ACE FREHLEY On ERIC SINGER: 'I Know He Would Have Preferred Having Me Play Guitar' In KISS Over TOMMY THAYER

During an appearance on a recent episode of the "Decibel Geek Podcast", Ace Frehley spoke about his relationship with KISS's most recent drummer Eric Singer. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I really love playing with Eric. He's such a great drummer, and he has such a snap in his snare. 'Cause I jammed with him at a convention years ago, and we were doing 'Shock Me', and he just blew away the drummer that was playing previously. I said, 'Yeah, now that's a drummer.' I always tip my hat to Eric."

He continued: "Me and Eric have always been friends. We've kept in touch during all the bullshit that went down with KISS. Eric Singer's a great guy and he respects me. I respect him. I know he would prefer having me play guitar in the band than [KISS's most recent guitarist] Tommy [Thayer]. I don't think he's a huge fan of Tommy, but it is what it is. [KISS founders] Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons] call the shots."

A decade ago, Singer fired back at Frehley after Ace ripped KISS's most recent lineup for being "half a KISS cover band", pointing out that neither Frehley nor original KISS drummer Peter Criss had a problem playing alongside replacement members wearing the group's original makeup while they were still on the KISS payroll.

"This is something that I notice that nobody seems to point out," Singer told Rolling Stone magazine. "When I came in to play with the makeup [in 2001], Ace was in the band, and had no problem with me playing with Peter's makeup while he went onstage and made that KISS money. In fact, he loved it, and he didn't want Peter back in the band. And then go forward the next year, when Ace decided to leave. When we fast forward, all of a sudden they bring Peter back, and you got Tommy Thayer playing guitar wearing the Ace makeup, and all of a sudden, no one minded it was Ace's makeup design. Peter had no problem, did he?"

Last November, prior to KISS's final concert, Frehley told Mark Strigl of SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard that he didn't hold a grudge against KISS, despite all the badmouthing that had gone on between him and some of the other original KISS members in recent years.

"I wish KISS the best, all the best on their final shows for the 'End Of The Road' tour," he said. "There's really no hard feelings. We say things sometimes in the heat of passion or sometimes our memory isn't… [we don't] recall things. But I love those guys. We're all getting old, our memory isn't what it used to be, so I just let it roll off my back."

Ace's new solo album, "10,000 Volts", was released on February 23 via MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music). The 11-track LP was produced by Ace and Steve Brown (TRIXTER).

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

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.

Photo credit: Jayme Thornton