The guitar icon is out on the road supporting his new album ‘10,000 Volts’
Last night, guitar icon Ace Frehley played a packed show in in the heart of his native New York City. The Spaceman packed Sony Hall in support of his new record, 10,000 Volts, which landed back on February 23. Diehard Frehley fans and the KISS faithful came out in droves to rock out at the hometown show, serving a as a testament to Ace’s staying power.
Check out our live photo gallery below.
In the spirit of his new record, Frehley kicked things off with the KISS classic, “Shock Me,” and then took the capacity crowd on a “Rocket Ride.” Feeding off the electricity from the fans, Ace then shifted gears to his new album, debuting the title track, “10,000 Volts,” which sounded great live. Sadly, that would be the only offering from the new record, which has garnered a favorable reaction among fans after being out on store shelves for a month. Instead, the bulk of the set was KISS tunes, plus his own “Rip It Out” and the previously mentioned Frehley’s Comet tune, “Rock Soldiers.”
Other highlights from the set included “Love Gun, “Detroit Rock City,” “Cold Gin,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “Deuce,” and more. Of course, no Ace Frehley set would be complete without a guitar solo. At 72, the Spaceman can still shred with the best of them. After the 14-song set, Frehley returned for an encore performance of KISS’s signature song, “Rock and Roll All Nite.”
Just a couple of blocks away last month, Frehley held at a rare autograph signing at Sam Ash on 34th Street. For priority access to the event, fans pre-ordered an exclusive, in-store vinyl variant – a clear, three-color splatter that is limited to just 500 pieces. The first in-store variant a (500 bubblegum-colored vinyl) sold out in just 48 hours, and a few more were released after the fact. The vinyl records served as entry tickets to the event, which saw several hundred hungry fans ready to get their freshly pressed vinyls a special jolt with Ace’s signature.
An hour before the event started, Frehley fans were lined up outside. The line stretched all the way down the block and across the street. Inside, there were seemingly an endless number of Sharpies on the table where Ace was sitting. Ace signed the bubble-gum variants in pink, gold splatter variants in gold, and so on. He seemed delighted by the show of support for the record, and fans were filled with the same amount of joy to get a little piece of Ace Frehley memorabilia for their collections.
On February 22, Ace revealed a new music video for the record’s lastest single, “Cherry Medicine.” The track is follows the previously revealed, “Walkin’ On the Moon.” The official clip was directed by Justin H. Reich from Three Thirty-Three Creative.
Produced and co-written by Ace and Trixter guitarist Steve Brown, the all-new LP 10,000 Volts has been out for just over a month through MNRK Heavy, the rock and metal imprint of MNRK Music Group. It is the follow-up to 2018’s Spaceman. Out of the gate, 10,000 Volts was the top selling album on iTunes. It is available digitally, on CD, and on several vinyl variants, which are all available now HERE. Some variants have been produced in very limited quantities.
In a recent interview with VRP Rocks, Ace said, “I’m very happy with the way the record turned out. Now, a lot of times I’ve recorded records where sometimes you look at three or four songs on the album and you consider them not as good as some of the other ones and you kind of consider them as filler. But I don’t think there’s any filler on this album. I think every song has merit to it.”
He continues, ”I think it’s one of the best albums I ever did. I mean, I think it’s probably as good as my solo album in 1978, which everybody seems to think is my best album to date. But I think this new album is equally as good as my 1978 solo album, and I think there’s more than one hit single on the album. So, if I was a KISS fan or an Ace Frehley fan, I’d go out and buy it immediately when it’s released on February 23, because you’re in for a treat.”
Last October, Ace told told Jeff Napier of Nuvo, “It’s probably the best record I’ve ever done. I’m very excited about it. It’s the fIrst time I ended up writing most of these songs with a good friend of mine, Steve Brown. He used to play in TRIXTER and has a group called RUBIX KUBE. Anyway, we live 40 minutes from each other, and my fiancée Lara hooked us up. I’d met him several times over the years, but just briefly, but she knew him when she was in her twenties, and she said, ‘You’ve gotta get together with Steve.’ He’s a great songwriter and guitar player. He sent me a song, and there was one line that just jumped out from his chorus, and it was ‘Walkin’ On The Moon’. So I said, ‘Listen, let’s get together and rewrite this song, and the hook will be ‘Walkin’ On The Moon’,’ because it wasn’t the end of the chorus he had prepared. So, we rewrote the song, and it came out great. We were actually gonna call the album ‘Walkin’ On The Moon’ until we recorded a song called ‘10,000 Volts’, which came out amazing. I got Anton Fig, my old drummer, who played on my original ’78 solo album and most of my solo stuff, to play drums on that. So, working with Steve has made a huge difference in my playing and writing because when he and I put our heads together, it just clicks. If I’m at a loss for a chord or a verse or a line, he comes up with it and vice versa, and within three or four hours, we write a song.”
Ace added, “So that’s how the record’s been going. Then, once you record the basic track, you gotta do the overdubs and double and triple the vocals, harmonies, and stuff. He’s an excellent engineer. So I didn’t have to pay an engineer to engineer this record. So I saved money on that, working with Steve as well, which is nice.”
The all-new 10,000 Volts upholds an incredible legacy for Frehley, spanning 50-plus years in the limelight. Back in 1978, he delivered his solo debut, Ace Frehley. It reached platinum status and exploded as the highest-selling of the four KISS solo albums in the Soundscan era. In 1987, he dropped Frehley’s Comet. Following Anomaly in 2009, he went on to make history once again. His 2014 Space Invader LP captured #9 on the Billboard 200 and emerged as the only solo album by a past or current KISS member to reach the Top 10 on the chart.” 2016’s Origins Vol. 1, bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums Chart and in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top Rock Albums Chart. He notably maintained his momentum with Spaceman in 2018.
