Ben Smith | VH1

It’s not uncommon to hear fans opine that the best Kiss album isn’t a Kiss album at all, but is actually the 1978 solo album from their extraterrestrial former-lead guitarist Ace Frehley. So it was welcome news when Ace let it be known that he was looking back to that first solo album while putting together his latest, entitled Space Invader, which came out last week. From the thick, memorable guitar riffs to the spacey artwork courtesy of Ken Kelly, who painted the cover of Kiss’ landmark Destroyer album, there’s plenty for Kiss and Ace Frehley fans to get excited about. And that’s a nice change of pace considering all the drama that surrounded past and present members when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the affable and good-natured Bronx native remains reflective about the incident, as you’ll read below, and is excited to be taking his new album on the road. So let’s turn things over to him or as his former-bandmate Paul Stanley would say “ACE FREHLEY, LEAD GUITAR!! COME ON!!!”

VH1: What are your feeling now about the events surrounding Kiss’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Ace Frehley: The rock and roll hall of fame was an exciting experience. We could’ve been inducted 15 years earlier you know, but we finally got inducted this year in April. I know there was a little controversy going on preceding the event. Originally we were asked to perform and at the last minute Paul and Gene decided they didn’t want to perform with me and Peter(founding Kiss drummer Peter Criss). Me and Peter were up for it. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was insisting that only the four original members perform and you know, Paul and Gene opted not to do it, after 40 years they couldn’t give the fans 15 minutes. Go figure. I think they’re going to regret that decision.

Tell us about your new album Space Invader.

Well you know, the last album I put out was 5 years ago and it was called Anomaly and people liked the record but the one comment that I got from fans was that there wasn’t enough guitar work and fans were saying it’s not heavy enough and I aim to please so I decided to do a heavier record with a lot more guitar work and I think I achieved that. Over the course of the recording process I listened to my ’78 solo album (Ace Frehley), which many of my fans cite as their favorite Ace record, and I tried to incorporate some of those elements into this new album and I think I achieved that. And I think there’s a couple of songs on this new record that I think are kind of new. I co-wrote two songs with my fiancé Rachael Gordon. She’s a great lyricist and I don’t write melody and lyrics like her so I think that takes the album in a slightly different direction. I think it shows growth too.