George De Sota/Liaison
From: AZcentral.com
By: Ed Masley
When KISS took the pop-music world by storm in their ’70s prime, lead guitarist Ace Frehley, the Spaceman, was fully committed to living the dream as best expressed in the shout-along chorus of the costumed rockers’ breakthrough single, “Rock and Roll All Nite.”
“I wanna rock and roll all nite / And party every day.”
But as those days turned into years, the non-stop partying caught up with Frehley, who walked out on his dream gig in the early ’80s, signed back on in 1996 for a wildly successful reunion of the four originals, complete with makeup, and quit a second time in 2001.
He’s sober now and telling all in “No Regrets: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir.”
We caught up with Frehley, who’s headed to Tempe for a book signing on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 15, at Changing Hands Bookstore.
Question: So “No Regrets” is a pretty bold title. You have no regrets at all?
Answer: No, I really don’t at all. I really believe I had to go through all those ups and downs and twists and turns to get to where I am today – clean and sober. I had to make mistakes to end up where I am. And I don’t regret it. I lived.
Q: And you’ve been clean and sober what, five years now?
A: It was five years on Sept. 15.
Q: What made you decide to do that?
A: Well, you know, I’ve tried it a couple times over the years, but I just haven’t followed through. Five years ago, I had a relapse at the VH1 Rock Honors with Slash and it was pretty much my daughter who was the instrument. It finally just sunk in that it was time to, you know, give everything up. And I’m a better person for it, thank God.
Q: What made you decide to write a memoir now?
A: Well, people have approached me several times over the years to write a book, and it just seemed like a good time. The memory’s clearing up. I’m remembering a lot of old stories.
Q: Have you heard any feedback from your former bandmates?
A: No, I haven’t. I was curious as to what they thought about it, but so far, no reviews.
Q: Did writing the book make you miss your time in KISS?
A: Not really. No. We had some good times and when it came time to move on, I moved on. There’s really no hard feelings at this point. They went one direction. I went another.
Q: I saw an interview with you on the “Today” show and you were talking about how you had lunch with Gene and you kind of wanted to wipe the slate clean and move forward. I was wondering what you meant by move forward. Would you rejoin KISS?
A: No. It’s something for my sobriety. He had called me a few times and approached me to do his television show and I pretty much ignored him. After all we’ve been through, good and bad, I just thought it was time to clear the air and let him know that I’m solid. I apologized to him about certain things I did in the past. It was something I actually did more for me than for him (laughs). It wasn’t an apology, per se. I just told him, you know, “Maybe things would’ve been different if I wasn’t so loaded.” But you know, I had to move on and hopefully, he realizes why. I go into it in-depth in the book.
Q: Are there stories in the book that made you think, “I don’t know, maybe I should leave this out?”
A: Well, there are several stories I left out. I have so many stories, I could write three books. I picked some of the best stories and so far, the response has been really good. I just hit No. 10 on the best-sellers list one week out. So I’m excited.
Q: That’s great. Is that better than you expected?
A: Yeah, actually, it is. I never did a book before, so I didn’t have anything to gauge it by. So first week out, No. 10 on the New York Times best-seller list, that’s pretty awesome. For anybody. Even an established author.
Q: How do you feel about KISS continuing to tour in the makeup without you and Peter (Criss)?
A: It’s what they decided to do. I don’t have any problem. I’m not happy with the idea of someone else taking the credit for my makeup and my songs and everything that I worked on my whole life. There’s a lot of new KISS fans who may not even be aware of my contribution to the band.
Q: So did you quit the band or were you fired?
A: I quit the band twice. In 1983 and again in 2001.
Q: Was it a hard decision to make the second time?
A: No, not really. I was starting to get on a destructive path and I felt like I needed to leave or something was gonna happen, pretty much the same thing that happened in ’83, you know? Paul and Gene have a way of pushing my buttons, doing things and saying things that rub me the wrong way. It got to that point a second time and I decided, you know, that is was over.
Q: Do you feel like they were pushing your buttons on purpose?
A: Does it really matter?
Q: I would imagine one would suck and one would suck a little more.
A: Maybe sometimes not, but I’m sure there were some times that they did it intentionally.
Q: You were talking about your destructive behavior. Was that most of the tension between you guys?
A: No, there were several creative disagreements, which made me more self-destructive because I wasn’t happy. I pretty much cover all that stuff in the book. It’s an interesting story. Even people who aren’t rock and roll fans but are following the path of sobriety would find the book interesting.
Q: What was the reaction like in KISS when you guys put out those four solo albums at the same time and yours was the one with the hit on it?
A: I’ve always been pretty humble about my achievements. I didn’t rub it in anybody’s face and they didn’t really acknowledge it. They never really patted me on the back about anything.