In a new tribute, former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick has revealed that he knew about the severity of Ace Frehley‘s declining health in the weeks before his passing, describing the period as “torture.” He also spoke at length about the immense respect he had for the man whose iconic role he filled, stating that Ace’s death ultimately “hit me harder than I ever thought.”
Speaking on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” during a special tribute episode, Kulick, who was the lead guitarist for KISS from 1984 to 1996, shared the difficult experience of knowing his friend was not going to recover from a second fall in early October.
“I didn’t talk about it, but the KISS guys knew,” he said. “I was informed and not to talk to anybody. The privacy of a family is imperative with this… For me to know any day now [we would get the news of Ace‘s death], and I want the listeners to understand the torture of that. When are we gonna get that news? So, in a way I was mourning the whole time, but when it actually was real, it was just completely awful. And it hit me harder than I ever thought, really.”
Kulick also reflected on the mutual respect that developed between him and Frehley over the years, a validation he cherished.
“[I had] a tremendous feeling of accomplishment to have him support how I played, what my role in KISS was,” Kulick stated. He explained that his own musical appreciation for Frehley grew exponentially over his 12-year tenure with the band.
“We all know that Ace was a player that was very unique. He was closer to a Jimmy Page that it wasn’t all flash; it was melody, and [his solos] were like another song within a song,” he explained. “By the time of Unplugged… I was just playing, as note for note as I could do, what Ace played. So my respect for him as a player and how special he was for the KISS music just grew and grew and grew. And I think he knew I respected him and I wasn’t trying to outshine him or something. There was no way. I was always aware of that shadow of his iconic nature in KISS.”
Ace Frehley passed away on Thursday, October 16, at the age of 74, after being hospitalized following a fall in his studio that reportedly resulted in a brain bleed. Tributes have poured in from his former KISS bandmates and the entire rock community.
