Ace Frehley: Kiss Fans Aren’t the Brightest, My Fans Are Sharp

Ace Frehley says he's glad that Kiss’ farewell tour was finally done, accusing his former band of trying to mislead fans about his absence since 2002.

In an interview a few days before Kiss' road trip ended on Dec. 2, the guitarist said he’d spent many years having to explain to people that he was no longer a member – and claimed it was the result of a deliberate strategy on the part of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.

“A lot of Kiss fans aren’t the brightest people of the world [while] Ace fans are sharp,” he told Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation. “As little as a few years ago, I used to get phone calls from people and they would ask for Kiss tickets. And I said, ‘You know I’m not playing in the band anymore?’ And a lot of people don’t even know it.”

READ MORE: Kiss Albums Ranked Worst to Best

He continued: “When I quit the band the second time, they kind of buried it and really didn’t make a big press release about it… Tommy [Thayer] was wearing my makeup, and they kind of just wanted people to think that maybe it was still Ace Frehley.”

Ace Frehley ’Bewildered’ After Watching Kiss Show

He reported that he’d recently watched a Kiss show via YouTube and it had left him unimpressed. “I think the fans go for the show– but now, with the canned vocals… I mean, I couldn't believe it. Paul Stanley was… doing ‘Love Gun.’ He wrote that song [but] he’s not even singing on the choruses. He was like dancing around on this platform. And that’s absolutely bewildering to me… that’s like me performing ‘Shock Me’ and not singing it!”

Frehley was speaking before Kiss announced their future as a virtual band, and although he’d already said he didn’t believe the group was really retiring, he wouldn’t have known about the “new era” announcement. “I don’t get it, I don’t wanna get it,” he said of the setup surrounding the farewell tour. “ And I’m glad that it’s going to be over in a few days.”

Frehley recently released the title track to his upcoming 10,000 Volts album. It will be his first collection of original music in five years.