GENE SIMMONS Opens Up About ACE FREHLEY's Death, Current Relationship With PETER CRISS: 'PETER's Always Considered Himself A Victim'

In a new interview with Michael Moynihan of The Moynihan Report, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons was asked how much of all the problems he and guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley had with the other original members of the band, guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss, were "money based". Gene responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was not money based. It was drugs and alcohol, sadly. Not with Paul or myself. And we love them, and without Ace and Peter, we wouldn't be here."

Reflecting on Ace's decision to leave KISS three separate times and Frehley's eventual death, Gene said: "It's so hard for the fans. It's heartbreaking. Ace had a massive influence on guitar players — Dimebag Darrell [of PANTERA], Mike McCready of PEARL JAM, METALLICA, PEARL JAM, just everybody across the line. But not everybody's designed in their DNA to run a marathon. Some people just, short race, and they can do well for that, but they can't do it.

"Ace told me to my face when he was leaving the band, 'I'm gonna have a solo career 'cause if I go out on tour again, I'm gonna kill myself.' Yeah, he just... The psychological pressures affects different people in different ways," Simmons explained. "I have no problem with anything. I'm voraciously ambitious and love the attention and the money and the fame and like all that stuff, but it doesn't affect everybody the same way."

Asked what it was about Ace that affected him in such a negative way and why the guitarist was apparently haunted by such self-doubt, Gene said: "I'm not a shrink, but I think — I'll talk about myself. It starts with who you are in your own skin. Regular people every day drink themselves until they're numb and can't even walk, and use drugs and become drug addicts, even when nobody's watching, just because they're not comfortable in their own skin. And Ace and Peter handled it for a few years, and then they were in and out of the band three different times. And it breaks the heart of fans, for me, where asshole comes in. If I tell the truth — you have your mom and dad, and your mom turns to the kids and says, 'Your dad's not at home. I threw him out because he's a drunken loser, and he doesn't show up on time, and he doesn't go to work,' and all that stuff. The kids are heartbroken. They start hating mom. 'How could you say those things about Dad?' Even though it's true… They don't wanna hear that about mom and dad or members of the family."

Simmons added: "When Ace came back the third time, it was very serious drug use. The stuff that makes you... I don't wanna mention the name, 'cause it's so depressing. And his daughter was affected and all that stuff. Breaks our hearts. When we got the Kennedy Center Honors, at least Ace found out from the White House that KISS won. And sadly, he passed. But when we got the Kennedy Center Honors, there was an empty chair beside us in honor of Ace. Ace's daughter, Monique, was there to honor her father."

On the topic of his current relationship with Criss, Simmons said: "When we're with each other, it's great. As you go apart… Ah, it's tough for me to be honest and stuff. Peter's always considered himself a victim: 'They ganged up on me, and look what they did to me,' and stuff like that. Instead of, if you're really cured and everything, you look in the mirror and said, 'It's my fault. I used. I didn't do my work, and I was complaining,' instead of being grateful to be in one of the largest bands that has ever existed."

Asked if Peter still makes money from KISS, Gene said: "Very little. We bought him out — in 1982." Simmons went on to say that he and Paul acquired Frehley's ownership stake in KISS as well, which means that all the other members of KISS essentially became salaried employees from that point on.

"All groups of people are a business," Gene explained. "Money's gotta come from someplace. Life is business. People don't like that."

Asked if he has a good relationship with Paul now, Gene said: "Always had. That doesn't mean you agree. I like to make this reference point that intrinsically, in our DNA, we share deep moral and philosophical ideas about life. So we share this kind of thing, but also the work ethic. No drugs, no alcohol. I've never been high or drunk in my life. No cigarettes. As it happens, we just share those ideas when this rock and roll world is filled with fucking losers."

Criss first left KISS in 1980. Since then he's worked with other bands and released solo albums. He teamed up with KISS again for a reunion tour in the 1990s and most recently in 2004. He was replaced by Eric Singer.

In addition to playing drums in KISS, Peter also provided lead vocals for a number the band's most popular and memorable songs, including "Beth", "Black Diamond" and "Hard Luck Woman".

Peter last appeared onstage with all three other original members of KISS when the group was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2014, though he and his former bandmates didn't perform at the event.

Criss and the other two surviving original members of KISS — Stanley and Simmons — received a Kennedy Center Honor at a December 7, 2025 ceremony.

Frehley died on October 16, 2025 after a fall at his New Jersey home. He was 74 years old. His cause of death was listed as blunt trauma injuries to his head due to a fall, according to a report from the Morris County Medical Examiner. The manner of his death was ruled an accident.