The guitarist revisits stepping away from KISS and Frehley’s Comet transitioning into his role as true solo artist.
Resuming the in-depth examination of the complete body of work of legendary guitarist Ace Frehley, journalist Ryan J. Downey steers the ship towards KISS’ 1982 release, Creatures of the Night.
The irony of the Creatures of the Night record was that Ace is credited as a member of the band at the time, but was not included on either of the two versions of the album cover. Frehley confided how he had made the decision that it was best for him to venture out on his own apart from Gene and Paul.
Following the success of his first solo record, Frehley found a new creative pace apart from KISS that was more conducive to his life. Citing Gene and Paul’s constant dire to tour, Frehley opted to go a different direction and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
It would be five years later when Frehley would debut Frehley’s Comet with the 1987 self-titled record. While the project had Frehley as the creative architect and the driving force, the guitarist discussed how his background of always being in a band made him hesitant to call it a solo project.
The reality was that Frehley’s Comet still had Ace of KISS as the namesake. That dynamic always meant that Ace, regardless of his comfort level, was always going to get top billing and that never boded well with the rest of the members in the Comet project.
Ace would go onto admit that while in KISS, Gene and Paul did the heavy lifting of handling the business and interviews, which gave Ace room to just play music, which was what he preferred. The trade off in exploring his solo career meant that Ace could enjoy much more creative freedom, but now had to answer as the boss with final say. That reality would ultimately lead Ace to just use his own name for his solo effort moving forward.
Ace assert that roll as boss with the 1989 release of his fourth solo effort in Trouble Walkin. The album marked a turning point in that it was Ace’s first record back with just his name on the cover. It also marked Ace’s reconnection with longtime drummer Anton Fig and featured some collaborative work with former KISS bandmate Peter Criss and Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach.
Watch the fourth segment from the Disc Dive with Ace Frehley below.
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