Peter Criss, the original drummer and co-founder of rock legends Kiss, has shared a heartbreaking account of the band’s recent appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors, revealing that the ceremony was marred by intense grief over the recent loss of original guitarist Ace Frehley.
In a sweeping exclusive interview with Rock Candy magazine, the 80-year-old musician reflected on his storied career, his sobriety, and the pain of accepting a lifetime achievement award without his longtime friend and bandmate by his side. Frehley passed away on October 16, just weeks before the prestigious event in December, casting a long shadow over what was intended to be a celebration of the original lineup.
“It was tough for me because Ace wasn’t there,” Criss confessed to the magazine (via Blabbermouth). “He’d been very excited about going there. He said, ‘Pete, I’m really looking forward to this.’ So not having him next to me was really hard… I cried a lot of times that day, broke down actually. I missed Ace and it wasn’t the same… It was great to get the award, But I was grieving so much that my heart hurt a lot.”
Despite the emotional toll of recent months, Criss emphasized that he remains physically and mentally sharp. Having recently released a new solo album, the drummer was keen to dispel any lingering misconceptions about his lifestyle, asserting that his days of excess are decades behind him.
“I haven’t done dr*gs for 42 years, and I gave up drinking 30 years ago, I’m too old for that s**t! So what you see now is the real Peter Criss,” he declared. “And you know what? I’m definitely not a dr*g addict. I’m a drum addict!”
The interview also saw Criss looking back at the genesis of Kiss, recounting the bizarre initial phone call that brought him into the orbit of Gene Simmons. After Criss‘s previous projects, Chelsea and Lips, dissolved, he placed an advertisement in a local paper that caught Simmons‘ eye.
“I put an ad in a local paper… and that’s when Gene Simmons called,” Criss recalled. “He asked me, ‘Are you tall?’, ‘Are you good-looking?’, ‘Do you have long hair?’, ‘Are you willing to wear a dress and high heels?’, ‘Are you willing to wear lipstick?’ I couldn’t believe what he was asking me, but those questions fascinated me. I said to my wife at the time, ‘I’ve got to meet this guy.'”
Their first meeting at New York’s Electric Lady Studios set the tone for the band’s visual flair. “We had been to London for our honeymoon not that long before and I’d found some really cool clothes there. So when I went down to Electric Lady Studios in New York to meet Gene and Paul for the first time, I was really dolled up… Gene told me later that day he thought I was a rock star going into the studio to make an album.”
While the trio of Criss, Simmons, and Paul Stanley showed promise, the chemistry solidified instantly upon the arrival of Ace Frehley. Criss described the guitarist’s audition as a moment of undeniable impact.
“We put an ad in a local paper looking for a lead guitarist,” Criss said. “We auditioned quite a few players before Ace [Frehley], but he really made an entrance wearing a motorcycle jacket and different-colored sneakers. There was some other guy already playing, but Ace didn’t care. He walked right by the guy, plugged in, and started playing himself. And we all turned around, looked at one another, and went ‘Holy s**t!’. He was in straight away.”
Addressing the band’s iconic image, Criss explained that the decision to wear makeup was driven by a desire to emulate the individual branding of The Beatles, filtered through a glam rock lens.
“John [Lennon], Paul [McCartney], George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr] all had their own fans, as well as people who loved the whole band,” Criss noted. “We wanted the same thing… so we took the concept they developed and made it more theatrical. We said, ‘Let’s start trying to apply make-up and see what’s going on.’ So we bought this really cheap clown-white make-up — even shoe polish at first, I think — and started putting it on for rehearsals in this real sh**ty loft with no heating. It was so cold we had to wear coats all the time, but that’s were we experimented with our different looks.”
However, the disguises worked so well that they eventually became a hindrance to the rock star lifestyle the members craved.
“Once we started to make it big, we started wanting to be recognized, sign autographs and have kids outside hotels screaming for us,” Criss said. “I’d go to clubs in New York and would tell the guy on the door that I was Peter Criss from Kiss. They’d go, ‘Yeah, right’. In the end I started taking my driving license and other ID out with me to prove that I really was Peter Criss. It was pretty funny how the make-up thing kind of backfired.”
