In an interview with Rock Antenne, Ace Frehley recently spoke about the KISS farewell event at Madison Square Garden on December 2 and shared the truth about being invited to the show. After saying Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley disagreed that his voice was ‘better than ever,’ he said:
“I think that deep down inside, they’re jealous of me, and they always were. Very obvious. If you really go back – I mean, first of all, think back 6-7 months ago. They were inviting us publicly to play at the Garden. Both of them in interviews. Then, the last month, they trashed me and Peter and said we can’t play.”
The guitarist, who recently told SiriusXM’s ‘Trunk Nation’ that KISS fans weren’t ‘the brightest’ and the band was making money by making them think he was still in the lineup, commented:
“If we got up on stage with them, you might as well call the band piss. That’s what really pissed me off when I went on the Eddie Trunk Show and gave him some s**t for that.”
The Invitation Was Fake, He Says
After ending their four-year tour at the Garden, KISS announced they would continue as a virtual band using avatars. Frehley shared his view on this new direction:
“But those guys try to rewrite history all the time. I have no idea; I don’t get what this avatar thing [is]. I wish them well with it because I’m going to get money if they do. I still get paid on my makeup. Peter sold his makeup.”
About his and Peter Criss’ absence from the performance, he added:
“In press, they invited me and, Peter, but I never got a phone call. Peter never got a phone call.”
Simmons Welcomed The Ex-Members
In a chat he joined a week before the show, Frehley also commented that the band lied about inviting the former members to join them on stage to ‘sell tickets.’ On the other side, Simmons claimed that the band reached out to the guitarist and the drummer, but the two refused the offer.
He told Linea Rock:
“But the older fans wonder about Ace and Peter. Well, I asked both Ace and Peter a few times, ‘Do you wanna come out for the encores? Do you wanna do some shows?’ And they both said ‘No.’ So, I don’t know what to say about that.”
Simmons added that both Peter and Ace were welcome to join them on stage.
A Reunion Didn’t Seem Possible To Stanley
In contrast, Paul Stanley expressed doubts about a reunion with Frehley and Criss. A few months before the final KISS show at the Madison Square Garden, he shared the meaning behind the farewell tour with Ultimate Classic Rock:
“This tour is a celebration of the band and the life of the band over the past 50 years. It’s not a celebration of the original lineup. As important as the original lineup was, I can say that we wouldn’t be here today if not for them, and we wouldn’t be here today with them.”
About inviting the other original members, the singer added:
“It doesn’t make sense to allow anybody to come in and call shots. We are in great shape. The band is fantastic. I don’t want to mar the celebration [of the farewell tour]. I don’t want to mar the situation. It’s been too good.”
KISS’s new era as a virtual band is waiting for new announcements from the band and their collaborator, Pophouse Entertainment. Meanwhile, Frehley is getting ready to support his new album, ‘10.000 Volts,’ with three more shows in January.
