Vintage Guitar Interview

Vintage Guitar March 1997
�1997 Vintage Guitar

In the 1970s, when Kiss' original lead guitarist sauntered across the concert stage in his silver space suit, wielding those famous triple-pickup Gibson Les Pauls, he was the Harbinger Of Cool, and thousands of kids started playing guitar as a result. When Frehley left the group in 1983 to pursue a humbling solo career, the entire guitar-playing community lost its most effective recruiter since Jimi Hendrix. Thanks to the astronomical success of Kiss' current reunion tour, Frehley's regained the muscle necessary to expose a new generation of kids to the world's coolest musical instrument.
Space Ace was kind enough to share some insight regarding his career with Vintage Guitar readers. Here's what went down.

VG: Which guitars did you most commonly use in the studio with Kiss and on your 1978 solo album?

AF: The first album, I had a Les Paul tobacco sunburst and I probably put a DiMarzio PAF or Super Distortion in it. Then, I started using my three-pickup, cherry sunburst '74 Les Paul around '76. When I did my solo album, I cut every track with the '59 Les Paul Standard flametop. It was stock. I never put a DiMarzio Super Distortion (Frehley's typical pickup of choice) in an old Les Paul, I always left in the PAFs. I'd never with an old Les Paul. I just put DiMarzio's in my newer Les Pauls.

VG: You had a righteous guitar collection at one time. What happened?

AF: When Eddie Van Halen became real hot, a friend of mine who deals in vintage guitars told me that the market was rapidly dropping. He goes, "I would dump your collection now before the market drops anymore." Almost like a stock broker! I invested so much money into it. In retrospect, I wouldn't have done it. Things go full circle, though. Now, people are playing Les Pauls probably more than anything.

VG: Was it tough to re-learn any of your guitar solos for Kiss' current reunion tour?

AF: A couple of them were, which was surprising. I'd forgotten how crazy some of those solos really were. On 100,000 Years, I was saying, "God, I'd never write a solo like that today!" It's got all sorts of weird stuff. I must've been in a haze when I did that! It's fun to play. That solo was probably the craziest and most intricate.

VG: Tell me about your approach to recording solos during Kiss' recording sessions.

AF: I play my best when I don't think. I have an idea of what key I'm in, but basically, I go "Hit the tape" and I close my eyes and let my fingers do the talkin'. "Firehouse" was a one-take solo. In the early days, I used to sit home and try to plan solos, but what would happen is I'd get into the studio after working maybe two or three hours on the solo that I thought everybody would fall in love with and they'd say "You can do better than that!" Nine tunes out of 10, I'd just end up throwing out the solo I wrote, and come up with a variation of it, or just go in a completely different direction. Planning solos doesn't work for me. I'd rather just come in with a couple of licks to throw in and work around them. I have no idea why I do what I do!

VG: Do you still have your home studio in Connecticut, where you recorded your '78 solo album?

AF: Nah, I got rid of that in the late '80s. It was too far removed. I picked that area because it was very secluded, but when I realized my daughter really didn't have any friends and stuff, I said, "I think it's time for her to get in touch with people, with real life." Plus, the overhead on the place was ridiculous. When I wasn't with Kiss, I wasn't makin' the same kind of money, so it was time to cut back. It had gates and a moat around it, and fans still used to come there. It wasn't a complete moat. It was like a creek running through, but you had to cross a bridge to get on my property. There were gates, video cameras and alarms and shit.

VG: Did fans try to get on your property?

AF: The funny thing is, I remember prom night one year. This kid somehow climbed over the gate and was trying to come up my driveway. Little did he know I had attack dogs outside! All of the sudden, I get woken up at three o'clock in the morning by my dogs barkn' and barkin'. I go, "Something's up." So, I grabbed my .357 and my sawed-off shotgun and I go walkin' out there fearlessly, with a flashlight. All of a sudden, I see my dog barkin' at a tree. I go, "What the fuck is wrong with this animal?" I look up in the tree with the flashlight, and there's this guy dressed in his prom outfit. He goes, "Don't shoot! I'm sorry! I'm on acid!" I grabbed my dog, the leash and calmed him down. I said, "Look, come on down, I'm not going to shoot." The kid was cryin'. He was only 18 years old! I said, "Listen I'm going to let you go, but you've got to give me a solemn promise you'll never come on this property again." He goes, "Oh, I never will Mr. Frehley." I said, "O.K., there's the driveway. Keep walkin' and I'll open the gate. Don't stop walkin'." You had to be there!