Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has called out Paul Stanley for allegedly using pre-recorded tracks during the band’s performances.
The 71-year-old Frehley touched upon Paul‘s supposed reliance on backing tapes during his concert Saturday night (June 11) at the Palladium in New York City.
Prior to launching into the KISS classic “Detroit Rock City” with his solo band, Frehley told the crowd (see video below): “This song’s a great song written by Mr. Paul Stanley. By the way, we don’t use tapes. Anyway, this one’s about a city in the Midwest on Lake Michigan. It’s called ‘Detroit Rock City’.”
Ace‘s comments came less than a week after a rare “mistake” by KISS drummer Eric Singer during the band’s concert in Antwerp, Belgium revealed what some fans are saying is proof that KISS is using pre-recorded tracks during its performances.
Several KISS fans who attended the group’s June 6 show at Sportpaleis shared video of KISS kicking off the set with “Detroit Rock City”, the classic song that has consistently served as the live opener for the band’s live performances in recent years. At the end of the track, Singer, who has played with KISS on and off since 1991, apparently “[forgot] to rest for a measure,” according to YouTube commenter Austin Ogonoski, “instead continuing to play the standard beat for two additional measures. ” After “Eric [realized] he [messed] up,” he “[began] the drumroll/breakdown a measure late,” which “[meant] Paul‘s vocal track [was] out of sync with what the band [was] actually playing,” Austin explained. “Paul‘s track [played] ‘Everybody’s gonna leave their SEAT,’ completely out of sync with the song and when nobody [was] at a mic.”
Ever since KISS‘s “End Of The Road” trek launched in late January 2019, there has been persistent online chatter about Paul allegedly singing to a backing tape. The speculation stemmed from the fact that Stanley had been struggling to hit the high notes in many of the band’s classic songs for a number of years.
In a 2014 interview with the Metropolis Nights magazine, Frehley was asked about Stanley‘s comment in Guitar World magazine that Ace “stopped practicing” his guitar playing and “got involved with a whole lot of things that really diluted and diminished his craft.” Ace responded: “I didn’t read that, but I think that’s hysterical. For Paul to try and say something negative against me as a guitar player? Come on! He should listen to himself playing live. He’s one of the sloppiest guitar players out there. He’s more worried about jumping around and pointing his finger. That’s been the problem since the beginning of KISS. We all used to yell at him for making so many mistakes. I would try and cover for him. So for him to take a shot at my guitar playing…. Is he out of his mind?”
Back in 2018, Ace said in an interview that his hypothetical return to KISS could make it easier for Paul to handle the band’s material in a live situation.
“I told Gene [Simmons], ‘Get me back in the band and I’ll sing five songs, which will take the pressure off Paul,'” Frehley told SiriusXM. “It sounds like a good plan. But I don’t make the decisions anymore with KISS.”
Originally Posted on Blabber Mouth.