(Credits: Far Out / Casablanca Records)
Fri 17 October 2025 13:00, UK
As a kid in the Bronx, Ace Frehley never thought that much about fame. Even years later, countless unimaginable achievements under his belt, he still felt like he just “got lucky”.
Those moments when his explosive impact became clearest were also probably the moments when his legacy was furthest from his mind. As the Spaceman, he was a theatrical symbol of the inexplicable divine, a guitar hero who adorned the stage like some kind of force from a comic strip, with a streak of otherworldly guitar playing skills to match.
His world always felt smaller than it actually was, mainly because he always remained humble, maintaining the same humility he had all those years ago when he was just simply a music lover with a guitar, and not the timeless, towering Kiss figure that changed the scope of rock music forever. He even once told Guitar Player, “I’d probably have practiced a little more If I knew I was going to affect that many people’s lives.”
He also shared a little more about his approach, which, all things considered, only strengthened the suspicion that Frehley never changed, as a person and musician. It might be a strange asset to have in an industry so fixated on progression, but Frehley was a living example of having discovered what works and sticking to it, and it never faltered. As he explained, “The process in the way I record music hasn’t changed since my 1978 solo record or even before that with Kiss.”
He added: “I have a certain sound and it’s very recognisable. I don’t really think too much about what I do or how I do it, largely because I wasn’t trained and I can’t read music. I just kind of do things by feel and just do what feels right to me.”
Ace Frehly on stage. (Credit: Tilly Antoine)
While there were many aspects of Kiss that Frehley looked back on and felt conflicted about, he also made peace with a lot of it, enough so that none of the challenges clouded the songs and records he particularly favoured. For instance, 1974’s ‘Cold Gin’ is a good example of that familiar laidback charm Frehley always had, even when coming up with complete gold.
He’d actually come up with the main riff on the subway in New York while on his way to Kiss rehearsals. He took the song to the rest of the band, and they thought they could make it into a full song. He probably didn’t know it would become a major Kiss classic, but again, Frehley had this relaxed quality when it came to his own excellence that only proved further his natural ability to create musical genius whenever inspiration struck.
Another he was proud of was ‘Strange Ways’. He even said it’s one of his favourite guitar solos he ever did – and he only managed to get it sounding the way it did because he thought outside the box when it came to recording it. This was the same feel he got with ‘Rocket Ride’, another he was most proud of. He said, “I just did things on the spot; I was never schooled as a musician, so I’ve always done solos without thinking, for the most part.”
Interestingly, Frehley wasn’t that convinced about his biggest hit, ‘New York Groove’, to begin with. He wasn’t that bothered about it at all, until some coaxing led him to record it properly. He also used his sunburst 1959 Les Paul to pull off that signature groove, and the song ended up shaping his legacy as a soloist, despite initial concerns that it didn’t fit his usual style.
Finally, ‘Rip It Out’ probably says a hell of a lot more about Frehley’s abilities and achievements as a solo artist than any other in the list. Mainly because it made him realise in his reflections just how much he had to offer away from Kiss, and how he worked away from his former band members. As he recalled, “After the success of the solo record, I realised I was being more creative away from Paul and Gene and Peter than I was being with them.”
He went on: “So the writing was kind of on the wall that I would leave and put together my own band. Plus, I was also having issues with alcohol and drugs and that kind of set things back for a while after I quit. But once I got my head screwed on straight, I put together a band and put out the first Frehley’s Comet album on Megaforce Records. But that’s a whole other story.”
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