In a new interview with Jason Rockman of Canada’s iHeart Radio, Ace Frehley spoke about “Origins Vol. 2”, the sequel to Ace‘s 2016 collection of cover songs that inspired the former KISS guitarist. The new LP will be released on September 18 via eOne.
“These albums are becoming fun,” he said (see video below). “I just re-signed with eOne, and they want an ‘Origins Vol. 3’ after the next studio record, which I’ve already started writing songs for. But it’s become a really fun process. It’s much easier than doing a studio record where you have to write the material yourself. I’m basically just taking other people’s material that influenced me as a kid and putting my stamp on it.”
Frehley also talked about the status of his next all-original album. The record will be the follow-up to “Spaceman”, which was released in October 2018 via eOne.
“I’ve only written about three songs, and they’re not finished,” he said. “My studio’s not gonna be done for another month. Now that I’m [living] on the East Coast [after moving to New Jersey from Southern California], my engineer only lives an hour from me, Alex Salzman, who worked with me extensively on this last record, and he played a lot of bass guitar as well, So it’s gonna be even easier, ‘Origins Vol. 3’ and the next [original] record.”
Frehley has released two songs from “Origins Vol. 2” thus far: a cover of the classic THE BEATLES track “I’m Down”, featuring a guest appearance by ROB ZOMBIE guitarist John 5, and a rendition of DEEP PURPLE‘s “Space Truckin'”.
“Origins Vol. 2” also features cover versions of 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 appears as a bonus track. Guests on the set include 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.
