Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley recently sat down with SiriusXM’s ‘Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk’ to discuss the ongoing strife with his former KISS bandmates, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. During the interview, Frehley recounted a recent phone call from Stanley, which he believes demonstrated that the KISS frontman wasn’t ‘man enough’ to address the situation and apologize for past disparaging remarks.
Frehley’s appearance on ‘Trunk Nation’ came after an escalating war of words with Stanley and Simmons. In a previous interview, Ace threatened to reveal some unknown dirt on his former bandmates if they did not apologize for the disparaging remarks made during their appearance on ‘The Howard Stern Show.’ During the show, Stanley had ridiculed the classic lineup by stating that if the band had performed with the original members during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, they would have looked like KISS but sounded like PISS.
The guitarist returned to the show to touch on a phone call he received from Paul Stanley, which only further fueled the animosity between the two. In the call, Stanley refused to apologize, leaving Frehley blindsided and hurt. In response, Ace criticized Paul for ‘not being man enough’ to allow for a proper discussion or explanation of the situation.
Ace Frehley’s words about the phone call he received from Paul Stanley follow:
“Yes, he did — not long after the show was over. And I was blindsided by the phone call because I saw his name on my cell phone. And I spoke to him a hundred different times on that number, and that can be verified by Verizon, who is my cell phone carrier.
I figured he was calling me maybe to apologize or at least explain why he said that. Maybe he meant it really more towards Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer] than me, and whatever the case may be. But instead of an apology, I got a five-second phone call that said, ‘F*ck you, Ace. I’m not going to apologize,’ and hung up.
He wasn’t even man enough to let me give a rebuttal and explain why I was so upset or anything like that; it wasn’t a text. It was a phone call. And the only reason I picked it up is because it said ‘Paul S.’ When it comes to the guys, I never write their full name [into my phone]. God forbid somebody finds my phone. They may not realize it’s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and I would never give out their phone numbers.”
He added:
“And I did screengrabs from [my wireless carrier] Verizon on… It’s the same day as our [previous] interview, and it says [the call lasted] five seconds. Some idiot out there might say, ‘Oh, well. Ace is a graphic artist. He’s really good at Photoshop. He could have probably Photoshopped it.’ Well, guess what? It’s still on the servers, and I will get a bill from Verizon that will say a five-second phone call from ‘P.S. Paul Stanley.’ And God forbid I sue them for defamation of character; a judge can order them to pull it off the servers because it’s still there.”
As the farewell tour continues, it seems that the rift between Ace and his former KISS bandmates may be beyond repair. With the possibility of a reunion growing increasingly unlikely, fans can only hope that the music will ultimately bring these iconic musicians back together, healing old wounds and allowing them to move forward.
