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By STEVE MASCORD
TRIXTER guitarist Steve Brown has revealed he was working on new material with Ace Frehley at the time of the former KISS guitarist’s death.
Today (April 27) would have been Frehley’s 75th birthday. He died of head injuries suffered in falls suffered leading up to October 25 last year.
Brown, who produced Frehley’s well received 10,000 Volts album in 2024, tells Hot Metal; “Yes, Ace and I … I was sending him ideas, probably three or four.
“Killer … would have been amazing new Ace songs for the new record. He had started working on that next Origins III (covers album), he was working with his other producer, Alex Saltzman which was cool.
“Ace and I had some disagreements on Origins and where it should go. We both basically said ‘go your own way’ and let me work on the originals because I had no interest doing cover tunes with him.
“I wanted to do the follow-up to 10,000 Volts, which we started.
“And I sent him a bunch of great ideas but sadly we never got to work on those. There’s some left-over stuff.”
Reflecting generally on having produced the final album of his childhood hero, Brown said: “At the end of the day, it’s funny: I told Ace when we finished 10,000 Volts and we got the final mixes from Bruno – Bruno Ravel from Danger Danger mixed the record…
“I brought in my whole team and Ace was so great….
“Working with Ace, and I will say to end the rumours of whatever the other guys, Gene and Paul, say about him … Ace was a super talent. When Ace was here working or when I was at his place, we worked so fast and so creatively and we were hugging each other and laughing, making jokes.
“When Ace could hear himself, he had great pitch on his vocals and he had great timing. Live, his biggest problem is he’s half-deaf and he wasn’t using in-ear monitors.
“And he played great. There were times when he played guitar and he I went ‘dude, that’s not so good’. But then a minute later he would become what we all know and I’d hear those licks.
“And I always knew working (with him, you’ve) always got to have ‘record’ on.”
Picking up an earlier chain of thought, Brown continued: “And 10,000 Volts, when we finished I remember saying to him ‘dude, if we never make another record again, this is the perfect bookend for your career’.
“And he said it and all the fans and critics around the world have said it: 10,000 Volts is arguably his best work since the ’78 solo record, since Trouble Walkin’ as well. Sadly, we’re never gonna make a record but at least the legacy will live on and on and this is a great way that we ended his recording career.
“Working with one of your heroes … dude, Ace and Ed Van Halen, both friends of mine, both not here with me but I was blessed enough to be great friends with them and work with both of them. Ed and I jammed together. We never made real music together,
“But Ace and I, we made a phenomenal record together, we co-wrote every song and he’s the reason I started playing guitar.
“Believe me man, I had many moments when I was pinching myself, going ‘I can’t fucking believe it, Ace Frehley’s here!'”
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