Blabbermouth

Peter Arquette | KISSasylum.com

Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley celebrated the 40th anniversary of his acclaimed solo debut by performing the album for the first time in its entirety on the final day of the New Jersey Kiss Expo 2018, which took place December 7-9 at the Hilton Parsippany in Parsippany, New Jersey.

His setlist was as follows:

01. Rip It Out
02. Speedin’ Back To My Baby
03. Snowblind
04. Ozone
05. What’s On Your Mind?
06. New York Groove
07. I’m In Need Of Love
08. Wiped-Out
09. Fractured Mirror

Other guests that appeared at the event included Lita Ford, Bobby Rock (VINNIE VINCENT INVASION, NELSON), Lydia Criss and artist Ken Kelly (“Destroyer”, “Love Gun”).

Co-produced with frequent KISS collaborator Eddie Kramer, “Ace Frehley” is widely hailed as the best of the four KISS solo albums released simultaneously in 1978. It peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 and outsold the solo efforts of his three bandmates.

Regarding how the decision to perform all of “Ace Frehley” came about, the guitarist told BUILD Series: “It came from the people putting the event together and some of the people who work for me. They all said it would be a great idea, and I said, ‘Yeah, I think it would be,’ so we’re going to make it happen.”

In addition to a trio of songs (“Snow Blind”, “Ozone”, “Wiped-Out”) that reflect Frehley‘s extracurricular interests at the time, the album includes a cover of HELLO‘s 1975 song “New York Groove”, which reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and remains a staple of the guitarist’s live performances today.

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NJkissexpo.com

NJkissexpo.com

Tickets and Info at www.njkissexpo.com

Brian Aberback | NorthJersey.com

“I’m playing the album because the fans asked for it,” Frehley said. “I love interacting with them. It’s a holiday gift for the fans but it’s also going to be fun for me.”

Each member of Kiss released a solo album on the same day 40 years ago this past September as a marketing tactic and to give them a chance to branch out on their own. Frehley’s album was a critical and commercial success, outselling those of singer-bassist Simmons, singer-guitarist Stanley and drummer Peter Criss.

The effort includes Frehley’s signature anthem, “New York Groove,” and standouts “Rip It Out,” “Snow Blind” and “Ozone.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever performed “Ozone,” “Fractured Mirror” or “Wiped-Out” live,” he said. “Now that I’ve decided to do this I’m probably going to put together a nice show in a small theater and record a DVD.”

Frehley’s latest solo effort, “Spaceman,” was released in October. The disc features the guitarist’s laid-back vocals, muscular riffs and blistering, melodic solos. Highlights include “Without You I’m Nothing,” with a guest bass spot by Simmons; the anthemic “Rockin’ With the Boys”; the Eddie Money cover “I Wanna Go Back”; and the autobiographical “Bronx Boy.”

“I think growing up in the Bronx gave me street smarts,” Frehley said. “The old saying, ‘if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere’ isn’t that far-fetched.”

Frehley co-founded Kiss in 1973 and became known for his stage persona, the Spaceman, and his dramatic guitar solos replete with pyrotechnic displays. After leaving the group in 1982, Frehley released several solo albums.

He rejoined Kiss for its 1996 reunion tour and left the band again in 2002 to continue his solo career.

While Frehley’s relationship with his former band mates has been strained at times, they’ve reconnected in the past few years. In addition to Simmons performing on “Spaceman,” Stanley played on Frehley’s 2016 covers album, “Origins, Vol. 1.” In October, Frehley took the stage with Kiss on the band’s Kiss Kruise.

Yet Frehley doesn’t see himself participating in the band’s recently announced farewell tour.

“I haven’t been asked to do the tour and they’ve been promoting (current Kiss member) Tommy Thayer as the guitar player,” Frehley said. “Tommy has been pretty much copying everything I do for the last 15 years. Everybody tries to copy me, but there’s only one Ace Frehley.”

NJ Kiss Expo 2018 featuring Ace Frehley

When: 6 p.m. to midnight Friday, Dec. 7; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9. Frehley will perform his 1978 solo album in its entirety at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Where: Hilton Parsippany, 1 Hilton Court

Tickets: Various packages available

Info: njkissexpo.com

Jody Havenot

Michael Brandvold

Feyyaz Ustaer | Metal Head Zone

Former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick spoke in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock and revealed the story of how he shared guitar solos with Ace Frehley and Tommy Thayer during the KISS’ reunion show.

As you know, two weeks ago, former KISS guitarists, Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick, performed six songs with KISS after more than 20 years. You can watch the performances from below.

Here’s the statement:

“In the middle of the afternoon, on the day we boarded, I got a text from [drummer] Eric Singer: ‘Heads up, I think at the sail-away, something’s going to happen, and you’re going to play.’

On guitar selection, Bruce Kulick said:

Tommy uses those Chet Atkins acoustics. I’ve always owned one and I use them. So I went up to Tommy’s room, he had two guitars, one that definitely played better than the other.

I jokingly begged him, ‘Look, if you’re going to give me the majority of the lead guitar work for ‘Domino’ and ‘Hide Your Heart,’ give me the ‘A’ guitar — just hand it over onstage, it’ll look good.’”

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Jody Havenot

Sportskeeda

As the original lead guitarist of Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductees KISS, Ace Frehley has proven to be one of rock’s most influential guitarists. After all, Frehley has been cited as a major influence on members of Weezer, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Pantera, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. Also of note is that Frehley has also managed to have the most successful solo career of any KISS member, past or present.

The latest studio effort from Ace Frehley is 2018’s Spaceman. Released by Entertainment One Music last month, Spaceman features two songs co-written with fellow KISS co-founder Gene Simmons. It also notably includes a cover of “I Wanna Go Back,” a song first recorded by Billy Satellite, which Eddie Money helped make a big hit in the 1980s.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Ace Frehley himself by phone, and below are some highlights from that chat. As he noted, he was coincidentally wearing a New York Yankees shirt that day. More on the Spaceman himself can be found online at www.acefrehley.com.

Your last album was 2 years ago, which means that you are pretty prolific. Have you already started thinking about making another album?

Ace Frehley: I’m already working on Origins, Vol. 2.

If it’s Origins, Vol. 2, does that mean it’s another covers album?

Ace Frehley: Yeah. The whole concept is we do songs from bands that influenced me in my formative years as a guitarist. I’m going to try to stay true to that concept.

Speaking of guitar, I read that you don’t play every day. Is that true?

Ace Frehley: Yeah, I haven’t picked up a guitar since I got home from tour. (laughs) My daughter’s correcting me. (laughs) I bought 3 guitars in pawn shops while I was on tour. When they got here, I pulled them out of the boxes and played them for 10 or 15 minutes. But I normally don’t play that much unless I have an idea. I don’t normally sing, I never do warm-up vocals, I just do it. Same thing when I perform live. A lot of shows I get there 5 or 10 minutes before I go on, I just get up there and do it. That’s the kind of guy I am.

What are some of the things you like to do every day or almost every day? That you’re passionate about?

Ace Frehley: Eat. (laughs) What I do every day? I eat, I drink coffee, run errands, you know. I like to drive my Bentley or my Jaguar around, computer stuff…

So you’re not a baseball guy? Continue reading →

Andrew Magnotta | Iheart.com

Singer Robert Fleischman will not take part in Vinnie Vincent‘s rescheduled comeback shows that were just moved from Memphis in December to Nashville on February 8 and 9.

Fleischman was the singer in the first iteration of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion from 1984 – 1986, Vincent’s first and most legitimate shot at parlaying his association with KISS into a free-standing career.

But Fleischman, who is also a former member of Journey, recently announced that he dropped out of the would-be reunion with Vincent after he started getting flashbacks to the end of his first tenure with the mercurial virtuoso guitarist.

“I think a lot of you know my history with Mr. Vincent [has] been a rollercoaster or two,” Fleischman wrote in a Facebook post.

He explained that “things were not feeling good on the business side…again” and that Vincent’s management made him a paltry offer. But that wasn’t all.

Fleischman also cited what he called “poor organization,” saying he was hardly in contact with anyone from Vincent’s team about the gigs since agreeing to take part. He wagged his finger at Vincent’s promoter for the way the Memphis shows were canceled earlier this month, noting that they had known “some time ago it wasn’t going to happen.”

He says he lost money by having to cancel his travel arrangements so soon before the shows, and he was also more than a little hurt to see he was apparently demoted on the new bill, which advertised drummer Carmine Appice and bassist Tony Franklin as being part of the “all star band. Fleischman noted that his name was relegated to “tiny little letters which would take a microscope to read.”

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Michael Brandvold

Daily Mail

Paul Stanley is joining his legendary band, KISS, on stage, in Australia in November, for their last hurrah, a farewell tour.

But the 66-year-old has confessed that the rock act’s high-octane tours aren’t as easy as they were when the boys began their career in the 1970s.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the guitarist said: ‘I’m 66. People half my age probably wish they were in the same shape.’

‘But there’s no beating the clock. You can’t. There are no 60-year-old footballers or basketball players or track runners. Your body can’t take that,’ he admitted.

The musician however promised that KISS are ‘more than a rock band’ and were still putting on a hell of a show.

‘At this point we are facing the inevitable and want to do it in the best way possible. We want to do it while we feel great as opposed to letting things deteriorate,’ he told the publication.

Joining Paul For this farewell tour will be singer Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer.

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DB | David Rice

“As far as I’m concerned every day is Veteran’s Day … every day,” said Gene Simmons, lead singer of the iconic rock band Kiss. Simmons spoke Sunday at the inaugural VetFest BeerBQue in Manhattan Beach, a fund-raiser for veterans organizations.

The event also raised money for scholarships in the names of Manhattan Beach public servants who died in the Route 91 shootings last October in Las Vegas –special education teacher Sandy Casey and police records technician Rachael Parker.

The event featured 24 different craft beers, a barbecue dinner and music by Yachty by Nature.

“I had no idea that Gene Simmons had such a connection to veterans,” said Ken Deemer, president of the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club, which set the event in motion. “What he said was very moving to me.”

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NJKISSexpo.com

Victor Stabin, artist for the KISS Unmasked album will be at the NJ KISS Expo the weekend of December 7,8 and 9, 2018. Victor will have a great display of all his artwork over the years and will be available to sign your Unmasked albums and posters.

Check out the vintage photo from his 1980 studio finishing up the original artwork for the album…unbelievable!

All tickets and info for the NJ KISS Expo 2018 is at www.njkissexpo.com

Makeup of an Army is a NEW web series made by KISS FANS about KISS FANS. How they discovered the band and how the band has influenced their lives.

Jody Havenot

Cameron Adams | Herald Sun

AS soon as Kiss announced their farewell tour, frontman Paul Stanley knew there would be cynics.

Because The End of the Road tour, starting next year, is actually Kiss’s second goodbye.

The original Kiss line-up reformed for a farewell tour that ran from 2000 to 2001, but lost drummer Peter Criss before it finished and guitarist Ace Frehley soon after.

Stanley and fellow co-founder Gene Simmons would later state Criss and Frehley’s playing skills meant they weren’t especially proud of the reformation tour musically, even if it was the line-up the fans wanted to see.

“The first farewell tour was almost 19 years ago,” Stanley says. “Cynics be damned. Those people will always find something to say. That (reformed) line-up of the band was dysfunctional. People in the band weren’t showing respect to the fans or the band itself. We decided to put the horse down. The truth is we’ve carried on for 19 years (since the first farewell) because we realised people still wanted to see Kiss, we just had to have a tyre change.”

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Andrew Magnotta I iHeart Radio

Ace Frehley Says KISS Is “Testing the Waters” for Reunion

Marta Jary | Daily Mail Australia

Paul Stanley is joining his legendary band, KISS, on stage, in Australia in November, for their last hurrah, a farewell tour.

But the 66-year-old has confessed that the rock act’s high-octane tours aren’t as easy as they were when the boys began their career in the 1970s.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the guitarist said: ‘I’m 66. People half my age probably wish they were in the same shape.’

‘There’s no beating the clock. There are no 60-year-old footballers’: KISS guitarist Paul Stanley, 66, reveals the physical difficulties of undertaking the band’s high-octane farewell tour. (L-R) Tommy Thayer, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Gene Simmons in 2018

‘But there’s no beating the clock. You can’t. There are no 60-year-old footballers or basketball players or track runners. Your body can’t take that,’ he admitted.

The musician however promised that KISS are ‘more than a rock band’ and were still putting on a hell of a show.

‘At this point we are facing the inevitable and want to do it in the best way possible. We want to do it while we feel great as opposed to letting things deteriorate,’ he told the publication.

Continue reading →