Back in the ’70s, KISS had a lot in common with professional wrestling. Pro wrestlers often had to keep up kayfabe to avoid exposing the business. For KISS, they had to keep their real identities a secret to maintain their larger-than-life, comic book personas.
On a recent episode of Talk Is Jericho, original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was promoting his new record, “10,000 Volts,” but he also told a story of how he revealed who he was long before KISS took off their make-up.
“(KISS manager) Bill Aucoin said ‘Let’s do something special and not reveal what we look like,’” Ace recalled. “We’ll be like the mystery band … It was great. Most of the times I could walk around, go shopping. When I was off tour, nobody knew who the f*ck I was. I mean, I looked like a musician but nine times out of 10 nobody bothered me.”
He continued: “But I’ll never forget, one night I was at a rock ’n’ roll club. And I met this gorgeous broad. I told her, ‘Hey by the way, I’m Ace Frehley from KISS.’ And she goes, ‘No you’re not.’ So I had to pull out all my ID to get this chick to come home with me. I’m pulling out my driver’s license and this and that.’
Ace’s “10,000 Volts” co-writer and producer Steve Brown then chimed in: “He finally picked up a guitar and started singing ‘Shock Me!’”
“I didn’t go that far,” Ace continued with a laugh. “But I ended up getting her. That was the downside (about the make-up). But the upside was pretty good most times, because when I go to Manhattan right now, I get bombarded by people. But (keeping our identities hidden) was great, except for what I just mentioned.”
Check out the full interview with Ace and Steve Brown here.
