Ace Frehley Laments Missed Kiss Reunion Opportunity: ‘I’m Now the Guy You Always Wanted Me to Be’

Ace Frehley seems to think Kiss are making a mistake by not giving him his old job back in time for their upcoming farewell tour, because he's finally the responsible bandmate Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons always wanted him to be, he said.

Frehley openly talked about the possibility of reuniting with his former group last year, and more recently the suggestion circulated that a reunion might take place during the band’s upcoming End of the Road tour. Last month he even appeared alongside his former colleagues on the recent Kiss Kruise.

But when the first wave of farewell tour dates was recently revealed, it was confirmed that Tommy Thayer would be handling lead-guitar duties, as he has done since 2002. Before that tour announcement, Frehley shared his thoughts with Loudwire on a possible reunion with Kiss, insisting he’d reclaim his “throne” if he wound up hitting the road with his former colleagues.

“Those guys, they change like the weather,” he said. “Six months ago, when Paul was asked, ‘Is Ace gonna be involved in future concerts?’ he said, ‘Absolutely not.’ The past is the past and now is now. In the last week or two he’s saying, ‘I wouldn’t rule it out’ and then he did another interview where he said, ‘There’ll probably be some old members coming back as guests for the last tour.’ But he’s not mentioning any names.”

You can watch the video below.

“You know, they’re testing the waters,” the guitarist continued. “I think they’re waiting for promoters to come back and say, ‘We’ll give you X amount of dollars if Ace is involved ... and Peter [Criss] is involved.’ It’s all about money with those guys – and they’ll be the first to admit it, especially Gene.”

Frehley said if he did return, "I’m gonna take my throne back – or I’m not coming back. I don’t do anything halfway in life.” He attributed that to his nature as a “stubborn” Taurus. “Both times when I quit the band, they didn’t want me to leave, and after a week or two I said, ‘Maybe I didn’t make the right decision,'" he recalled. "But it was too late.”

Frehley went on to argue that there was “nothing special” in another tour with the Kiss lineup that’s remained the same for nearly 15 years. “I told Paul and Gene, ‘I’m the guy now that you always wanted me to be. All the times you worked with me, I was a screw-up, I was always late and didn’t show up on time, and missed recording sessions,’" he said. "I was telling them this year, ‘I’m now the guy you always wanted me to be.’ Hopefully it sinks in, you know?”