As a tribute, The Metal Hall of Fame has reprinted my 2009 interview with the late, great Ace Frehley I did for Dee Snider’s House of Hair Online. We talked about Ace’s current album at the time, Anomaly, and he shared some of his pre-Kiss memories with me. Growing up as a huge Kiss fan in the Seventies, this remains one of the sweetest moments of my writing career.

I’ve shared my thoughts about Ace in past newsletters, my notes and in online discussions with other Substackers and on social media, but the man was one of a kind. A scorcher of a guitar player who carried more demons than his bandmate, Gene Simmons, you never truly appreciate the gift from someone of Frehley’s caliber as a player until it’s no longer there. So true, the sage advice dropped by hair metal savants Cinderella with their waxing ballad, “Don’t Know What You Got (Till it’s Gone).” Whether it’s the blistering guitar outro on Kiss’ “Deuce” or his daydreamy, multilayered series of “Fractured” instrumentals Frehley wove across many of his solo albums including Frehley’s Comet, the Spaceman was a true original. We are a shade lesser as a music-loving culture without Ace Frehley’s ricocheting tonality.

Here’s a link to my 2009 interview with Ace:

Ace Frehley Forever: Remembering the Spaceman

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.