“Ace started to indulge in things that went up his nose”: Gene Simmons on the “rebellious” nature of Ace Frehley in Kiss’s early days
Gene Simmons has recounted Kiss’s chaotic early days, pointing, in particular, to the raucous photoshoot for the band’s second album Hotter Than Hell.
In a new conversation with Rick Rubin on his Tetragammaton podcast, Simmons recalls working with photographer Norman Seeff on the shoot, and the mayhem that later ensued.
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“During the photo sessions to get the back cover, I remember – Paul [Stanley] is not a drinker, never has been. The other two guys – not so much,” Simmons says. “They indulged.
“And that night, during the photo session… Paul had too much to drink – so much so that he was keeling over and we had to prop him up while we were taking the photos.”
He goes on: “I remember we didn’t have limos or anything. We had a station wagon. And Bill Aucoin [Kiss manager at the time] picked up Paul like a sack of potatoes and took him into the station wagon, put the seats down in the back, put him in and locked the car so he wouldn’t get in trouble.”
Gene Simmons also comments on guitarist Ace Frehley’s substance habits at the time: “Ace Frehley started to indulge, in his interest, in things that went up his nose, and other things. And this was the first time any of us had been to LA, so Ace met the wrong people.
“Somehow, he would attract [them], or they would attract him. And he was, you know, a rebel in that [sense]. [If] there [was] a red light, he’d go through at full speed. It just seems to be in [his] DNA.
“And he would never, from all my time with him, never drink socially. Just excess everything.”
Ace Frehley was a founding member of Kiss in 1973, and later left the band for the first time in 1982. He rejoined the band in 1996, before leaving again in 2002. His relationship with his former bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley has been tumultuous in the years since, but tensions have simmered down as of late.
In a recent interview with Guitarist magazine, Frehley sought to clear up misconceptions – which he feels were perpetuated by Simmons and Stanley – that he was ever fired from Kiss.
“They still say in interviews that they fired me, but I was never fired from Kiss,” he said. “I hate when I hear that. And they say that both times I was fired; I quit both times.”
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