While he will always be remembered as a founding member of the iconic rock band Kiss, Ace Frehley went far beyond his “The Spaceman” persona. Although enjoying the legacy the band created together and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the musician eventually left the group and started a solo career. Over the last few decades, Frehley released albums like Space Invader, Spaceman, and his most recent, 10,000 Volts. With his newest album hitting shelves last month, rumors circulated that guitarist Steve Brown performed most of the guitar work and not Frehley.
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Wanting to set the record straight about Brown’s involvement with the album, Frehley explained to Ultimate Classic Rock, “Listen to previous albums by Steve Brown. Do they sound like this record? I don’t think so. Number one, I’m doing all the vocals. Number two, I’m doing the majority of the solos.” He added, “You know, Steve grew up idolizing me. And he’s a wonderful human being and a great producer and a great engineer and a great guitar player and singer and songwriter. And working with him was such a pleasure.”
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Ace Frehley Praises Steve Brown For Background Vocals
Also appearing on the Shout It Out Loudcast, Frehley admitted that the album did contain some of Brown’s talents. Noting their age difference, he said, “He’s only 50 or 51. I’m 72. So a couple of times he laid down a solo, but he played it like me, in my style, because he studied my style his whole life. As far as I’m concerned, it really doesn’t matter who plays what, you know … as long as the cut sounds great. A couple of them, I thought Steve laid down so well that I said, ‘Let’s just keep it.’ But that’s as far as that goes. I played the majority the guitar solos on the record, absolutely.”
Not taking all the credit for 10,000 Volts, Frehley praised Brown for his work when it came to the background vocals. “Once I realized his talent and his abilities as a writer and an engineer, and as a guitarist, songwriter and singer — you know, he did most of the background vocals on the record, if not all of them. Of course we doubled our vocals, but everybody does that. I mean, Kiss was doing that in the ’70s. That’s a process that’s been going on in rock ‘n’ roll for 40, 50 years.”
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images for The Children Matter)
