Photo: Michael Ochs Archives
Ace Frehley has had a pretty tumultuous relationship with his former KISS bandmates, but during an appearance on the Guitar Tales with Dave Cohen podcast, the former KISS guitarist spoke sincerely about why he thinks the band's original lineup fell apart.
“We created something that will endure way after we’re all dead and buried,” Frehley, who played with the band from 1973-1982 and again from 1996-2002, said. “I try to let the negative stuff go and focus on the positive memories. We had a lot of fun. We used to really be very closely knit. And we’d have weekly band meetings and get the stuff off our chest that was bothering us.”
But when KISS began to become successful, things went downhill. “Once we became rich, we all became millionaires, everybody started going their own way,” he explained. “Everybody had their own limo. Everybody had their own bodyguard. So, you know, nothing can last forever.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Frehley reflected on the day jobs each member had to work in the early days to pay their bills. “Paul [Stanley] worked in a sandwich shop. I delivered liquor. I was a postman for six months. We did all sorts of jobs before we started making the big bucks,” he recalled. “In the early days, me and Gene [Simmons] used to room together in a Holiday Inn. And then after ‘Alive’ hit we each had our own suites. That's when the band started, you know, everybody was going in their own direction. And it was kind of the beginning of the end.”
KISS played their final live show in December and plan to launch their avatar shows in 2027 after selling their catalog and likeness for $300 million earlier this year. “The beginning of KISS is going to be something that will blow your socks off, like nothing you’ve ever not seen,” Simmons promised.
Watch Frehley's full Guitar Tales interview below.