ACE FREHLEY Says PAUL STANLEY And GENE SIMMONS 'Would Have To Reach Deep Into Their Pockets' To Get Him To Play With KISS Again

During an appearance this past Monday (September 21) on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was asked if he is still in contact with his onetime bandmates, KISS leaders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. Ace responded: "I exchange messages with those guys from time to time. Gene gave me a phone call a couple of weeks ago, actually, and I still haven't gotten back to him. I've been so preoccupied with moving and unpacking and designing… I'm the architect for this new studio [I am building at my new house in New Jersey], so I've been pretty jammed up. But I will get back to Gene. I speak to Paul from time to time. I speak to [Peter Criss's wife] Gigi and Peter. So we're all friends.

"It's a shame that the press makes it out that we all hate each other," he continued. "After what we created and what we accomplished over the last 40 years — me and Peter, Paul and Gene being the founding members of KISS — there's no reason why we shouldn't be friends and let bygones be bygones."

Asked if there is a part of him that still hopes to play with KISS again before they finally call it quits, Frehley said: "I think it's a possibility, but they'd have to reach deep into their pockets. I'm not getting up on stage for free, I can tell you that right now.

"I'm doing it because I love it, but I also love the money and I also love my Jaguar and my new Escalade and my new house, and I have all those things because of the music business and my fans," he explained. "I give my fans 110 percent, and they give me 110 percent, so it works both ways. But Paul and Gene absolutely have admitted numerous times, they're in it for the money — sometimes more so than the music.

"I'm not gonna get up there for free, and I don't think any of my fans would expect me to. But I think my fans would love to see me up there."

In the two years after KISS announced its "End Of The Road" farewell tour, fans wondered openly if original members Frehley and Criss would be involved in the trek, especially considering the apparent recent goodwill between Stanley and Simmons and Frehley. Ace's latest collection of original material, "Spaceman" — a title suggested by Simmons himself — features two songs the pair wrote together, and the duo completed a joint summer 2018 tour of Australia, after which Frehley fired his solo backing band and hired Simmons's.

KISS's current lineup consists of original members Simmons and Stanley, alongside later band additions, guitarist Tommy Thayer (since 2002) and drummer Eric Singer (on and off since 1991).

Formed in 1973 by Stanley, Simmons, Criss and Frehley, KISS staged its first "farewell" tour in 2000, the last to feature the group's original lineup.