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“It’s not rock and roll”: Ace Frehley says he doesn’t “get” Kiss’s “avatar thing”
The guitarist also admits he’s “happy” the End Of The Road Tour has finally come to an end, “because I’m not gonna be compared to them anymore.”
Image: Dave Simpson / Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
Ace Frehley has declared Kiss’ plans to continue on in their digital avatar forms as decidedly “not rock and roll”.
Earlier this month, Kiss announced at the last stop of their End Of The Road Tour that while touring has come to an end, the members will rock on “eternally” as digital versions of themselves – following in the footsteps of Swedish pop powerhouse ABBA with their Voyage shows.
Responding to his former band’s plans in a new interview with Rock Antenne, Frehley admits [via Blabbermouth], “I don’t get this avatar thing that they’re gonna do.”
“I mean, I saw some of it on a video on YouTube last night. It kind of looked like it, you know, was geared towards children. And it’s not rock and roll. I get up on stage without backing tracks, plug my guitar into a Marshall and go. That’s it. It’s always been that way and always will be.”
The guitarist also says that he’s “happy” the tour has finally come to an end, “because I’m not gonna be compared to them anymore.”
Asked if he’d actually watched Kiss’ final show online, Frehley replies: “I watched [a YouTube video of the show in] Indianapolis and I’m not impressed. But that’s me.”
“Tommy Thayer is not a bad guitarist. He just is more mechanical than me. Nobody can copy my solos the way I play them, because I’m sloppy and nobody can move like me. Nobody. And I’m surprised the fans bought Tommy pretty much, because I think for several years that Tommy was in the band, people didn’t even know it wasn’t me.”
As Frehley explains, a couple years back, he still received phone calls from fans asking for concert tickets, despite having left the band in 2002.
“I go, ‘I’m not in the band anymore.’ They go, ‘You’re not?’ Because when I quit the band the second time, they did not make a big press release. They kind of buried it and just made the transition,” the musician says. “But the last tour I did with Kiss, Tommy Thayer was bringing me sandwiches and he was a tour manager and a gofer. But he’s not a bad guitar player.”