Ace Frehley Reacts To KISS Launching New Era With Avatars

12-14-2023

Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is not a fan of the band's plans to begin a new era as avatars following the wrap up of their latest farewell tour earlier this month at Madison Square Garden.

Following the encore of the concert the group introduced the audience to avatars of the band members accompanied by the song "God Gave Rock And Roll To You". Ace appeared on Rock Antenne in Germany and was asked if he was happy about that the band's End Of The Road Farewell Tour is finally over.

Frehley responded (via Blabbermouth, "I'm happy it's over, because I'm not gonna be compared to them anymore... But I don't get this avatar thing that they're gonna do.

"I mean, I saw some of it on a video on YouTube last night. It kind of looked like it was geared towards children. And it's not rock and roll. I get up on stage without backing tracks, plug my amp into it, plug my guitar into a Marshall and go. That's it. It's always been that way and always will be."

Ace was also asked he watch the livestream of the final KISS show and he responded that he watch the Indianapolis stop of the tour on YouTube and he said, "I'm not impressed. But that's me. Tommy Thayer is not a bad guitarist. He just is more mechanical than me.

"Nobody can copy my solos the way I play them, because I'm sloppy and nobody can move like me. Nobody. And I'm surprised the fans bought Tommy pretty much, because I think for several years that Tommy was in the band, people didn't even know it wasn't me.

"I used to get phone calls from people and say, 'Hey, KISS is playing in town. Can you get me tickets?' I go, 'I'm not in the band anymore.' They go, 'You're not?' Because when I quit the band the second time, they did not make a big press release. They kind of buried it and just made the transition. But the last tour I did with KISS, Tommy Thayer was bringing me sandwiches and he was a tour manager and a gofer.

"But he's not a bad guitar player. I'm actually friends with Tommy - just all the guys in the band. I'm good friends with Eric Singer. Me and Gene are very close. When Gene put out his 'Vault Experience', I went on the road with him. I went to Australia with him. Before we made it really big, me and Gene used to room together. So Gene has a soft spot in his heart for me."