Ace Frehley threatened to dish some “dirt” on KISS if Paul Stanley didn’t apologise for controversial comments. Now, the guitarist has confirmed that Stanley did call him, but only to say “fuck you”.
The drama between the two started last month, after the KISS singer appeared on The Howard Stern Show and explained why the band didn’t perform when they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2014.
Among other reasons, Stanley said that the choice was partly because of the “demanding” nature of the Rock Hall, which wanted KISS to take to the stage with its original members, Frehley and Peter Criss.
Explaining why he wouldn’t want to perform with the original guitarist and drummer, he said: “At this point, that would be demeaning to the band, and also would give some people confusion. ‘Cause if you saw people onstage who looked like KISS but sounded like that, maybe we should be called PISS.”
From there, Frehley went on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk and threatened to spill some secret KISS “dirt” if Stanley didn’t apologise for the remark within one week.
According to the guitarist, the “dirt” would come in the form of a 120-page manuscript, which contains “career-ending” details about both Stanley and bassist, Gene Simmons.
“When it comes to negativity, and we’ve all done things that we regret over the years – it’s there,” he said. “My attorney has it in a safety deposit box […and] is instructed to release it. So they can’t intimidate me.”
Yesterday (April 5), marked exactly one week since Frehley demanded the apology and, in a new interview with Trunk Nation, the guitarist has confirmed that Stanely did call — not to apologise, but to say “fuck you” instead.
“I was blindsided by the phone call,” he said. “I figured he was calling me maybe to apologise or at least explain why he said that.”
“But instead of an apology, I got a five-second phone call which said, ‘Fuck you, Ace. I’m not gonna apologise,’ and hung up. He wasn’t even man enough to let me give a rebuttal and explain why I’m so upset or anything like that.”
After explaining various ways that he could confirm that it was indeed Stanley who called him, Frehley ultimately said he decided not to release the “120-page manuscript” after all as he wouldn’t want to “sink to their level”:
“I spoke to several good friends of mine who are God-fearing people,” he explained. “They said, ‘Don’t ever sink to their level’… So, then I came to the realisation that I don’t even have to bring up anything that I have hidden away in my attorney’s safe deposit box. I can just talk about things that they’ve said about me in black and white.”
Later this year, KISS will embark on the final leg of their ‘End Of The Road’ farewell tour – which will feature six UK dates in June.
Despite their conflicts, Ace Frehley has confirmed that he would perform with the band at the upcoming shows if he were offered enough money.
“Money motivates me, just like it motivates them,” he said (via Stereogum). “If I got a quarter of a million dollars a night, and I can make half a million dollars for playing three or four songs, five songs, I’d take the money [and] buy a Ferrari.”
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