By Aaron Beck, The Columbus Dispatch
Ace Frehley helped start the rock group Kiss and remained a member from 1973 to 1982.
He returned for a reunion tour in 1996 and continued until 2002.
These days, though, the New York-born singer-guitarist, 57, cites his 19-month stretch of sobriety as his crowning achievement.
"Doing this sober, I remember what I did the night before," said Frehley, whose well-publicized drug and alcohol problems spurred his original split from Kiss.
"It makes things a little easier."
Frehley, at work on his first solo album since 1989, will head to the Newport Music Hall on Saturday to perform with a new band.
The group, he said, won't play anything from the upcoming album -- "I want it to be a surprise when it comes out" -- but it will serve a "good cross section of Kiss songs and my solo stuff."
Frehley offered other observations while taking a recent break from his home studio in Westchester, N.Y.
Q: Although you won't play new songs on your latest tour, how would you describe the sound and vibe of the new disc?
A: I'm trying to recapture analog sound and get away from the digital stuff. I'm getting back to basics -- kind of like the stuff I did on my first solo album with Kiss (Ace Frehley in 1978).
Most people cite that first album as my best album, so I've been trying to revisit that and pick up where it left off.
Q: When did you last hear that album?
A: I very rarely listen to my records, but I've been listening to it in bits and pieces in my car. It's hard, because of my schedule, to listen to any record from beginning to end. I think a lot of people have that problem today; the kids are downloading everything.
Q: So many people picked up a Gibson Les Paul because they saw you with one. Why did you always gravitate to that guitar?
A: If you talk to musicians, most of them will agree it's kind of a no-brainer.
If you play hard rock, you pick up a Les Paul and you plug it into a Marshall amp, and you really don't have to do much more.
Q: When you designed the Kiss logo, did it just come to you one day or did it evolve?
A: I think I was playing around with it one afternoon and came up with it. . . . I was on some Web site the other day, and they were talking about the top 10 logos of rock 'n' roll, and it was, like, the Stones, I forget what the second one was -- and Kiss was third.
It's crazy when you think about it.
Q: What about your makeup?
A: I was always fascinated with the science-fiction stuff -- that whole scene -- and I just started playing around with it. It's bizarre. It just happened.
When I write a song sometimes, it's like I'm not writing it. It's like somebody's beaming the information to my head; as fast I can write the lyrics, it's coming out of me. . . . The makeup was that kind of the same thing. It's almost like somebody up there sent it to me.
Q: Why did Kiss inspire so many people to start bands?
A: Why were we so successful? I don't know. I just accept it.
Q: When you see your face tattooed on an arm, does your jaw drop?
A: I'm just flattered someone would go that far, and I just try to take the time to autograph something or talk to them a little when I have the time.
Q: When will you rejoin Kiss?
A: I don't see that happening. I think we had a great run, and the reunion was a great tour.
I mean, I just don't see myself running around onstage in makeup these days. In my spare time, I have fun riding around on my Harley.
Going back to that whole scene -- it was fun while it lasted, but no thanks.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
Thanks: Pat
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