‘They’re Control Freaks’: Ace Frehley Reveals What Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Were Really Like in Studio
“We’re beating a dead horse here on this song.”
As previously reported, Ace Frehley is admirably quite honest in admitting that he does not possess the same work ethic as his former Kiss mates, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, when it comes to songwriting. But that said, the original Spaceman may have used that to his advantage, going for “quality” over “quantity,” and as a result, offering up what many Kiss fans agree was the best solo album of the four members in 1978.
During an interview with Goldmine, Frehley further discussed how Simmons and Stanley were far more driven than he was when it came to composing tunes. However, the guitarist may have provided a much-needed balance back in the group’s glory days of the 1970s.
“Well, after the success of my solo album, the writing was on the wall for me,” Frehley admits. “I realized I was more creative away from those guys because they’re control freaks, and they like things the way they like them. I don’t like recording the way they record because sometimes they would do 20-25 takes, and I’d say, ‘We’re beating a dead horse here on this song.'”
“That happened with Bob Ezrin working on the ‘Destroyer’ album,” the guitarist continues. “When I’m recording, if I’m working with a drummer, it’s just me and the drummer. If I can’t get it in three, four, five takes at the most, I’ll just say, ‘Let’s try something else’ because after five, six, seven takes, you start losing spontaneity and you start getting bored, actually. Doing 25 takes of a song is completely absurd.”
Frehley also dug a bit deeper concerning his claim that he butted heads with his former bandmates during the recording of their 1976 album, ‘Destroyer’. And, how his recording approach may have helped save a certain song.
“I don’t remember what song it was, but it was one of the songs on ‘Destroyer.’ I said to Paul and Gene, ‘Listen, why don’t we just put this to sleep right now and try something else? We can come into the studio tomorrow and try it again.’ And lo and behold, we came into the studio the next day and did it in two or three takes because we knew the song, we knew what the pitfalls were and the mistakes we made, and we knocked it off, and it had spontaneity.”
“Destroyer” is considered to be one of, if not the, best Kiss studio albums. It spawned such classics as “Detroit Rock City,” “God of Thunder,” and “Shout It Out Loud,” as well as their first-ever top-10 US hit single, the Peter Criss-sung ballad “Beth.”Here Are Perry Farrell’s Isolated Vocals From Just Before the Jane’s Addiction Onstage Fight13 hours ago in Music news, 18 comments