Gene Simmons Reveals Regret He Has About Ace Frehley & Peter Criss

KISS bassist Gene Simmons has often been outspoken when it comes to how the band dealt with former members guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss. The relationships among KISS’ original members has often ping-ponged between civil and acrimonious for a variety of reasons.

In a new interview with Backstage Pass, Simmons talked about regrets he had concerning the band’s original lineup. Turns out he wishes he had been harder on Frehley and Criss over their alleged substance abuse issues.

“Well, I’m sad in retrospect — you know, hindsight’s 20/20 — I’m sad that I wasn’t more hard on Ace and Peter, the two original guys who played guitar and drums in the band,” Simmons said. “I’d never been high or drunk and never smoked cigarettes, so I’ve always been an outcast in that way. The rest of the world seemed to be drug-fueled.”

He continued: “Ace and Peter… have as much credit for the beginning of the band as Paul and I do. There’s no question it was that chemistry. And they both had unique voices, unique personalities and all that. And they should have been here with us 50 or 55 years later and enjoying the fruits of their labor. But sadly, they’re not. And it’s their own doing. They were in and out of the band three different times. They were let go three different times because of the same old thing. It’s not even unique. Go to almost every band, you’ll find people ingesting stuff more than the bum on the street corner, except they’re richer and they can afford to ingest more. It’s sad.”

Simmons elaborated on how he was able to avoid drugs and alcohol for so many years. “Well, the word ‘no’ is in the dictionary,” he said. “Just by observation, I’ve never seen anybody drunk be witty or intelligent. Have you? And people who are high sound like aliens. And people who smoke stink like ashtrays. Look, I can understand if smoking or drinking or getting high would make you smarter, richer, made your shmeckel bigger, made you more attractive — all those things that we all wish we had. ‘I wish this. I wish that.’ But nothing happens, really. In fact, you’ll probably throw up on the shoes your girlfriend just bought. You won’t be witty. The next day your head will hurt, and if you drink enough, your shmeckel is not gonna work. So I don’t get it. Chances are pretty good you’re gonna get into a fight.”

Simmons told a story that he used to pick up girls back when his school classmates would be drunk. “I remember when I was 13, 14, I used to go to these teenage parties where 16-year-olds would gather because I was always bigger, so they’d invite me,” Simmons recalled. “They’d think I was older. And like a vulture on the side, I’d just wait for the guys to get drunk and then just swoop in and take any girl I wanted.”