Ace Frehley takes us through his 2024 album 10,000 Volts, with songs about girls, guitars, and an AI apocalypse.

10,000 Volts

That song, when I heard the rhythm guitar part that Steve brought to me, it blew my mind. All we did was thicken it up.

I love the chorus, the way it kicks in. Every girl I know that I've played that song for in my basement studio thought it should be the first single, and eventually we decided to go that route, which I'm very happy for, since it's been so well-received.

We come up with a title, and when I write lyrics I basically just try to come up with lines that rhyme. Sometimes I'll write the whole lyrics of a song in 30-45 minutes, as long as the theme of the song makes sense. But Steve brought the rhythm guitar part over to my house and I started writing the lyrics because I'm a better lyricist than Steve is - he'll be the first to admit that. But working with Steve, magic happens because he inspires me.

Each song took like a day, and then the overdubs transpired, so on and so forth. I'd knock out a guitar solo and a vocal in one afternoon, and then we'd throw a bass on and backgrounds and percussion. It's just the way we worked. If I'm writing a lyric and I'm lost for a word, it will pop out of his mouth or he'll go on the internet and look at the rhyming dictionary. That's not cheating, is it?

We're in a very relaxed situation, just me and him in the studio, no one else, which is the way I like it. You know that saying, "Too many chefs in the kitchen spoil the stew." I always like working in a very sparse environment. Even my '78 solo album with Eddie Kramer, that was pretty much me, Eddie Kramer, and Anton Fig for the whole record.

Walkin' On The Moon

"Walkin' On The Moon" was actually the first song that I worked on with Steve. He sent me the song and there was a line in the chorus that said "Walkin' on the moon," but it didn't end the chorus. I said, "Steve, this song has to be called 'Walkin' on the Moon' because it's me – the Spaceman, walking on the moon."

The next thing you know, he came over my house and we rearranged all the lyrics. I added a bridge. He says, "It doesn't need a bridge." I go, "Yes, it does." So, I wrote a bridge. He was overjoyed with that – it took the song to another level.

Steve harmonizes fantastic with my voice, so most of the harmonies are just me and Steve. I think the only song that my fiancé Lara sang on was "Constantly Cute," which we'll get to – she came up with the title to that song.

Cosmic Heart

"Cosmic Heart" I'm really, really happy with. That was the last song we actually recorded for the record, and it just came together so easily and effortlessly. If you listen to the lyrics, it's about my life. At the very end of the second verse, it talks about me not having fun: "I woke up one day and my soul wasn't mine." That was the drugs and alcohol. And if you've read my book [2012's No Regrets] or you know anything about my life story, I struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction for years and years. Luckily in 2006 I got sober, and I've been sober 17 years... knock on wood. By the grace of God. And pretty much, that's what that song's about.

Tasted life to the max
I've met the kings and queens
But it never changed me

I love this line.

I've seen the good and the bad and the strangest of things
Sometimes I've lost my way but I never gave up my faith

Because I'm a Christian and a lot of times when the shit hit the fan, the only thing I had to turn to was prayer, and it saved my life on multiple occasions. People who don't believe in prayer are missing out.

Cherry Medicine

"Cherry Medicine" is one of the most fun songs on the record. I was just talking to the record company, and they're planning on doing an elaborate video for that with a bunch of girls in black leather and the whole nine yards. They're talking about renting me a red Ferrari and I'm working on an outfit with cherries on it. [Laughs] My fiancé is going to be in it dressed up in leather. It's actually her face on the cover of the single.

That song starts off really simple but it really kicks in when the chorus comes in. And to be totally honest with you, because I'm a recovering drug addict it has a double meaning for me, because in the '80s and '90s I used to go to the Limelight in Manhattan, and I was addicted to this cherry cough medicine called Hycodan. I used to order a glass of sparkling water and I'd pour some of the cherry cough medicine into the glass, and I'd walk around. Everybody thought I was drinking vodka and cranberry, but lo and behold, I was drinking cough medicine with seltzer.

It's a really fun song. Like most rock n' roll songs, it's about women and having fun. It's a really catchy hook and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I think we're planning on releasing that the day the album is going to be released, which is February 23, so it's going to give the album an extra special kick.

Back Into My Arms Again

That's an interesting story. I wrote that song about 40 years ago.

I was sitting in Steve's basement in his studio, which is about 40 minutes from my studio. We both have basement studios in our homes - we live in New Jersey. We were on YouTube looking through some of my catalog, and all of a sudden he saw the demo of "Back Into My Arms Again." He listened to it and said, "This is a great song. Have you ever recorded it on a record?" And I said, "No." He said, "We absolutely positively have to re-do this song." And I was all for it. We threw it together in a day or two and it came out great.

Interestingly enough, when you think back on the production skills and equipment that you had 40 years ago compared to today, it just came out so much better sounding than the demo because of the quality of the recording. So I'm thrilled with that song, and I've been reading a lot of comments online, and so many fans have heard the demo and are so excited to hear my 2024 version. It came out great and I think it has a good message. It's about how I was love in with a girl, we got separated, and I found her again by fate. It's a little bit of a tearjerker, actually.

Fightin' For Life

It's about a young kid who leaves home, packs his bag, grabs his guitar. "Fightin' For Life" was a song Steve introduced me to. I started rewriting the lyrics immediately, but he wrote probably about 50% of the lyrics. He came up with that crazy line, "It's a dirty filthy rat fire race." I thought that was hysterical. I came up with the ending two lines of the chorus, which is, "You can be the hunter or be the prey," because I used to go deer hunting. I'm into guns. I'm like a man's man – I go bow-hunting.

I'm good friends with Ted Nugent. Ted Nugent sends me pictures of him with a freshly killed bear, hanging from a tree. [We're not sure if Ted or the bear is hanging from the tree. Either (or both) is plausible.] In fact, when he was on tour with us [Nugent opened for Kiss on their 2000 Farewell Tour], he was opening up for us and he gave me a copy of his book and he invited me to go to Africa with him – he goes to Africa every year for two weeks and goes big-game hunting. I was going to go but for some reason I was tied up and couldn't make it. That would have been a trip. But I did go to his house.

He decided to throw a party towards the end of the tour for the crew and I was in the bus playing poker with some of the guys in the crew. Winning, of course. Never play poker with a guy named Ace.

But then Ted comes in and he goes, "Hey, we're going to shoot some bowling pins." He had 20 bowling pins set up in a range, and of course, Ted got 20 for 20. And other people were shooting his Uzi. I have an Uzi myself, so I'm familiar with it and have shot it multiple times, so I know how to shoot an Uzi. I was the only one that came really close to matching Ted – I got 19 out of 20. He was really impressed with my shooting abilities. That was a real fun day.

Blinded

I was listening to all the rough mixes at one point, and I said to Steve, "We have to come up with a song that's not about chicks." [Laughs] I'm into technology and computers. I do computer graphics. I had the very first Macintosh computer and PC – Radioshack, believe it or not. Right now, I have about 15 computers in my house.

But to make a long story short, I'd been reading some articles about artificial intelligence. A lot of people that are in the technical field – even CEOs of major companies, even Elon Musk – are saying, "If we're not careful, artificial intelligence in five or 10 years could take us out if it became self-aware." And that story has been told dozens of times in films. The human race is so stupid – you can see something right in front of your face, but you just don't absorb it at times. Like, the whole theme behind the Terminator movies.

The biggest problem now with doing legislation for artificial intelligence is that by the time they pass a law to regulate AI, it might be too late. And in fact, some scientists are saying we've already passed the point of no return with artificial intelligence. Even the CEO of Google quit [Ace is probably referring to Dr. Geoffrey Hinton]. And if you read some of the stuff he said, one of the reasons he quit was, he felt that Google was being irresponsible with the way they were approaching AI. Let's face it, you have a robot that has access to 20,000 computers. It's smarter than any person in the world. It can beat any chess player, can answer more questions, can figure out an equation much quicker than any other person on the planet.

So we're in a situation now where these robots are smarter than us and have access to thousands of computers. We're in a really unique point in history, and hopefully we will be smart in the next five years and try to regulate it more so, so the chance of AI becoming self-aware is lessened.

Constantly Cute

My fiancé and I were having a conversation, and we were looking at photos of me from the '70s, '80s, '90s, even up until now. And I'm saying, "It's obvious I don't look as cute as I did when I was in my 20s." And she's going, "You're constantly cute, Ace." Then she tries to carry on with the conversation.

I said, "Wait a minute. 'Constantly Cute.' That is a song title." So I called up Steve and I said, "We have to write a song called 'Constantly Cute.'"

We got together the next day and started putting it together. I think it turned out really great, and it's one of the best songs on the record. My fiancé is actually singing backgrounds on the bridge and the chorus.

Life Of A Stranger

"Life Of A Stranger" is a real interesting song. I didn't write it, Steve didn't write it [it was written by Nadia, who sang it originally]. It's the only cover on the record.

Believe it or not, I heard that song for the very first time after I watched the movie The Transporter with Jason Statham, and that movie came out about 20 years ago. "Life Of A Stranger" is a song that went over the credits at the end of the film, and I never forgot it. It always stuck in my head, the melody and the fact that the chorus modulated twice. It's a really great song and I think it has a nice message. I played it for Steve and he said, "This is a great song." I said, "Well, let's do a cover of it." And lo and behold, it came out great. I think it's the only real ballad on the record.

Up In The Sky

"Up In The Sky" was originally titled "Stranger Than Fiction." It was a song I wrote, and then me and Steve started rewriting it. He came up with the idea of calling it "Up In The Sky" because I'm talking about UFOs. We just had fun with it and we ran with it.

We were looking at pictures of UFOs. I would say 75% of the lyrics are the same lyrics I wrote for "Stranger Than Fiction," but we changed the rhythm guitar part dramatically. It was more of a riff song, and we decided to go with more of a rhythm guitar feel for the song. It worked better than what I had originally conceived. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Again, different subject matter than women and rock n' roll, which always pops up.

Stratosphere

Every solo album I've ever recorded has an instrumental on it, so I told Steve, "We need to throw together an instrumental." He came up with the picking part and I came up with the melodies that go along with it. We knocked that out in a couple of days.

Most of my instrumentals are five or six minutes long, and this one we cut short. But then again the old saying, "Less is more." The people that really love that song after they hear it, they can actually double it and play it over and over again and loop it. That works fine.

February 19, 2024

For more Ace, visit acefrehley.com.

Further reading:
Our 2020 interview with Ace
Our interview with Paul Stanley
Our interview with Gene Simmons
Kiss Truly Unmasked
Fact or Fiction: Kiss Edition

Photo: Jayme Thornton

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