RIP Paul "Ace" Frehley

 

Let me preface this by saying I was appalled at Ace's weird political takes over the last few years. There were some live videos of performances where he goes off on a pro-tRump tirade that would've made draft-dodging statutory-rapist Ted Nugent proud. I did not like "this" Ace. "That" Ace was unhinged and cringey as hell, with most of his pro-tRump rants being as unsolicited and from out-of-left-field as those by the orange pedofelon himself. "That" Ace was a dick, and was not the guitar hero I considered integral in my own guitar playing (directly, and through other influences).

Unfortunately, like a lot of music, I was around insufferable people who tried to "force KISS" into the previously-punk-rock sound of one of my early bands (a move that would essentially ruin the band, I hate to say), and I went through a phase where I wanted nothing to do with the band, but over the years I was reintroduced to them by my bandmates Kenny and Lynn (in the Oath--literally named after a KISS song), and developed a new, and more mature, appreciation for them.

While he lacked the emotive, aggressive and "vocal" lead guitar playing of my main hero, Angus Young, Ace nevertheless took some of the licks he copped from Page, Clapton and Hendrix, and made them fit into KISS' "big dumb party rock sound". Many guitarists (from the guys in Skid Row to Slash to Dimebag to Mike McCready) went on to develop their styles with a lot of his influence.

Ace's vibrato might not have had Angus' or Paul Kossoff's sweetness, but he was one of those guys who I respected for using it to make his style a little more interesting. And he would do what I called the "Frehley chirp", where it was almost a "chicken pickin' " type harmonic with the pick and a finger, usually while slowly bringing a bent string back down, and no one quite does that the same. His solos were very formulaic and sometimes you'd hear similar licks in different songs (kind of like Angus, or the Skynyrd guys, and a lot of other artists who came out of the era), but that also helped one familiarize with the technique a little bit quicker. He wasn't a "shredder" necessarily, and I can't say he was the "best" at anything (aside from that aforementioned "chirp"), but he was definitely the most fun KISS lead guitarist to watch onstage.

"The Spaceman" was Ace's onstage persona, complete with strobing light-up guitars, firing rockets and lasers from another one, and his awkward swagger onstage which was the perfect foil for Paul Stanley's androgynous prancing and Gene Simmons' stomping monster. I was happy to get to see the final tour with the original members over 25 years ago, even if I think Ace MIGHT have been off the wagon again, because I recall "Shock Me" (my favorite KISS song, which he sings) being quite sloppy vocally. But enjoyable, because I was watching history in the making.

I'd like to pretend that up until he started getting cringey a few years back about the political crap, Ace was just the lovable doofus we thought he was, and the imperfect recovering alcoholic whose playing inspired thousands of young guitarists from multiple generations. To "that" Paul "Ace" Frehley, I hope you're in the stars now, Spaceman, and being that character you played so well in the band you helped make into one of the biggest musical acts in the world during their heyday. Say hello to Kenny and Lynn if you see them on your way out of the Milky Way.

PS: if you want to really hear how guitarists influence one another, listen to the Doors' "Five to One", KISS' "She" and Pearl Jam's "Alive" and you'll hear a multigenerational homage. Ace lifted Robby Krieger's solo, and McCready lifted Ace's, and none of those songs sound remotely similar but the same lick "works" in all of them.