Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley spoke with Houston Press about his upcoming eighth solo album, Spaceman (out this Friday, October 19th), his relationship with his former bandmates, KISS' End Of The Road farewell tour, and more. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Houston Press: So it seems like you and Gene and Paul Stanley are getting along a lot better these days. Paul provided the vocals on a song on your last album before your recent work with Gene.

Ace Frehley: "Yeah we’ve kind of patched up any negative vibes at this point. We call each other on the phone just to say hi. I was up in LA ten days ago I had a listening party and I called Paul and invited him to the Rainbow; unfortunately he had to go to Vegas to promote his new Puma sneaker. [Laughs] Yeah everybody is so busy these days. Gene’s always off doing something, now he’s the spokesperson for a cannabis company. I think it’s called Invictus MD. But you know he’s always been very enterprising; I’m happy just coming up with good music and touring and recording and spending time at home relaxing. I like the balance."

Houston Press: What kind of relationship do you have with (original KISS drummer) Peter Criss these days? Do you talk to him regularly?

Ace Frehley: "I’m still friends with Peter we’ve always been good friends. I mean he recently retired, didn’t he? I think he did his final show several months ago in New York. So you know there’s not much to talk about if he retires but you know many rock stars have been known to come out of retirement. [Laughs] So who knows what’s going to happen with Peter."

Read the complete interview at Houston Press.

Spaceman (a title suggested by Simmons, himself) serves as the first collection of all new Frehley-penned material since 2014’s Space Invader, which debuted at #9 on the Top 200 Chart. The LP scored the highest charting position of any former or current KISS band member ever and marked Frehley's first return to the Top 10 since KISS's 1998 Psycho Circus reunion album.

Widely known as the original “Space Ace" and founding guitarist for 16 cumulative years (over 2 tenures) of the multi-platinum selling rock band KISS, Frehley is demonstrably the most popular original member. In addition to having the best-selling solo album career (vintage or current) among the original foursome, Frehley’s self-titled Ace Frehley, released in 1978, went on to sell over one million copies, producing the only Top 40 single, “New York Groove”, from any of the legendary KISS solo albums (peaking at #13).

Tracklisting:

"Without You I'm Nothing"
"Rockin' With The Boys"
"Your Wish Is My Command"
"Bronx Boy"
"Pursuit Of Rock And Roll"
"I Wanna Go Back"
"Mission To Mars"
"Off My Back"
"Quantum Flux"

"Rockin' With The Boys":

"Bronx Boy":

Tour dates:

October
31 - Nov. 5 - Miami to Key West and Nassau, KISS Kruise VIII

November
9 - Clearwater, FL - Capitol Theatre
10 - Melbourne, FL - King Center for the Performing Arts
11 - Miramar, FL - Miramar Amphitheatre

(Photo - Jay Gilbert)