Kiss recently played their final show as human beings, but vowed to continue on as digital avatars “performing shows” into eternity. Because really, who the hell thought that Kiss as a brand of live music in any form was actually going away?
The avatars have drawn mixed reactions from a lot of folks, with former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley falling firmly into the “not a fan” category. Frehley told Rock Antenne in an interview that he feels the avatars looks like they’re “geared towards children” and that they’re simply “not rock and roll.”
“I’m happy it’s over, because I’m not gonna be compared to them anymore… But I don’t get this avatar thing that they’re gonna do,” he said. “I mean, I saw some of it on a video on YouTube last night. It kind of looked like it was geared towards children. And it’s not rock and roll. I get up on stage without backing tracks, plug my amp into it, plug my guitar into a Marshall and go. That’s it. It’s always been that way and always will be.”
Frehley was then asked if he watched any of Kiss‘ final show online. Frehley said he only caught some of the band’s Indianapolis show on YouTube and wasn’t impressed.
“I watched [a video of] Indianapolis, and I’m not impressed. But that’s me. Tommy Thayer is not a bad guitarist. He just is more mechanical than me. Nobody can copy my solos the way I play them, because I’m sloppy and nobody can move like me. Nobody. And I’m surprised the fans bought Tommy pretty much, because I think for several years that Tommy was in the band, people didn’t even know it wasn’t me.
“I used to get phone calls from people and say, ‘Hey, Kiss is playing in town. Can you get me tickets?’ I go, ‘I’m not in the band anymore.’ They go, ‘You’re not?’ Because when I quit the band the second time, they did not make a big press release. They kind of buried it and just made the transition. But the last tour I did with Kiss, Tommy Thayer was bringing me sandwiches and he was a tour manager and a gofer. But he’s not a bad guitar player. I’m actually friends with Tommy — just all the guys in the band.
“I’m good friends with Eric Singer. Me and Gene are very close. When Gene put out his ‘Vault Experience’, I went on the road with him. I went to Australia with him. Before we made it really big, me and Gene used to room together. So Gene has a soft spot in his heart for me.”
As for Frehley outside his opinions on Kiss, he just put out a new single called “10,000 Volts”. The single comes alongside a music video directed by Alex Kouvatsos, which you can check out below.
