In recent years, there have been both moments of camaraderie and tension between Ace Frehley and his former Kiss bandmates, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. While collaborations like the cover of Free’s “Fire and Water” and Frehley’s participation in a Kiss Kruise performance showcased goodwill, there were also less amicable instances. These included Frehley’s insinuations about Kiss using pre-recorded tracks live, Stanley’s controversial remarks about a possible reunion, and Simmons suggesting Frehley lacked the “physical stamina” for a full show.
During a recent interview on Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, Frehley addressed his former band once again, focusing on the period from 2004 to the just-completed End of the Road Tour. This era featured guitarist Tommy Thayer as Frehley’s Spaceman and Eric Singer as Peter Criss’ original role of the Catman, with Simmons and Stanley continuing as the Demon and Starchild.
Expressing his perspective on the fan awareness during this period, Frehley stated:
“A lot of Kiss fans aren’t the brightest people of the world… I mean, Ace fans are sharp. As little as a few years ago, I used to get phone calls from people and they would ask for Kiss tickets. And I said, ‘You know I’m not playing in the band anymore.’ And a lot of people don’t even know it.”
Frehley also conveyed a sense that Kiss may have attempted to obscure the absence of original members, suggesting:
“When I quit the band the second time [in 2002], they kind of buried it and really didn’t make a big press release about it – because Tommy was wearing my makeup, and they kind of just wanted people to think that maybe it was still Ace Frehley.”