Ace Frehley says that he tried unsuccessfully to get his former KISS bandmate Peter Criss to appear on “Origins Vol. 2”, the sequel to Ace‘s 2016 collection of cover songs that inspired the ex-KISS guitarist.
Released on September 18 via eOne, “Origins Vol. 2”, features cover versions of THE BEATLES‘ “I’m Down”, DEEP PURPLE‘s “Space Truckin'”, 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.
Asked in a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station if there were any musicians he approached about appearing on “Origins Vol. 2” that he couldn’t get, Ace said: “The only person I wanted to get on the record that I couldn’t get was Peter Criss. He had injured his shoulder, and I wanted him to do at least one drum track, and he was more than willing to do it, but he didn’t wanna do it unless he was a hundred percent, so maybe we’ll get him on ‘Origins Vol. 3’, which we actually are planning in a couple of years to put out.”
Frehley‘s latest collection of all-original material, “Spaceman” — a title suggested by KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons himself — features two songs the pair wrote together, and the duo completed a joint summer tour of Australia, after which Frehley fired his solo backing band and hired Simmons‘s. KISS frontman Paul Stanley, meanwhile, appeared on Frehley‘s previous studio album, the 2016 covers set “Origins Vol. 1”.
Criss first left KISS in 1980. Since then he’s worked with other bands and released solo albums. He teamed up with KISS again for a reunion tour in the 1990s and most recently in 2004. He was replaced by Eric Singer.
The four original members of KISS were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2014 by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello.
KISS did not perform — the Hall Of Fame wanted the original quartet only to play, while Simmons and Stanley insisted on the current lineup — which also includes guitarist Tommy Thayer — performing as well. In the end nobody won that battle.
