Gene Simmons’ band guitarist Ryan Spencer Cook recently joined the KISS Army Nation podcast and talked about working with Gene before the KISS farewell tour in his solo band. The guitarist also addressed working with the former KISS member and the original Spaceman Ace Frehley and revealed the conditions Gene put forward for him and the rest of the band to work with Ace.
In 2016, Gene Simmons decided to put together a band to back him up in his solo performances. Even though the bassist didn’t perform much separate from KISS, in 2016, he had the idea of performing a few solo shows. Hence, he got in touch with Ryan Cook, a guitarist that had been in the music scene for a while with Skid Row, Damon Johnson, and fronted the band Hair of The Dog.
Ryan gathered some musicians and started to perform with Gene, which was a huge success as it grabbed old KISS member Ace Frehley’s attention. Ace reached out to Gene to ask his band to perform with him for a few dates. Even though Ace’s separation from KISS was dramatic, Gene surprisingly agreed and told Ace to ask Ryan. After making the arrangements, Ryan asked Gene if he was genuinely okay with the situation and Gene replied by stating that everything is fine as long as it doesn’t clash with his shows and they’re always good on stage.
The band performed with Gene and Ace separately, traveling between performances that year. Ace was amazed by their success, so he decided to hire the band as his full-time backing band. It was a lucky time for Gene, as it was time for him to end his solo adventures and return to KISS for their farewell tour. He ended up giving his blessings to the band and sending them off to Ace for good.
Here is Ryan and Gene’s blessing conversation:
“When we were going to Australia to play with Gene, the promoter there in Australia wanted to add Ace as a special guest to open for Gene. Ace called Gene and said, ‘Hey, I really liked your band that night, six months ago. Would you be okay if they played with me as well in Australia?’ For these four shows, just these four shows. And Gene said, ‘I have no problem with it, but you gotta ask Ryan.’
So then Ace reached out to me via Gene, and we worked the whole thing out, then we agreed. I told Gene separately and just said, ‘Hey look, I know you said you’re okay with this to Ace. Between you and I, are you really okay with this?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my show, I don’t care what you guys do as long as we’re always gonna be good. I trust you.”
You can watch the podcast below.
