When Ace Frehley played what would be his final concert last month, he took the stage with a rhythm guitar player who had been by his side longer than any other in his solo bands: Nashville shredder Jeremy Asbrock. Together, they tore through Kiss classics like “Deuce” and “Cold Gin,” Frehley solo staples like “New York Groove,” and Frehley’s Comet’s enduring battle cry “Rock Soldiers.”

Asbrock, who played in bands like the Shazam and with John Corabi before joining up with Kiss’ Spaceman guitarist in 2018, was the ultimate rock soldier. He calls playing with Frehley, who died Oct. 16 at 74, a dream gig for a Kiss superfan like himself.

“Ace isn’t just an influence of mine. This is the person that laid the path before me when I was four years old. I’ve never wanted to do anything else, and he was the guy that brought it all to me,” Asbrock tells Rolling Stone. “Some nights onstage, it was extremely surreal, especially when he was having a really great show, and he’d get in that stance and start doing his thing. It was like, ‘Man, there it is. That’s it right there, and it’s standing right beside me.’”

Along with Asbrock, Frehley’s final solo band included fellow Nashville player Ryan Spencer Cook on bass and Scot Coogan on drums. Ironically, perhaps, the group was born out of Gene Simmons’ band. Asbrock says they were playing with the Kiss bassist on a tour of Australia that Frehley was booked to open when Frehley asked Simmons if he could borrow his players.

“Gene said, ‘If it’s OK with them, it’s OK with me,’” Asbrock recalls. “Later on, Gene pulled me into his dressing room, and the Kiss cruise was coming up, and he told us that Ace was going to ask us to do the cruise. Then we went to Japan from there with Ace and he asked us to be the band. I joined in September of 2018, so I’ve held the guitar-player position longer than any musician he’s had, consecutively.”

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Longtime E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt and Kiss frontman Gene Simmons found themselves recently talking Jewish heritage to a group of 120 people at angel investor Richard Clareman’s house in Brentwood. The event was part of a moderated conversation for TeachRock, Van Zandt’s education nonprofit, aimed at raising funds for Jewish history education in public schools.

Moderated by film financier and producer Gary Gilbert, the event marked the first installment of TeachRock’s “Amplifying Jewish Heritage” series that aims to develop curriculum resources to highlight the role Jewish musicians have played in key moments throughout U.S. history.

In an interview prior to the event, Van Zandt and Simmons were quick to speak of the fierce urgency of the current moment — as cases of antisemitism have surged in the U.S. in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel.

TeachRock “tries to cover the waterfront” when it comes to education, Van Zandt said, grabbing students’ limited attention bandwidth with whatever means possible. “We try and offer anything educators may need,” he said. “The vast contribution to our culture from the Jewish people — from Broadway to songwriting to the music industry at large — is enormously significant, so this fits in with our goal of expanding access to education across verticals.”

“The timing (of a program like this) is not accidental. I’ve never seen antisemitism like this in my lifetime,” Van Zandt continued. “It’s horrifying what’s going on. We can talk about the fact that people are being manipulated right now very badly, in a way we never thought would happen in our lifetimes, and if we don’t do something about it, history repeats itself. It’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

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This Toddler Paul Stanley The Starchild Costume includes the KISS jumpsuit and the mask.

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After leaving Kiss for the first time more than 40 years ago, Ace Frehley‘s solo career followed an idiosyncratic orbit but one with largely rewarding results.

All four members of Kiss famously released solo albums on the same day in 1978, as part of a plan to keep a frustrated Frehley from quitting the group. When he unexpectedly outclassed all of his bandmates both creatively and on the singles chart, Frehley was rewarded with a spotlight and lead vocal time equal to Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons on the band’s next two albums.

But that concession only delayed his inevitable 1982 departure from the group, and after a five-year self-imposed exile in which he battled substance abuse issues, Frehley launched a solo career with 1987’s well-received Frehley’s Comet. The album title was also the name of his new group, although that moniker and the notion of him sharing lead vocal duties with another singer was quickly jettisoned in favor of Frehley releasing albums under his name.

The Frehley’s Comet name did prove to be a prophetic description of the sporadic nature of his solo career: After releasing two more albums in consecutive years, Frehley waited two entire decades before returning to his solo career with 2009’s Anomaly. He spent five of those years touring with the temporarily reunited original lineup of Kiss before belatedly returning to his solo career in the ’10s.

Unlike most of his peers, Frehley was much more active in the studio in those final years. Including 2016’s and 2020’s Origins Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 covers collections, Frehley released a total of five new albums in his last decade, matching his output from the previous 35 years.

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“The last thing he told me during that last interview was, ‘I’m probably gonna go until the wheels come off!’” I spoke to Ace Frehley a dozen times in the last two years of his life – oft-misunderstood, he was the true embodiment of rock ‘n’ roll spirit

Guitar World correspondent Andrew Daly got to know Frehley, his idol, incredibly well in his final years, and just as vivid as the memories of conversations about Kiss and the guitar are the chats about egg sandwiches, and why the guitar hero’s home always had geese around

You probably won’t believe this, but for the last week or so, I’ve had a creeping feeling that another amazing player whom I’d come to know personally was going to die.

Call it a journalist’s intuition. Call it my anxious nature being egged on by the hot disaster the world has become. And sure, in this racket, which often includes interviewing elder musicians who didn’t always take great care of themselves, death goes hand-in-hand with the words.

This is fair to say. Still, I hoped I was wrong.

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I remember 1974 being in my room at the Hyatt on Sunset in LA and I heard someone playing deep and fiery guitar in the room next door. I thought “Boy, I wish THAT guy was in the band!” I looked over the balcony… He was. It was Ace. This is my favorite photo of us…

Gene Simmons’ wife says it’s time for him to make some lifestyle changes after his recent car accident… admitting she doesn’t want to be by his side in the passenger seat anymore, reports TMZ.

Shannon Tweed tells TMZ… after losing consciousness while driving down Pacific Coast Highway and crashing his SUV into a parked car in Malibu this week – she says, “I’m not driving with him anymore.”

The crash was reported just before 1 PM in the 25000 block of Pacific Coast Highway. The KISS bassist and vocalist’s Lincoln Navigator crashed into a parked car, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department told NBC4 Investigates.

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The KISS costumes had a long evolution and this band’s signature look comes to a peak with their Rock the Nation tour in 2004. This officially licensed Gene Simmons Costume is an excellent collector piece and represents their look on the 2004 tour. Gene Simmons, also known as “The Demon” transforms into a dark cynical character during his performances and you can get his look with our costume. This costume is made of quality material and has very elaborate detail. The base of this outfit starts with the bodysuit. The stretch material of this bodysuit is comprised of 83% nylon and 17% spandex and has pleather and large metal silver stud detail. Step into this stretch bodysuit that has a deep v cut in the chest, black elastic stirrups attached to the ankles fit around your feet, and there is a conveniently located zipper for when nature calls. The sides of the legs have a large triangular openings trimmed with black leather and large silver studs that is also repeated in the inner thighs. The elaborate vest has attached wings and fits over your head while you slip your arms through the comfortable elastic on the underside of the wings. The top of the arms and the shoulders are lined with silver realistic spikes made of soft shiny fabric topping off the bat shaped wings with inner and outer stud detail. The front cod piece with stud detail is attached to the vest with plastic fasteners and to the back cod piece with Velcro and silver rings. This cod piece is adjustable in the length and width. This great outfit also includes the choker with silver square faceted studs. and the black stretch fingerless gloves with shiny silver fabric spikes at the top of the knuckles. Six additional silver metal studs are also included. Check out our KISS accessories such as the Rock the Nation Boots and the Gene Simmons Demon KISS Makeup to complete your rock star makeover. If you are a true KISS fan you will be satisfied with this quality costume.

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