KISS icon Gene Simmons opened up about former bandmates Peter Criss and the late Ace Frehley. He addressed their struggles with drug abuse and how the band eventually bought them out, in comments shared on The Moynihan Report.
Simmons began by reflecting on Frehley’s influence on the guitar world and the pressures that come with life on the road. He then spoke candidly about why some members couldn’t sustain the demands of touring with KISS.
“[Ace’s death] is so hard for the fans. It’s heartbreaking. Ace had a massive influence on guitar players. Dimebag, Daryl, Mike of Pearl Jam, Metallica, just everybody across the line,” Simmons said. “But not everybody’s designed in their DNA to run a marathon. Some people just, you know, short race and they can do well for that, but they can’t do it. Ace told me to my face when he was leaving the band, ‘I’m going to have a solo career because if I go out on tour again, I’m going to kill myself.'”
He went on to discuss how psychological pressure affects people differently, contrasting his own mindset with what he says Frehley and Criss experienced.
“Just the psychological pressures affects different people in different ways. I never have a problem with anything. I’m voraciously ambitious and love the attention and the money and the f*** like all that stuff. But it doesn’t affect everybody the same way,” Simmons continued. “I’m not a shrink, but I think I’ll talk about myself. It starts with who you are in your own skin. Regular people every day drink themselves until they’re numb and can’t even walk and use drugs and become drug addicts even when nobody’s watching just because they’re not comfortable in their own skin. And Ace and Peter handled it for a few years. And then they were in and out of the band three different times. And it breaks the heart of fans for me where asshole comes in. If I tell the truth.”
Simmons used an analogy involving parents and children to explain how fans reacted to hearing hard truths about the pair.
“You know, you have your mom and dad and your mom turns to the kids and says, ‘Your dad’s not at home. I threw him out because he’s a drunken loser and he doesn’t show up on time and he doesn’t go to work and all that.’ So, the kids are heartbroken. They start hating mom for ‘How could you say those things about dad?’ even though it’s true,” he said.
He then addressed Frehley’s final return to the band and the toll drug use took on him and his family.
“When Ace came back the third time, it was very serious drug use. The stuff that makes you — I don’t want to mention the name cuz it’s so depressing. And his daughter was affected and all that stuff breaks our hearts,” Simmons said.
Turning to Criss, Simmons said he believes his former bandmate has long viewed himself as a victim rather than taking responsibility for his choices.
“It’s tough for me to be honest and stuff. Peter’s always considered himself a victim. Like ‘They ganged up on me and look what they did to me’ and stuff like that. Instead of if you’re really cured and everything, you look in the mirror and said it’s my fault. You say, ‘I used. I didn’t do my work and I was complaining instead of being grateful to be in one of the largest bands that has ever existed.'”
Simmons closed by addressing the financial side of KISS’s history with both former members, framing the band’s decisions as business realities.
“He makes very little money from KISS. We bought him out in 1982. We bought Ace out too. All groups of people are a business. Money’s got to come from someplace. Life is business. People don’t like that. This rock and roll world is filled with f***ing losers,” Simmons said.
