"I got crazy once I rejoined Kiss, 'cause those guys know how to push my buttons," Frehley says. "I can only take them in small doses."
But Ace acknowledges that it's wrong to make Simmons and Stanley scapegoats for his problems. "I can't blame it all on them," he says. "I have to take responsibility for my actions. . . . I have to let all the negative stuff roll off my back and move forward."
That's what Frehley is determined to do now. Eighteen months sober and fronting a new band, with his first solo album in nearly two decades due for release later this year, Frehley says he's happy and that he's found some semblance of peace with his former bandmates, whom he stays in touch with sporadically. "We're all on good terms," Frehley stresses.
But it doesn't take much to find that many of the old wounds still sting.
Especially given the way Frehley's portrayed by both Simmons and Stanley, as a colossal screwup whose self abuse and bad attitude led him to blow the opportunity of a lifetime not once, but twice. They've also taken to downplaying Frehley's musical contributions to the band. Simmons has gone so far as to say that certain classic Kiss songs attributed to Frehley needed significant work before they were fit for public consumption.
"I think if you listen to all the classic songs I've written, it's hard for that statement to hold water," Frehley says, sounding hurt. "They try to come off as being responsible for all the success and all the great songs and it just isn't so."
He also takes a jab of his own. "Gene is a hypocrite. He'll say he doesn't want to be around people who use drugs and alcohol but he'll tolerate it if there's money to be made. Money rules over everything else."
To that end, how does Frehley feel about Kiss continuing without Criss and himself, using surrogate band members who essentially masquerade as the two of them, wearing their old costumes and makeup in concert?
There's a long pause at this question and when Frehley finally responds it's with that hyena cackle of his. "I don't think it's really Kiss. It's more of a Kiss cover band," he says.
These days, he adds, given Simmons's public adventures and misadventures, Frehley says he's glad he's no longer a member of Kiss.
"Gene can be embarrassing," he says. "Luckily, today it doesn't effect me, because I'm not working with him."
The Calgary Herald has a post at Canada . Com dated Thursday MArch 13th. To read all of the Ace interview go HERE. He has plenty of opinion on his former KISS bandmates.
And just for shits n' giggles HERE is KISS (lip syncing) on YouTube on the Mexican TV show CHARISMA in 1981.
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