Christa Titus | Billboard

On Ace Frehely’s latest album,Origins, Vol. 1, the guitar legend slips into the roles of both admirer and idol. The formerKiss member compiled the collection of covers by picking songs from bands who influenced him as a musician, like Led Zeppelin (“Bring It On Home,”) Cream (“White Room”),Free (“Fire and Water”) and The Kinks (“Till the End of the Day”). Then he consulted his Rolodex to invite contemporaries to join him on the record, like John 5, Lita Ford, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and Slash.

“Slash is an amazing, fiery guitar player, just like me,” says Frehley of the top-hatted axeman, who trades licks with him on Thin Lizzy’s “Emerald.” “I think we complemented each other rather than try to outplay each other.”

Ace Frehley Working On Covers Album Before Taking Touring Break

Frehley also extended asks to one-time bandmates Paul Stanley andGene Simmons. While Frehley wasn’t able to get a hold of Simmons — “Maybe for volume two,” he says philosophically — Stanley paired with him for “Fire and Water,” for which they also shot a video:

Frehley paid further homage to his Kiss past by rerecording “Parasite” (with John 5) and “Rock and Roll Hell.” “On the original versions recorded with Kiss, I wasn’t singing lead. And since I’ve been singing lead on those songs live for many years, I think it was about time, you know, I get it on record,” he says of why he rerecorded them.

Listen to Frehley discuss putting together Origins, Vol. 1 below. He also fields a lightning round of questions about how he used to break the ice with ladies, what he does in his free time and more.