ACE FREHLEY Explains Passport Issues Which Have Kept Him From Touring Europe: 'I Owe The IRS A Couple Of Hundred Grand'

In a new interview with Marko Syrjälä of Chaoszine, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was asked about the passport issues which have kept him from touring Europe in recent years. He responded: "Well, there's a good chance I can make it to Europe in late summer if I get my passport renewed. I've been having issues with renewing my passport because I have some problems with the IRS [Internal Revenue Service], and it's not really the passport bureau but the IRS. Since I owe the IRS a couple of hundred grand, and they just instituted a new law that if you owe more than $50,000, they won't renew your passport. Luckily, I have some really smart attorneys working on it, and there are ways around it, so hopefully I might be able to get my passport within two or three weeks. If that happens, I will be in Europe this summer. If it doesn't happen, I will be in Europe next summer. But I'd love it to be this summer because it's been too long since I did all the festivals there."

Back in 2013, Daily Mail reported that Ace was losing his home in Westchester County, New York after a bank foreclosed on it because he hadn't paid his mortgage in two years. At the time, he also reportedly owed nearly $20,000 for taxes to the county, the town of Yorktown and the local school district that he didn't pay in 2011 or 2012. As of a decade ago, Frehley also reportedly owned two other properties in town, including a vacant lot.

For the past few years, Frehley has lived in Sparta, New Jersey with his fiancée, Lara Cove.

Ace will release his new solo album, "10,000 Volts", on February 23, 2024 via MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music). The official music video for the LP's title track — directed by Alex Kouvatsos from Black Wolf Imaging — was released in late November.

Ace's next all-original album will be the follow-up to "Spaceman", which was released in October 2018 via eOne.

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons co-wrote two tracks on "Spaceman", "Without You I'm Nothing" and "Your Wish Is My Command", the latter of which also features Gene's bass playing.

Frehley, who co-founded KISS in 1973, left KISS twice — in 1982 and again in 2002.

When all four original KISS members concurrently released solo records in September 1978, Ace's LP was the most successful, yielding the top 20 single "New York Groove".

In 2016, Frehley collaborated with KISS frontman Paul Stanley on a rendition of FREE's "Fire And Water". That track appeared on Frehley's covers LP "Origins Vol. 1", released that year.

Photo credit: Jayme Thornton