Guitarist Ace Frehley recently had a conversation with Cassius Morris, where he discussed his new solo album and the way he feels about the fact that his recording career has now outlasted that of Kiss’ Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley:
“Well, getting sober was probably one of the major stepping stones for me to keep myself going. I’m much healthier now than I was 10, 15 years ago. But Paul and Gene, over the years, have always kind of dragged my name through the mud.
”To try to validate the fact that they had Tommy Thayer in the band, they used to make statements. You can look ’em up in videos there’s dozens of ’em, where they say, ‘Oh, Ace wasn’t up for the job.’ ‘Ace was unemployable.’ ‘He was always late.’ And that got to me. And to this day, it still bothers me, but it doesn’t hold water. […]
“I made this statement before this record even started. I said, ‘This album’s gonna embarrass them,’ because they can’t do a record this good. I dare them to.”