Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is featured in a new interview with The Village Voice. The guitar legend takes writer Katherine Turman on a tour through his old stomping grounds in the Bronx and discusses all things KISS. An excerpt is available below:

Frehley is inarguably the most down-to-earth and accessible of the original four (KISS members). For casual rock fans, there's often confusion when KISS comes to town with the Spaceman on guitar. Make that a Spaceman, one Tommy Thayer, formerly KISS' tour manager. Frehley and Thayer were initially very friendly, though the time came when Frehley sensed Thayer might join the band -- which he did, in February 2003, stepping into the boots Frehley had been occupying for the KISS reunion that lasted from 1996 to 2002.

"I could sense he always wanted to be me. He used to be in a KISS cover band (L.A.'s Cold Gin)" Frehley says. Any lingering ill will is in perspective: "He didn't do anything; he was hired by Paul and Gene to put on my makeup and costume and play my guitar solos -- a business deal. "Look, if he wouldn't have done it, they would have hired somebody else," reasons Frehley. "I walked out on the band; I quit. What they really should have done is, if they wanted to dress up a guy to play lead guitar, they should have come up with different makeup like they did with (other KISS replacements) Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent. That's what the fans are upset about."

Guitarist/singer and former Runaway Lita Ford concurs, though she observes, "I always thought that anyone could hide behind KISS' makeup. The band could grow old and no one could see through the makeup: a brilliant idea. Tommy Thayer is one hell of a nice guy but he is not Ace Frehley and shouldn't be in Ace's shoes. There is only one Ace!"

Well, technically, now there are two, and Thayer is currently pimping a guitar (created with Epiphone) called the "Space Man." 

"I mean, how big are the balls on this guy?" snorts Frehley. "But I don't really want to talk about Tommy Thayer," he adds, half-apologetically. "Let's talk about me."

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Frehley's new album, Space Invader, has debuted at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in the US. The album lands at #2 on the Billboard Indie Chart, and at #1 on the Billboard Hard Chart. In Canada, Space Invader charts at #16 (Current Albums), #1 (Indie), and #3 (Hard).

Frehley released Space Invader in Germany/Scandinavia on August 15th and rest of Europe on August 18th through SPV/Steamhammer as a limited edition digipak with a different cover and also including two bonus tracks and a poster, as a double gatefold orange coloured LP version including four bonus tracks, as a standard CD version and download. The album was released on August 19th in North America via Entertainment One Music (eOne Music).

The formats and tracklistings are detailed below:

Standard Version:

"Space Invader"
"Gimme A Feelin`" (radio edit)

"I Wanna Hold You"
"Change"
"Toys"
"Immortal Pleasures"
"Inside The Vortex"
"What Every Girl Wants"
"Past The Milky Way"
"Reckless"
"The Joker"
"Starship"

Limited Digi CD incl. 2 bonus tracks and poster:

"Space Invader"
"Gimme A Feelin`" (radio edit)

"I Wanna Hold You"
"Change"
"Toys"
"Immortal Pleasures"
"Inside The Vortex"
"What Every Girl Wants"
"Past The Milky Way"
"Reckless"
"The Joker"
"Starship"

Bonus Tracks:

"The Joker" (extended version)

"Reckless" (different remix version)

2 LP gatefold version incl. 4 bonus tracks, coloured vinyl, printed inner sleeves:

Side 1

"Space Invader"
"Gimme A Feelin`" (radio edit)

"I Wanna Hold You"
"Change"

Side 2

"Toys"
"Immortal Pleasures"
"Inside The Vortex"
"What Every Girl Wants"

Side 3

"Past The Milky Way"
"Reckless"
"The Joker"
"Starship"

Side 4 (Bonus Tracks)

"The Joker" (extended version)

"Reckless" (different remix version)

"Space Invader" (radio edit)

"Gimme A Feelin`" (explicit version)

"Space Invader":