Gene Simmons Reflects On Why Ace Left KISS

Michael Angulia | Published 02-01-2023

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KISS star Gene Simmons reflects back on founding guitarist Ace Frehley's original departure from the band in an excerpt of the cover story interview of the latest issue of Rock Candy Mag.

Michael Brandvold Marketing sent over these details and the excerpt: To celebrate Kiss's unique contribution to the world of rock over the past 50 years, the latest issue of Rock Candy Mag brings you a massive 20-page Kiss special including major new and exclusive interviews with both Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Both founder members go deep on all aspects of Kiss's career, with Gene in particular opening up about the often-fractious relationship he and Paul had with guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss.

"On one occasion Ace said, 'I can't come down today guys. I've got a card game.'" Simmons told Rock Candy Mag writer Andrew Daly. "What were we supposed to do? The answer was we had to get other people. And like Ace, Peter had his demons. We all understand or at least suspect what drugs and alcohol can do to you. But you'd like to think that the people around you will prevent you from going down that route. Or at least will prevent you from doing a lot of it. That just didn't happen with Peter. We held out as long as we could, but it got to the point where he was sabotaging the band. The three of us - me, Paul, and Ace - voted to remove Peter from Kiss."

The band recruited drummer Eric Carr to replace Criss for 1981's concept album 'Music From The Elder', but this radical musical departure backfired and was a commercial failure.

"To Ace's credit, the entire time he said that making a record like 'Music From The Elder' was not a good idea," admits Simmons. "He kept saying, 'Look, I don't want to do this other stuff. We should stay being a rock band.' In retrospect Ace was exactly right. But Ace's biggest problem was the monkey on his back of drugs and alcohol. By that point he was gone. There were too many drugs and there was too much alcohol, and it drove Ace to the point of no return. The idea that Ace left Kiss purely because of 'The Elder' isn't true."

You can read our 20-page Kiss special, together with many other fascinating stories about UFO, Loverboy, Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal, and Rick Wakeman in issue 36 of Rock Candy Mag. For more details visit www.rockcandymag.com