did a couple of takes and and and pieced it together, you know. That was it.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Now, um fans are not gonna have to wait another twenty years for a new Ace Freely record, are they?

SPEAKER_02 16:29

No.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

No. No, no.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

I I'm you know, I'd say a year and a half tops.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Alright, that's cool. So you're um this current tour that you're on right now, how long are you gonna be out?

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Oh, I'll be out for a while.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

I mean, you know, the m this you mean the Midwest tour?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Well no, I just mean the whole thing in general. I mean, are you doing a full world tour in support of anomaly?

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Yeah, I mean we do w you know, I I got dates in the Midwest and then I'm heading over to Europe. Then I'm coming back uh and uh hopefully doing a few more dates in the States on the East Coast before we head over to Australia. Um, you know, we're trying to put something together for Japan after Australia and then you know, do some festivals in Europe, hopefully next year, and uh a major tour in the States, hopefully. So we're all trying to put that together right now.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Now um the shore is kicking off in uh in Omaha or Council Bluffs technically, but we call it Omaha. Um any recollections uh uh from Omaha from your past, uh any past appearances? Anything you remember from it?

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Uh a lot of cowboys, huh?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Big big cowboys. Big cowboys, there you go. That works.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

There was uh I in fact I I I remember going to a a cowboy bar one night with a bunch of my bodyguards in the early kiss days. Yeah. And they were big bodyguards, and I'll I'll never forget. I remember go into this bar and the body you know, the bouncers there were a lot bigger than my bodyguards.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

They were like six foot six, six foot seven. It was it was insane. You know, with boots and cowboy hats, forget it. They look like they're seven feet tall.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Yeah. Well, that's uh it's a little different these days, uh, so you don't have to worry about that. No. Um have you been listening to anything that you that you like lately? I mean, what's in Ace Freely's iPod?

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Uh, you know, lately I've just been listening to old vinyl.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Kind of get back to my roots.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Yeah. Oh, that works. Nothing like doing it old school.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah. Now um, I guess this will be my last question for you because uh I know you got a lot of other interviews to do today. Now, do you consider yourself a guitar player first or a songwriter first? Or do you even think in those terms?

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Well, I mean I think of myself as a as a s as a guitar player, songwriter, producer, and you know, I think of myself as a singer last.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

You know, I mean I I uh you know, to me singing is I do it because I have to do it.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

You know, because I write the songs and I don't have a lead singer in my band. But you know, you know, singing to me is is the least fun of what I do. You know, I uh you know, I love playing guitar and I love uh performing and coming up with crazy special effects for guitars and and you know, producing being I mean the singing's fine, but you know, sometimes it becomes a ch more of a chore than a pleasure, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Sure. Now were you pushed into singing back with Kiss? Because you had a lot of songs and that you would write and either Gene would sing it or Paul would sing it or Peter would sing it. Uh and then finally when it came to shock me, that's when you started singing your own tunes.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Well, I was never pushed into it because we had three lead singers in the band already, and everybody was, you know, rallying f to sing lead. So uh, you know, initially I w I was, you know, probably a little shy about singing because, you know, I thought Paul, Jean, and Peter all had good voices. So uh, you know, eventually I got up enough nerve, you know, to shock me. And then, you know, once I got a taste of it, I wanted more.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Yeah, and there you go. And then of course the your solo album, everyone pretty much acknowledges that was the best of the the best of the bunch.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah, well, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

I got a split.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Alright, well, yeah, I appreciate you taking the time, Ace, and I'll see you on Thursday. Thank you so much. You have a great day. All right, you too. Okay, bye-bye. Bye-bye. And there it was. There it was, my interview with Ace Freely. All twenty minutes of it, exactly on the nose. Ace is a pro. That's how it works. When it's time to go. I gotta split. And he's out of there. But uh Wow, I I every time I listen to it, I'm glad that I I got the chance. You know, it's uh it's so difficult when you're dealing with a legend who has been in the music business for 40 years, um to come up with questions and angles that they haven't already been approached with. You know, um, so obviously I'm trying to avoid the super centered angle. I don't want to do the sensational angle and just constantly talk about all of the partying and the access and everything. And I didn't want to talk about just conflict with tests and all of this. So, you know, it's hard to come up with a unique angle, but um I did what I've got. There you go. That's my interview. That's the end of uh uh podcast number 105. Now, moving on to the next one, number 106 coming up one week from today. It's my interview with Annie Clark, better known as St. Uh She is uh an emerging rock star, a really, really extremely talented artist who I've been into ever since her first album came out back in two thousand seven. Um I've seen her perform. Now five times. She's absolutely fantastic. I got a chance to do an interview, an in-person interview with Annie when she came through Omaha um in April of this year. And um we're gonna get into it. And I think the interview is especially timely when once you hear it, you'll know, uh, based on some of the questions, with her now appearing on uh Saturday Night Live and her appearance as uh fronting Nirvana at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So it ties in pretty well. Anywho, we'll get into that next week. Thanks a lot for listening, everybody. This has been the Dark Stuff Podcast. Transfer of data is complete.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Up data is complete, up data is complete, up data is complete.