Ace Celebrates Anomaly Eve At GRAMMY Museum
KissFAQ
As “Genghis Khan” -- the fifth cut on Anomaly -- rumbles through the high-fidelity sound system, Ace Frehley sits quietly in his chair. Listening, and nodding his head back in forth in rhythm with the music. There is a sense of pride and satisfaction. He seems at peace. And excited.
Excitement was the pervading theme on the early autumn evening of Sept. 14 at the GRAMMY Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Welcomed by a capacity crowd of 200 with a warm standing ovation, Ace was on hand to participate in “The Drop: Ace Frehley,” a GRAMMY Museum program centering around the making of Anomaly moderated by Bob Santelli.
A group of special guests were on hand including fellow KISS alum Bruce Kulick, current Ace Frehley band members Derrek Hawkins and Scot Coogan, “Outer Space” co-writers David Askew and Jesse Mendez, Anomaly associate producer Frank Munoz, and engineers Marti Fredericksen and Anthony Focx.
It was a unique and intimate setting from the start and the discussion touched upon a range of topics, while also eliciting a range of emotions from Ace.
The first question went all the way back to Ace’s electric guitar beginnings.
“I turned it on and hit a chord, and that was it, I was in love,” said Ace. “I was influenced greatly by Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin. I saw the Who’s first New York performance. When I saw the drum set wrecked and guitars being smashed, I said ‘this is for me’ (laughs).”
Asked how he came to formulate his own style and when he had finally realized he found his unique “sound” that represented him, Ace responded: “It think it all culminated with my solo album in 1978,” said Ace. “My sound prior to that record was me in conjunction with Paul, Gene and Peter, which was great and we made some great records but that first solo album was pretty much me.”
“After the success of that record...at that point, I knew I was never really going to be happy as just one of the guys in KISS.”
Ace Frehley and Bob Santelli
Santelli, the museum’s executive director, revealed that he was a fellow East Coast native and that one of his first assignments was to write a review of KISS at the Sunshine Inn in New Jersey.
“I had no clue, it was January or February 1974, before the [debut KISS] record even came out,” said Santelli. “And you guys came down there -- this is the home of Bruce Springsteen -- and you guys come in and just totally upset the cart. I never forgot it.”
In acknowledging the balance between rock and roll and theatrics in KISS, Ace said, “One of things I didn’t like is the reviews after shows would talk more about the staging and the special effects than the music. For me, it was always the music first and the effects second. That was a point in my life where I said: what’s more important? Writing great songs or blowing up something (laughs)?”
Santelli then directed a pointed question to Ace about the music on some of the early KISS studio albums, and the creative competitive dynamic between he and his bandmates. “It was one of the reasons I eventually had to leave the group because there was so much competition," said Ace. “Paul and Gene pretty much dominated a lot of the proceedings as far as picking the songs and I wasn’t into fighting over what song’s better.”
“I’ll never forget when Paul came up with ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You.’ I know we lost a lot of fans on that one. It was really disco...and I was one of the fans (laughs).”
Fast forwarding to today, Santelli brought up how the music business has evolved and changed since disco and the 1970s, and he asked Ace how it has impacted him.
“It hasn’t affected me in the way I write or produce,” said Ace. “The way you market stuff today is completely different...I’ve seen the advent of vinyl, the advent of cassettes, 8-tracks...by the way, I just heard Cheap Trick came out with an 8-track (laughs).
“Now you got [kids] running around with iPods and MP3 players that don’t even know what a CD is. Music is constantly changing, but it’s not so much the music that is changing, but the way it’s listened to.... I’ve been listening to a lot of vinyl lately and I just got a test pressing of Anomaly on vinyl and it sounds great. I’m trying to get back to [my] roots.”
In helping uncover the story of Anomaly, Santelli brought up Munoz, Focx and Frederiksen for a roundtable, or as Santelli described, “the inside scoop on this record” and “the creative process....how the record was made and the roles you played.” The discussion was insightful, and Ace seemed even more excited to talk about the album in a group setting.
“When I went into the studio to do Anomaly, I tried to get into the same mindset [as my 1978 solo album],” Ace summarized. “I think I captured a lot of that flavor on this new album, and I also went into some new areas and directions that I’ve never been before. I broke some new ground [too].”
With regard to his current songwriting practices, Ace revealed: “Once in a while I’ll start with poetry or a lyrical idea and add music to it. I write a lot of songs on acoustics. Lately it’s just a lot easier. Now you can get those little digital recorders...and you just hit record and write ideas.”
Munoz, a longtime employee in the Metallica camp, was asked to detail how he got involved as the album’s co-producer. “Ace and I have been friends for a long time,” he said. “Ace called me up last year and we started talking about working on some demos...last October we started working. He gave me a handful of demos and I’d give him my feedback.”
“When Frank got involved, I had already recorded about nine or 10 songs,” Ace continued. “I brought Frank in because I am sometimes my own worst enemy. I needed some fresh ears, some perspective. Frank came in and really helped bring the baby home....Without Frank jumping in on the project halfway through, it wouldn’t have been finished on time.”
Munoz jumped back in, “I’ll just add, no modesty behind this microphone, I worked my ass off on this,” as the audience erupted in laughter.
(l-r): Frank Munoz, Ace Frehley, Anthony Focx, Marti Frederiksen, and Bob Santelli
To further punctuate discussions of specific songs, Santelli cued up song excerpts, played appropriately at a crushing decibel level. The album’s lead single, “Outer Space,” was up first.
“Frank was really responsible for this song. He brought the demo to me...it was originally written by two other guys [David Askew and Jesse Mendez],” said Ace. “[Frank said] ‘Ace this would be a perfect song for you to do,’ and I didn’t want to hear about it. Finally we got together with Derrek [Hawkins] and they did a re-demo of it and I started molding my voice to the style I felt comfortable with. I did this crazy guitar solo and decided to reverse it and have it backwards.”
Munoz added, “A friend of mine, Jesse Mendez...he gave me this CD in 2000. And I said, ‘This is a great song for Ace.’ [I told him] ‘This would be a great comeback song for you.’ It’s heavy and it would be a great introduction to all your fans, and to new fans, as to what your persona was in KISS.”
Frederiksen, a multi-talented producer and songwriter who has worked with the likes of Aerosmith, Def Leppard and even Paul Stanley, proved to be an important man behind the album’s sonic design.
“Marti did a test mix for ‘Pain In The Neck,’ and Ace and I heard it, and said ‘That’s it, that’s the mix!’” exclaimed Munoz. “We told Marti that’s what we want the record to sound like -- that’s the sound. My favorite KISS record is Love Gun... sonically that’s the best-sounding KISS record of all-time. That’s what I wanted to match.”
Focx, who also had a hand in mixing the album and mastered it, added, “The challenge was to make it classic, but to also make it sound modern.”
Ace chimed in, “Bob Ezrin did that record, right?” Munoz answered, “No, Love Gun was Eddie Kramer (laughs).”
The second track played was Ace’s cover of the Sweet classic “Fox On The Run,” which was finished quickly by any era’s standard.
“I was at Marti’s studio at noon and then I went out to do some errands. I came back at 4:30 and pretty much what you heard is what they had done. It was incredible,” Munoz stated.
“We cut drums last,” said Frederiksen. “Brian Tichy came in and he brought his drums down. I go, ‘Guess what I was just working with Ace,’ and he said, ‘Ace! Are you kidding? I’ll play on whatever!’ He killed [the drum track] pretty fast. Other than that, we did have the [song] done fast.”
“Genghis Kahn,” a track showing both incredible growth and elements of Ace’s classic sound, was cued next.
“[It’s] my favorite song on the record,” said Ace. “It was a labor of love. I don’t think I’ve ever really written a song quite like it. The intro came later, after I had written the bulk of the song....[At] the last minute I decided to do a wah-wah guitar solo, which turned out really cool. So it was like one of the those songs that was always a surprise. It was over 100 tracks in Pro Tools, the toughest ones to mix.”
Munoz spoke intently about the sparse vocal part in the song: “The original version was just Ace, and that was my favorite vocals on the demos. It sounded like Ace -- ‘77, ‘78. The original mix had the girls kind of high, I said ‘No, no, no....the fans want to hear YOU.’”
“A Little Below The Angels,” a track that turned out to be elusive, was played next.
“I re-wrote the song three times. I recorded it three separate times,” said Ace. “It was good, but it just wasn’t the way I heard it in my head when I wrote it originally on acoustic. It went through so many transformations.
“I ended up throwing the verses out and rewriting the verses and I decided to drop the drums until the bridge comes in and Marti played Hammond organ.”
In a moment of candor, Ace spoke about the revealing nature of the song’s lyrics. “It’s always good to talk about your problems, because once you get something out in the open it’s not a secret anymore. Once it’s not a secret and you realize you have a problem and you’re willing to meet it head on, that’s when the healing takes place.
“Everybody knows that I had problems. But....tomorrow will be three years [of sobriety].” This statement was received with a warm congratulatory round of applause.
“Fractured Quantum,” the final song on the album, was appropriately the final song previewed.
“This is the last song in the ‘Fractured’ series,” said Ace. “I decided to come up with something new on the next record so we’ll see what that will be.
“Marti was a huge help on this song,” he continued. “Basically I cut it with a drum machine and I brought Anton Fig to play drums on it. And he did a great job but after listening to it, we kind of thought he almost played too much. We decided to delete Anton’s track and I asked Marti to program something really simple, the same type of drum beat we had on [the original] ‘Fractured Mirror.’ And he started playing around with synthesizers...you took the song to another level.” Frederiksen threw the compliment right back at Ace, saying the track had “the greatest guitar work.”
At the discussion’s conclusion, the forum was open to audience members for questions. One fan asked the ever complicated, yet simple, question: Why did Anomaly take 20 years?
“It took me 20 years simply because I just didn’t have my act together at certain parts of my life,” replied Ace. “I was supposed to go into the studio in ’95, and I got offered the KISS reunion. And that went from 1996 to 2002. I took me a while to get my head screwed on straight. I started actually tracking in 2007 in New York City, and here we are today, the eve of the release worldwide, and I can’t believe it.”
Asked about plans for his upcoming tour, Ace said, “We’re going to Japan and Australia next month. And coming back and doing some dates in the U.S. and next year, a complete worldwide tour.”
And the obligatory question about a future one-off performance with KISS?
“I haven’t gotten a call,” laughed Ace. “I’m not holding my breath. They took one road, I decided to take another. I’m having too much fun working on my own stuff.”
With that question, the discussion was brought full circle. While KISS was part of the discussion, it was Ace and Anomaly that was center stage on this night, more specifically the journey Ace took and the celebration of the joys of songwriting, the creative process, and the satisfaction and rewards of hard work.
Photos: WireImage.com
To specially commemorate the proceedings, fans had an opportunity to purchase an advance copy of the album and get it signed by Ace, along with other KISS/Ace memorabilia.
One fan, upon meeting his hero and getting his copy of Anomaly autographed, said “Ace, thanks for Anomaly. It’s great to have you back.” Ace replied, “Thank YOU. I worked real hard on it. I hope you and the rest of my fans like it. I’ll see you out on the road.”
