Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick are teaming up.
The former Kiss guitarists have covered Jimi Hendrix‘s “Manic Depression” for Frehley’s upcoming Origins Vol. 2, the follow-up to 2018’s Spaceman. In a new interview, Frehley added that John 5 plays on two tracks on the album, which is now expected in March 2020.
Frehley broke the news to Eddie Trunk. “I have Bruce Kulick doing a solo on ‘Manic Depression,'” he began. “I have John 5 playing on a Beatles song, ‘I’m Down.’ And he did one other song, ‘Politician’ by Cream. If you listen to the Cream version, (Eric) Clapton does a double solo — he’s playing two solos at the same time. So what me and John 5 did is, he did a solo, I did a solo, and then Alex Salzman my engineer we did a crossfade. So if you listen to the song with headphones on, you hear me going from one side to the other, and John going from one side back. So it’s a really interesting mix.”
This won’t be the first time Frehley and Kulick appear on a record together. They were both part of Kiss’ MTV Unplugged performance, and Kulick contributed to three songs on 1998’s sort-of reunion album Psycho Circus.
Origins Vol. 2 will be the former Kiss guitarist’s second album dedicated to cover songs, with the first volume arriving in 2016. Since having a big hit with his version of Hello’s “New York Groove” on his 1978 self-titled debut solo album, Frehley has included a cover song on every one of his solo efforts except 1988’s Second Sighting, and he told Trunk he has “so much fun” making them.
“The great thing about doing a covers record is, I don’t have to write the songs,” he continued. “So all I have to do is kind of make it my own, maybe change the solo a little, maybe change the arrangement a little, and then get some guest stars. I can knock it out in 30 days.”
Kulick and John 5 join Robin Zander and Lita Ford as guests whose participation was announced back in July, with the Cheap Trick frontman singing Humble Pie‘s “30 Days in the Hole” and the ex-Runaways guitarist taking the mic for the Rolling Stones‘ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” At the time, he had hoped it would be ready for October, but now he reveals it’s been pushed back twice
“It was finished a couple of months ago, now we’re just at the process of mastering and sequencing it,” he said. “Originally we were supposed to put it out in January, and now the record company wants to hold the release date until March. I don’t know anything about selling records, I just know how to make them. So if they say they want to put it out in March, I say fine, the gives me more time to work on writing new material for my next studio album.”