Ace Frehley Says He Doesn’t ‘Believe’ Kiss Is Truly Retired From Touring

As he brings out his latest solo album, 10,000 Volts, out Friday (Feb. 23), Ace Frehley is also ready to wave the Kiss flag now that his former band has retired from the road.

“I’m he only game in town because Kiss is supposedly retired — which I don’t believe is gonna happen,” Frehley tells Billboard. “But be that as it may…I actually added two more Kiss songs to my set. We added ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ because talking to people, they go…you gotta do those songs live — and I did and it went over fantastic. We ended the night with three Kiss songs: ‘Shout It Out Loud,’ ‘Deuce’ and ‘Rock and Roll All Nite,’ and everybody was singing along and it was great.

“As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t even matter who wrote the song. I played the guitar solos on those records, and that’s good enough for me.”

And, as Frehley indicated, he’s not sure how long he will be the only game in town.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they reformed,” says Frehley, who was part of Kiss from its formation in 1973 through 1982, then rejoined from 1996 through 2002. “There were times when I had enough and I had to leave and do my own thing,” he adds, though band leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have indicated that Frehley was dismissed. They did not include Frehley (or drummer Peter Criss) on any of the dates of their farewell End of the Road World Tour.

“I really don’t want to trash those guys,” Stanley said last year, “because we wouldn’t be here today if not for them, if they hadn’t been in the band, and we wouldn’t be here today if they still were. They’re part of the foundation, but at some point, the foundation turned out to be faulty and you have to make repairs…and did.”

For his part, Frehley feels that “Paul and Gene are driven by different things than me. I’m driven by the quality of the music and in some cases they’re driven by money and that doesn’t sit well with me. But they’ve admitted it, so it’s no big deal.” In fact, Frehley says his relationships with his former bandmates are not as rancorous as is often reported.

“We’re still friends,” he says. “I know a lot of people think we hate each other, but that’s not true. We’re just like a family, but sometimes brothers and sisters have arguments and so on. But when the sh-t hits the fan, we’re there for each other. I just wish them the best.” He is not, however, particularly optimistic about the avatar performance concept that Kiss announced during its final show on Dec. 2 in New York, which is expected to roll out in 2025.