Original KISS guitarist, Ace Frehley, recently spoke with Jeff Napier of Nuvo and revealed that his new album, entitled 10,000 Volts, will be released in February 2024 (MNRK Music Group). A portion of the interview follows...
Nuvo: What question do you wish that people would ask you?
Ace Frehley: "In reality, right now, we should be talking about my new album, which, actually, is being mastered as we speak. It is gonna be delivered to the record company on Monday. It's probably the best record I've ever done. I'm very excited about it. It's the first time I ended up writing most of these songs with a good friend of mine, Steve Brown. He used to play in Trixter and has a group called Rubix Kube. Anyway, we live 40 minutes from each other, and my fiance Lara hooked us up. I'd met him several times over the years, but just briefly, but she knew him when she was in her twenties, and she said you gotta get together with Steve. He's a great songwriter and guitar player. He sent me a song, and there was one line that just jumped out from his chorus, and it was "Walking On The Moon." So I said listen, let's get together and rewrite this song, and the hook will be "Walking On The Moon" because it wasn't the end of the chorus he had prepared. So, we rewrote the song, and it came out great. We were actually gonna call the album Walking On The Moon until we recorded a song called '10,000 Volts', which came out amazing. I got Anton Fig, my old drummer, who played on my original '78 solo album and most of my solo stuff, to play drums on that. So, working with Steve has made a huge difference in my playing and writing because when he and I put our heads together, it just clicks. If I'm at a loss for a cord or a verse or a line, he comes up with it and vice versa, and within three or four hours, we write a song.
"So that's how the record's been going, you know. Then, once you record the basic track, you gotta do the overdubs and double and triple the vocals, harmonies, and stuff. He's an excellent engineer. So I didn't have to pay an engineer to engineer this record. So I saved money on that, working with Steve as well, which is nice.
Nuvo: Did recording your Origins 1 & 2 records inspire you on this new record?
Frehley: "It's one thing doing an origins record because you don't have to write the songs. Basically, I was picking songs that influenced me that were written by other people. So it's a lot easier to do than when you do a regular studio record where all the songs are original. On this record, all the songs are original except for one. I did one cover of a song called 'Life of a Stranger', written by a gal named Nadia. When she did the song, it was Euro-pop, and it was very sparsely recorded. I listened to it and loved the melody, and I loved the lyrics. I played it for Steve, and he said, you know, we could kill this song, you know, with heavy drums and power chords and stuff and keyboards even. It came out great. All the other songs did as well. There's really not a weak song on the record. Most people do a record, and they concentrate on three or four songs that they think might be singles, and then the rest of it is a lot of filler. But every song on this album I can hear on the radio. I hope DJs agree with me."
Nuvo: Are we gonna hear any new stuff when you come to play?
Frehley: "No, the album will be released in February 2024. Later in November, we're releasing the title track, which is '10,000 Volts', and once that's released, I can include it in the set. I'll be doing that once it comes out, and then there'll be a second single and a third single, and then the album comes out in February. I'm really excited to see the response I'm gonna get because I really think it's, it's gonna be positive, and people are gonna be very, very surprised because I think it's one of my best records."
Read the complete interview at Nuvo.net.
This year's edition of the American Cancer Society's "Kiss Cancer Goodbye" event was held in Sarasota, FL at Harvest House, on the weekend of October 13-14. Ace Frehley was at the event both days, and was a special guest joining several bands for parts of their performances. Check out fan-filmed video below:
