Special report by Martin Popoff

BW&BK; got the scoop today (February 6th) on guitar legend ACE FREHLEY’s new tour and forthcoming CD. Ace’s Rocket Ride Tour 2008 is in full gear with dates confirmed throughout North America and the UK.

“I’m in the studio right now trying to finish up the CD before I go out on tour on the 20th,” begins Space Ace, who is working on the new album in his home studio, newly clean and sober. “Much more productive,” he claims, given his new clarity. “Yes. It’s a blessing. It took me a long time to figure it out that I can’t drink and drug anymore (laughs). I’m glad I did, because I would probably be dead by now if I would’ve kept going the way I was. Life’s good today. God bless, you know?”

It’s long been established that Ace’s first solo album – of the four simultaneously released KISS solo albums from 1978 – was the best, the boldest, the closest to the hard rock vision of Kiss. “Yes, that’s the one that everybody is citing as their favourite record. And I’m trying to achieve on this new CD… I’ve been listening to that record a lot, and dissecting it a little to find out why people think that was such a special album. And I’ve been trying to get into that same mindset, and so far it’s been kind of working, you know? You can never go back in time, but you can kind of listen to what you did and try to figure out what made it special, and try to capture that.”

Specifically, with respect to the forthcoming album (no label deal has been signed yet), Ace says that, “There’s a heavy rocker called ‘Pain In The Neck’. And actually, I wrote this song two weeks ago called ‘A Little Below The Angels’. That’s a bit more of a commercial one, with a catchy hook. There’s another song called ‘Genghis Khan’, which is kind of like, if I had to categorize it, it’s maybe a little like ‘Kashmir’ from LED ZEPPELIN, a slower kind of grooving track with a good melody. There’s a slower track, which also has a kind of commercial… you know, the word commercial has changed. It’s called ‘Change The World’, which is an interesting kind of track, probably different from anything I’ve ever done. In fact it is different from anything I’ve ever done. You know, I think people are going to dig it. It’s slower, something you could imagine hearing on the radio. My bass player Anthony Esposito, he’s been helping me with the record from the beginning. He is playing bass on all the tracks so far. Anton Fig is playing drums on most of the tracks. I’ve got my touring drummer Scot Coogan; he’s going to be on a couple of tracks on the record. And I don’t think I mentioned Derrek Hawkins, the other guitar player. That rounds out the touring lineup.”

Stay tuned for Part II later this week!

Upcoming Ace live dates include:

February

20 - Baltimore, MA - Rams Head Live
22 - Atlanta, GA - Center Stage
23 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
24 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
26 - Sauget, IL - Pop's
28 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
29 - Niagara Falls, NY - The Bear's Den

March

1 - Niagara Falls, NY - The Bear's Den
3 - Quebec, QC - Metropolis
5 - Toronto, ON - The Guvernment
8 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
9 - Mt. Clemens, MI - Emerald Theater
11 - Fargo, ND - Fargo Theatre
12 - Winnipeg, MB - The Garrick Centre
14 - Calgary, AB - Flames Central
15 - Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Events Centre
17 - Missoula, MT - Wilma Theater
18 - Spokane, WA - Big Easy
19 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
21 - San Francisco, CA - Grand Ballroom (Regency Center)
24 - San Diego, CA - House Of Blues
25 - West Hollywood, CA - House Of Blues
26 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues
28 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
29 - Rapid City, SD - Rushmore Civic Theater

April

3 - Atlantic City, NJ - House Of Blues
10 - Sheffield, UK - The Corporation
11 - London, UK - Astoria