My life has been a roller coaster ride, but somehow I've always been able to land on my feet and still play the guitar.
— Ace Frehley
For me it's about the music, and it always has been. Maybe for some other people it's more about money.
It's always good to walk in a room and know everybody kind of looks up to you because I guess I've earned it.
I'm just a down-to-earth guy.
I've started working on a new album, I'm writing a new book... there are a lot of good things on the horizon.
By the time I'm 40, interplanetary travel will be common. Nobody will want to talk to me at that age, anyway.
I'm just a kid from Bronx who got lucky.
I can't even read notes. But I can teach someone how to make a guitar smoke.
The guys in my band are good friends on and off the stage. The band members that I have now is probably the best band that I have ever had.
I've recorded 25 or 30 albums. I know that sometimes when you work with producers who are kinda dictators, it doesn't help you make a better record.
Once you come and see Kiss, you either love us or you hate us.
I don't see this planet being... they're talking about how they're turning around the environmental problems here, but I think it's already too late.
I'll get up there and I'll do my guitar solos in one of those space outfits.
A lot of times, I played bass on songs. Gene plays guitar on some songs.
As long as I know what key the solo is in, I try to kind of empty my mind and not think about anything. I just play without thinking.
I think the fans really wanna hear the songs the way they sound on the record.
I have a lot of diehard fans. Ace Frehley fans and Kiss fans are the greatest fans in the world.
I knew I was destined to be a rock star. I just knew it, like I've always had the power of foresight. I feel right now exactly the way I felt after I finished mixing my first solo album 'New York Groove'.
I don't like to practice; I like spontaneity. When I don't play guitar for a week and I pick it up again, I play better.
I'm still shocked when people say, 'You haven't done a studio record in 20 years.' I try to make excuses for it, but the truth is I just wasn't with it.
I loved playing the guitar and I knew I was pretty good at it, so that's what I wanted to do with my life.
I knew I was destined to do a solo album, but when I did that first album in 1978, I had no idea it was going to be that well received.
Every time Paul and Gene use my makeup, they have to pay me a royalty check. I think they changed the makeup so they didn't have to pay me.
America is huge.
One of the greatest gifts I've ever gotten is my daughter.
One thing I love to do is produce. I've produced a couple of bands. I mean, nothing ever really happened with 'em, but I enjoy getting a young band into the studio and guiding them, and making them feel at ease.
I asked my daughter when she was 16, What's the buzz on the street with the kids? She's going, to be honest, Dad, most of my friends aren't into Kiss. But they've all been told that it's the greatest show on Earth.
I believe that the only way that the human race is gonna survive is to start colonizing space and setting up colonies on the moon, and then space stations.
We're bigger now than we were in the late 70s when we were peaking.
I went to my friend's house one day, and he had an electric guitar he had just bought with a tiny little amp. I turned the volume up to 10 and I hit one chord, and I said, I'm in love.
People, y'know, they either love us or they hate us; there's no middle ground.
I've been around a long time, so I guess I've touched a lot of people's lives - hopefully for the better.
It's always great playing with other musicians. It's also a great situation where I'm the older guy, I've influenced generations of guitar players.
If I'm so popular, why did they replace me with Tommy Thayer?
I've learned a lot of tricks from working with a lot of great producers over the years, and I think I should write a book about it!
I eat, sleep, and drink my character. It is my fantasy to go to another planet.
I'm not here to perform. I'm here to sign autographs. You have to wait till I come back with my own hand.
I just didn't expect an acoustic version of Rock'n'Roll All Nite.
Finding a good band is Iike finding a good wife. You got to keep trying till you find the right one.
I'm the kinda person, you gotta fight for everything you get. You gotta believe in yourself.
I think most of the people, once you see a Kiss show, you kinda get spoiled because I don't think there's anybody out there that's doing a bigger or a better show than us.
The bottom line is the Kiss Army is growing by leaps and bounds.
When you take a shower in space, you have to press the water onto your body to clean yourself, and then you gotta vacuum it off.
I had a feeling it was gonna work out because not only did I enjoy the music and hit it off with the guys, but I was into theatrical rock and was willing to wear makeup and do anything to make it.
Whenever I start to really think about what I'm playing, I may play it better musically, but the feeling isn't there.
That's what Kiss is all about - not just music, but entertainment, y'know? We're there to take you away from your problems, and rock and roll all night and party every day for those two hours you're at the concert.
