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Joel Hoekstra recalled how Ace Frehley once complimented his playing even though his guitar was turned off, naming it as the moment he “really understood” the KISS icon.

As the person who made the Starman persona as famous as it is and a guitarist who played licks as memorable as “Love Gun”, Ace Frehley’s rock ‘n’ roll legacy is indisputable, even though his personal history is marked by anecdotes which often sound quite out there. One such is Joel Hoekstra’s experience of jamming with the KISS legend, which took place at a rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia museum during the guitarist’s time in Night Ranger.

In a new interview with Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French on the “Jay Jay French connection podcast”, the Whitesnake & Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist recalled getting a rather unexpected compliment from Ace Frehley after the performance (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“We had a situation where they wanted us to be the band, but have guests up. And one of them was Bun E. Carlos, one of them was George Lynch, and one of them was Ace. Ace came up there, and we were in this high-priced, small room. Everybody had to pay a lot of money to be there. It was all wood; [it was a] really loud room, and we had our amps really quiet.”

“Ace comes in and dimes it. Everything’s just on 10, and then he wouldn’t start until they jacked him up in the monitor. Like, the only thing you could hear was Ace. I mean, it was unbelievable, the rock star attitude of it all. I remember there were four of us up there, because Lynch stayed up, and Brad Gillis, of course. And those guys were over there trading, and you couldn’t hear anything. It was like a mosquito in a construction site.”

At that point, Hoekstra decided to simply tune out:

“I thought, ‘Why is anybody bothering right now?’ So, I just turned my guitar off, because I thought all I’m doing is contributing to the noise. Ace sounded great, actually. He played great, he had an amazing tone. But I just thought, ‘I’m going to do the right thing here and just turn my guitar off.’ And what was amazing about that, Ace came over to me after, and he complimented me on my playing.”

“He came over and he said, ‘Oh yeah, you did a really good job up there, you know.’ And I thought, ‘Man, my guitar was off, but, you know, thank you.’ But, yeah, I get it. That’s when I really understood Ace Frehley. He’s just a rock star. He’s larger than life, you know?”

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Although Kiss hit a rough patch popularity-wise in the US during the early ’80s, by 1984, they were back on track with their hit album “Animalize”, and headlining arenas. And for a stretch of dates supporting “Animalize” plus shows for their next album, “Asylum”, they invited ghoulish rockers W.A.S.P. to open.

However, during an interview with the Metal Voice, former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes recalled some problems he experienced on the road with Kiss. And also, how he supposedly corrected them.

“Gene and Paul…I can’t stand those guys,” Holmes confessed (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “They are what my mom brought me up not to be. The reason why W.A.S.P. beat up on Kiss was because of Chris here, nobody else. Because I ran the sound with the sound guy. And when we first went out on tour, I was told we couldn’t get no subs, and only 80% of PA.”

“I said, ‘I’m not gonna tour like that. Find another guitar player. Because you can’t beat up on them.’ And then, finally, the deal was if we could have two lines of merchandising, then we get full sub and full 100% of the PA. We’d have our own mixing board. But then I said, ‘Yeah. I’ll do it then.’ But it was a big hassle when the management and Blackie [Lawless].”

Holmes then recalls how there were still hurdles to overcome when touring with Kiss. And according to the guitarist, W.A.S.P. may have been the bigger draw, if you are to use t-shirt sales as a gauge.

“And believe me, the first two weeks, our merchandising, we didn’t put out two lines. They put out every bit they could. And we were doing two to one on them. And then Gene and Paul found that out. Boy, I come in to soundcheck. My roadie goes, ‘Chris. Um, our gear will not get on the stage ’til the doors are open.'”

“I’m like, ‘So we don’t soundcheck?’ He goes, ‘No.’ And I go, ‘That’s alright.’ We had all of the safeguards, the PA guy and I, we had it all worked out. I’s just the way [it is]. It’s business. That’s business. The more they can hold you down, the more the better. And you know, touring and playing arena is big business, selling shirts.”

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