In a recent Instagram post, Ace Frehley shared Paul Stanley’s ad looking for a guitarist.
“One call changed everything,” the guitarist wrote in the caption. “That ad led to history. Take a chance this year—you never know what’s waiting on the other side.” Stanley wrote in the ad, “Lead guitarist wanted. With flash and ability. Album out shortly. No time wasters please.”
Frehley had played in local bands during the early 1970s. In late 1972, his friend Chris Cassone came across the ad for a lead guitarist and showed it to Frehley. Frehley went to 10 East 23rd Street to audition for Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss. The band liked his performance.
Ace was a member of KISS from 1973 to 1982. He reflected on his time with the band during a conversation on the Guitar Tales podcast, saying, “We created something that will endure way after we’re all dead and buried. I try to let the negative stuff go and focus on the positive memories.”
“We had a lot of fun. We used to really be very closely knit. And we’d have weekly band meetings and get the stuff off our chest that was bothering us,” he added.
Frehley said that the decline began when he experienced the negative side of fame. He explained, “Once we became rich, we all became millionaires, everybody started going their own way. Everybody had their own limo. Everybody had their own bodyguard. So, you know, nothing can last forever.”
In another interview, Frehley recalled how the band had to hold down other jobs before they made it big. “Paul [Stanley] worked in a sandwich shop. I delivered liquor. I was a postman for six months. We did all sorts of jobs before we started making the big bucks.”
“In the early days, me and Gene [Simmons] used to room together in a Holiday Inn. And then after ‘Alive’ hit we each had our own suites. That’s when the band started, you know, everybody was going in their own direction. And it was kind of the beginning of the end,” the rocker said.
In 1996, Frehley reunited with KISS for a reunion tour with the original lineup. They recorded the album ‘Psycho Circus,’ where Frehley contributed the song ‘Into The Void’ and played on ‘You Wanted The Best.’ After the band’s ‘Farewell Tour’ in 2001, Frehley left to focus on his solo career.
