Ace Frehely I Cost Kiss 7.5 Million Dollars When I First left, But I would Gladly Rejoin For Final Tour If Asked

According to Ace Frehley, his decision to leave KISS in 1982 cost Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley a pretty penny — $7.5 million, to be exact.

Reflecting on why he quit the band, Frehley told a Musicians Institute audience during a “live conversation” on September 25 that “KISS in the seventies was just like this roller-coaster ride for me. I was holding on for dear life. We were just constantly busy, and the drugs and the alcohol and all the partying in conjunction with that type of schedule just started to get to me. By the early eighties, I just wanted to jump off the roller coaster because I thought I was going to crash.

“I was sitting in my lawyer’s office prior to quitting the band,” he continued. “We had just gotten a $15 million contract. I’m talking to my lawyer going, ‘$15 million, that’s great, but every night I drive home to Connecticut, I want to drive my car into a tree because I’m not happy.’ He goes, ‘Okay, Ace, I hear that, but it’s $15 million.’ After about a half an hour, I said, ‘Look, you cannot spend money six feet under.’ He still didn’t get it. Unfortunately, when I left, they lost $7.5 million, which I feel bad about, because the contract stated at least three of the four [original] members had to be in the band. They [had already] let Peter [Criss] go, so when I decided to quit, I cut the contract in half and it went from $15 million to $7.5 [million]. I think they were a little mad at me about that.”

Frehley said that while it wasn’t easy to walk away from such a big payday, he felt he needed to do so. “I’m still alive — you’ve got to put that ahead of everything else,” he said. “I remember when I was at the richest point in my life, I was the most miserable. I’m sure other people have said that. I’ve met a lot of wealthy people who are miserable. It depends on how you make your money. There’s a lot of wealthy people who are crooked, and they’re probably unhappy with themselves and have trouble sleeping at night because it’s all on their conscience. That wasn’t my problem. My problem was I was doing too much — way too much.”

The guitarist also confirmed that both times he left KISS were by choice. “I remember the first time I wanted to quit the band,” he said. “Gene called me up and goes, ‘Ace, you don’t have to leave the band if you want to do a solo record. You can still stay in KISS. We’ll even take a break and let you do it.’ They didn’t want me to leave. They never wanted me to leave, and I quit the band twice. If you look at old interviews, sometimes they would lump me in with Peterand say, ‘Yeah, we fired Peter and Ace.’ They never fired me — I always quit. I want to make that clear.”

Frehley — whose new solo album, “Spaceman”, will be released via eOne on October 19 — first left KISS in 1982. He rejoined in 1996 and parted ways with the band once again in 2002 after the conclusion of their first “farewell tour.”

He says he has not been approached to take part in the band’s upcoming “One Last Kiss: End Of The Road World Tour”.

Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley says that while he has not been approached to be a part of KISS‘s recently announced “One Last Kiss: End Of The Road World Tour”, he’s “hoping” he’ll be involved in some capacity.

“I haven’t been asked,” he said during a “live conversation” at Hollywood’s Musicians Institute on September 25. “I had a meeting with those guys several months ago, and they talked about retiring to me, and that didn’t seem right either. Who knows what’s going to happen? I read comments on the Internet, and I fall off my bed laughing. There’s all these people that have all these different ideas of a configuration of what the next KISS tour should be, and it’s crazy — but overwhelmingly, they want me back in the band, I think. That’s what I’m reading on the Internet.

“I’m doing fine on my own,” Frehley continued. “My career is on an upswing; I’m having a ton of fun; I like producing my own records. I don’t like anybody standing over my shoulder telling me what to do. I’ve had a lot of freedom, and working with Paul [Stanley] and Gene[Simmons] again, it would be different. But then again, I’d probably make $5 or $10 million, so I might consider that…

“Hopefully next year, what all the KISS fans really want to happen will happen. I’m hoping. I want to be involved, especially for the fans. It’s not like my dream job, because I’ve done it a couple of times and quit, but I really want to do it for the fans if it’s going to happen.”

Stanley recently told the “Rolling Stone Music Now” podcast that while he doesn’t rule out the possibility of guest appearances by former members during the “End Of The Road” tour, he doesn’t promise anything either. “I really can’t say,” Stanley said. “This will be a celebration of KISS and not any individual lineup or any individual members. I wouldn’t rule anything out, but it’s not the crux of what we’re doing… and I’m not being coy either. I don’t want to mislead anybody. That’s not something that’s been given a lot of thought at this point. The majority of our time has gone into what is the stage going to be, what is the show going to be, and we’re actually in the midst of toying with setlists now.”

Frehley — whose new solo album, “Spaceman”, will be released via eOne on October 19 — first left KISS in 1982. He rejoined in 1996 and parted ways with the band once again in 2002 after the conclusion of their first “farewell tour.”