During an appearance on yesterday’s episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley offered an update on the progress of the recording sessions for his new studio album. He said: “I got back off the road. I did a two-week tour of California, which was eight sold-out shows. And I came back, took a week off just to rest and recuperate, and I started getting in the studio. And within six days I had written and recorded five new songs, which is unprecedented for me. So right now it looks like the album’s gonna be completed — not mixed but [recorded] — probably in another week.”
Frehley went on to say that he has been working on his new LP with TRIXTER‘s Steve Brown and Peppy Castro of the BLUES MAGOOS. He added: “Back in the ’60s, [the BLUES MAGOOS] had the big hit ‘(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet’. I grew up with him in the Bronx. He inspired me to become a rock star. I remember going to Orchard Beach in the Bronx, and all of a sudden I hear Peppy‘s song on the radio. I go, ‘Jesus Christ. If he can do that, I can do it. I’m better looking than him.’ [Laughs] He actually taught me how to play bar chord in the basement of an apartment building… But we’ve been friends ever since, and we’ve followed each other’s career. And he’s been in my studio a half dozen times. And he also hooked me up with Tommy Denander. He wrote three songs for me that I’m probably gonna rearrange at least one or two of them and add vocals. But me and Steve have been doing a song a day. It’s insanity.”
According to Ace, his upcoming LP will include at least one cover song.
“If my memory serves me correctly, the last two studio records I did both had one cover on them and one instrumental,” he said. “I have two or three songs that can be instrumentals or I could add lyrics to it. I’m just deciding which one is gonna be the best one for an instrumental, because if I don’t do an instrumental, my fans are gonna be upset, because every one of my studio albums have had an instrumental track on it. It all started with ‘Fractured Mirror’ in 1978.”
Peppy previously collaborated with KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons as a songwriter and performed on Frehley‘s and KISS frontman Paul Stanley‘s solo records.
Ace‘s next all-original album will be the follow-up to “Spaceman”, which was released in October 2018 via eOne.
Frehley‘s latest release was “Origins Vol. 2”, the sequel to his 2016 collection of cover songs that inspired the former KISS guitarist.
“Origins Vol. 2” featured cover versions of THE BEATLES‘ “I’m Down”, DEEP PURPLE‘s “Space Truckin'”, LED ZEPPELIN‘s “Good Times Bad Times”, THE ROLLING STONES‘ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, THE KINKS‘ “Lola” and THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE‘s “Manic Depression”, among others. A cover of the 1975 KISS tune “She” also appeared as a bonus track. Guests on the set included CHEAP TRICK‘s Robin Zander, Lita Ford and former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick.
KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons co-wrote two tracks on “Spaceman”, “Without You I’m Nothing” and “Your Wish Is My Command”, the latter of which also features Simmons‘s bass playing.