Tommy Thayer recently compared the loss of late KISS guitarist Ace Frehley to the grief he felt when Eddie Van Halen passed away, in a statement shared on Ultimate Classic Rock.
The guitarist discussed how Frehley’s passing affected him, Gene Simmons, and Paul Stanley, while also sharing the band’s plans to pay tribute to Frehley during this year’s KISS Land-Locked in Vegas event.
“Well, it’s an important thing,” Thayer said. “I mean, that was a huge loss last year for everyone and I think it really hit us. I shouldn’t say us, but I mean, particularly Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons]. But it hit me too and it left an emptiness, because look, there’s been some issues and interpersonal stuff through the years and this and that. But at the end of the day, I think everybody loves each other.”
He went on to emphasize Frehley’s influence on his own musical journey and his legacy within the band.
“He was such an important part of creating what they did in the first place,” Thayer continued. “And obviously, even for me personally, Ace Frehley was such a huge part of my young teenage experience, learning to play guitar, learning to mimic his guitar parts and [other] things, which to me were so quintessential and so signature at the time. You know, he made a huge impact on a lot of people.”
Thayer then compared the feeling of losing Frehley to the passing of Eddie Van Halen, noting the profound impact of such sudden losses.
“When something like that happens suddenly, and he’s gone, everybody kind of loses part of themselves, I guess, in a way,” Thayer added. “I had the same feeling when Eddie Van Halen passed away. It’s just like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this,’ and it leaves kind of a hole in your heart and your musical soul, or something — it’s very strange.”
He concluded by mentioning the upcoming tribute plans for the late guitarist.
“But he’s missed, so we’ll be having a nice Ace tribute,” Thayer said. “It’s going to be well planned and everybody’s going to be involved. I think it’s really appropriate for this.”
Thayer’s comments arrive roughly a year after Frehley’s death, and they add new detail to a loss that has weighed heavily on the band and its fans since last October.
Frehley died on October 16, 2025, at age 74 from injuries sustained in a fall, which reports said led to a brain bleed. Gene Simmons reacted at the time with a brief statement: “Our hearts are broken. Ace has passed on. No one can touch Ace’s legacy.”
A joint statement from Simmons and Paul Stanley struck a similar tone. “We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley,” the pair said. “He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy.”
Frehley’s place in that history is central. He co-founded KISS in New York in 1973 alongside Simmons, Stanley and Peter Criss, serving as the band’s original lead guitarist and the “Spaceman” of its classic lineup. He later rejoined KISS for the 1996 reunion and left again in 2002, after which Tommy Thayer took over the Spaceman role.
