Daily Archives: May 28, 2019

ACE FREHLEY RELEASES NEW ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEO FOR “MISSION TO MARS”

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Entertainment One

May 28, 2019 — Founding KISS guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame member Ace Frehley has released the music video for “Mission to Mars.” 

The music video is entirely animated by artist Christopher Fequiere, a first for Frehley. Chock full of KISS fandom easter eggs, this video is the second music video that we’ve seen from the Spaceman LP. “Mission to Mars” follows the release of “Rockin’ With The Boys” that was released last year.

 

Ace Frehley released Spaceman last year via Entertainment One/SPV to much critical praise such as Associated Press claiming that Frehley “oozes classic rock style and six-string chops that sound as good today as they did in 1975.” Spaceman charted all over Europe with highlights like Top 20 in Sweden, Top 30 in Switzerland, Top 40 in Austria and Top 50 in Germany and Norway.

“No need to worry, I’ll be home soon, ’cause I’m rockin’ with the boys,” Frehley sings on“Rockin’ With the Boys,” which tells the tale of life on the road. Ace says he wrote the original version of the song back in KISS’s heyday in the ’70s. Both “Rockin With The Boys” and “Bronx Boy” are available on all streaming platforms today and are iTunes instant grat tracks for fans who preorder the album.

In addition to Ace’s distinctive guitar sound on each track, Ace played bass on all of the songs on Spaceman except for two.  The listener might recognize the mighty dinosaur growl of a bass tone belonging to Gene Simmons on the album opener, “Without You I’m Nothing,” which Gene also co-wrote,  and “Your Wish Is My Command.” Both songs were recorded at Frehley’s home studio in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

Ace’s reconnection with Simmons and fellow KISS vocalist-guitarist Paul Stanley (who joined Ace on a cover of Free’s “Fire and Water” for 2016’s covers LP Origins, Vol. 1) might be chalked up to the fact that Frehley has been sober for more than a decade (he celebrates 12 years of sobriety in September). Ace’s clean living no doubt has a lot to do with his productive streak, which began with the release of his top 20 Anomaly album in 2009.

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Kiss: private planes, accidental hashcakes, and one final spin around the globe

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Classic Rock

Iggy Pop claimed that he killed the 60s, but it turned out it was four semi-normal guys right off the streets of New York who really drove the final stake through heart of the peace-and-love decade nearly 46 years ago.

Gene Simmons, a former elementary school teacher; Paul Stanley, a cab driver with a heart-shaped face; Peter Criss, a sometime butcher and itinerant drummer who studied under the mighty Gene Krupa; and Ace Frehley, a gang member-cum-liquor delivery man. They stormed out of a $40-a-month fourth-floor walk-up in New York’s Chinatown in their six-inch platforms and sweaty black leather looking like four beasts disgorged from the underworld, and unleashed an unholy and entirely masculine creed of sex, braggadocio, innuendo and conquest, all delivered at a screeching 110 decibels and addressing every young man’s fantasies.

While the band’s message has changed over the years (they’ve become more family-friendly and forswear any cursing during the show), they still attract legions of foot soldiers into the Kiss Army – even now, when they’re calling it quits in one final tour they’ve dubbed the End Of The Road. (They’ve attempted to trademark the term with the US Patent office to prevent any other retiring bands from using it. Good luck with that.) So far, 44 shows have been played in North America, with another 25-date run beginning in August. The European leg begins next week, and there are plans to extend the tour until, probably, mid-2020.

Back at the beginning, the band were fuelled by high ambition, an unrelenting will, a prodigious work ethic and only the most rudimentary of musical talents. But they not only changed the face of musical history by painting it in Stein’s Clown White, they also kicked off their own brand of revolution, putting music back in the hands of the ordinary people and turning it back into a populist manifesto, picking up where Grand Funk Railroad left off by knocking rock music off of its lofty perch, stripping it of its perfect hair, wrecked cool and tight velvet stovepipe pants.

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What Is PAUL STANLEY’s Definition Of ‘Farewell’? He Explains

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Blabbermouth

KISS frontman Paul Stanley spoke to KTLA 5 Morning News about the band’s “End Of The Road” farewell tour, which kicked off in January and is expected to last for three years.

Asked what his definition of “farewell” is, Stanley said (see video below): “Well, it’s the end of the road, in the sense that we’ve spent 45-plus years touring. And as glorious as it is doing two hours on stage and playing for sold-out houses, really it takes its toll, whether it’s my two torn shoulders that have been repaired, or my bicep tendons, or my knees. I wear them proudly as battle scars.

“I think it’s time,” he continued. “The show that we’re doing right now is the biggest thing we’ve ever done. It’s just state of the art. We’ve done 44 shows so far, all of them sold out, played to half a million people, and we’re just getting started, actually. It’s a big world.”

Asked whether he still spends time practicing his guitar playing, Stanley said: “I’m on stage so much of the time, and we’re playing so often that there’s really no need. But when we rehearse, like for the ‘End Of The Road’ tour that we’re on, we spent about three months rehearsing. Now, we’ve been playing these songs for 45-plus years, but there’s a difference between playing them and really synchronizing, and that synchronicity, that comes from rehearsing. So, we took this very seriously. We wanted the band to be in top form, and if we’re gonna call it quits, it’s great to do it when everybody loves each other rather than everybody’s not talking or the band is on the decline. It seems like the right time for a victory lap, and that’s what we’re doing.”

As most fans remember, back in 2000 and 2001, KISS already performed a “Farewell Tour”. The trek, which was the last to feature drummer Peter Criss, played 142 shows over five legs, covering North America, Japan, and Australia. Stanley later said that the 2000 tour was nothing more than an attempt by the group to “put KISS out of its misery” after years of ego clashes and disagreements over songwriting credits between the band’s original members. Continue reading →