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00:00ace fraley passing is on the level of eddie van halen passing ace and eddie they not only wanted
00:06us made us want to become musicians they made us want to become rock stars you know and i think
00:10that's the difference you know kiss kiss made you want to go to the next level rock metal prog and
00:18everything in between welcome to this episode of talking rock with meltdown don't forget to follow
00:24the audio only talking rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now it's time for today's
00:29conversation here's meltdown there he is junior how you doing man good man how are you what's
00:36happening oh we've had better days of course you know it's funny last time i talked to you
00:40ozzy passed away which was just came out of nowhere and uh we talked about this a million times i may
00:47have my my shirt on uh but nice i mean kiss played a huge part in your life uh just tell me your
00:55thoughts about the passing of uh ace fraley so you know so we're yesterday i flew into philadelphia
01:00we're kicking off these uh nine shows here with kings of thrash and as i'm landing and the messages
01:07are pushing through my phone you were the first one who sent through something from tmz about ace
01:13about his health status and he goes dude is this do you have any update is this real
01:17so we were chatting and i started hitting some some friends about it and uh sean drover started
01:23texting me uh you know he and willie g who was mustaine's guitar tech there for a long time you
01:30know so we're all still friends and big kiss fans of course and you know and it was it seemed to be
01:35confirmed i said yeah the spaceman has left us it just hasn't been announced yet so i had to just kind
01:40sit by and wait for the initial you know for the official uh thing to come out and when the
01:45rolling stone article hit you know then i think i sent it to you right away as well and i mean you
01:51know it's just that moment where you're like you know it's coming you know i saw i saw the news kind
01:56of push through that ace was in the hospital um you know but i was on tour so i didn't dig into
02:02any of it and i was like oh no you know so ace and i became friends not close friends i mean we
02:08have each other cell phone i'd usually text him every year for his birthday and me and frank bellow
02:12would text him because he played a solo on our altitudes and attitude record that's right which
02:17we were super grateful for uh clearly our hero you know kiss is the reason i'm even here talking to
02:23you you know so from uh you know for me uh destroyer was the first record i bought i bought it on cassette
02:29and i you know kiss alive right after that and then i went back and you know i i listened to
02:36undressed to kill outer in hell the first album etc you know and i i remained a die hard kiss fan
02:42um in pretty much through kiss alive 2 and then you know i did not buy dynasty of all things um
02:51and then i i kind of moved on van halen came into my life and then boston and then i you know i kind
02:57of started getting into you know sticks grand illusion the ramones rocket the russia you know i
03:03started getting into some other stuff you know um but you know those formative years you know i
03:08mean kiss were my beatles and just in the same way the beatles were the beatles for kiss you know
03:13and um you know i love gene simmons bass playing in fact just today i was listening to cold gin and
03:19some stuff on for kiss alive and thinking god this guy he's just a masterful bass player man and uh
03:24while spitting blood and breathing fire and you know doing all the rest of it and listening to ace
03:29play you know ace wrote some great songs you know megadeth we covered uh strange ways during the
03:35euthanasia session uh and that part of that is because gene had actually reached out to us about
03:40putting a song on the kiss my ass album and so i i talked to gene several times he and i were you
03:46know calling each other because dave just said you know have junior deal with it you know so i was
03:50that was kind of in our uh 93 so kind of our countdown heading into euthanasia era
03:56um we didn't end up putting a song in there it was it was just too expensive quite honestly to do
04:01it but you know dave's like tell gene we want to do an ace fraley song i'm like great nice way to
04:06make friends you know but uh but uh and of course i love gene right because you know he's the bass
04:13player you know so so you know i've become friends with those guys over the years um and um you know
04:20it was great to see gene officiate charlie and carla's wedding and you know just just all that we are
04:25because we're all in the we all share you know if you're making the anthrax you know basically metal
04:30allegiance if you will you know we all share the same record collection you know so um you know i
04:35think all of us we're texting each other you know um you know so it's it's one of those moments it
04:40gives a moment to just basically we kind of have our own morning and our own sort of little wake
04:47you know amongst all of us worldwide you know us musician guys yourself included you know who are all
04:53you know i hit eddie trunk and don jameson and all the guys you know then and um so yeah a sad
04:59moment for sure you know you realize you know i mean ace fraley passing is on the level of eddie
05:05van halen passing you know he was that influential different guitar player of course but you know ace
05:12and eddie they not only wanted us made us want to become musicians they made us want to become rock
05:17stars you know and i think that's the difference you know kiss kiss made you want to go to the next
05:22level and and and kiss with their manager bill of coin in those early days you know they created
05:27something that was just unreachable you know and and to some degree still is you know it's what kiss
05:33does you know now we've got ghost we got sleep token we got trans-siberian orchestra so there's
05:38artists out there kind of doing you know what what kiss has done of course but you know when you're the
05:43first one doing it and even kiss when they end it ended it it was still it was still the biggest
05:49thing out there you know what i mean they're still doing stuff that it's like god you know
05:54only kiss when three guys come down from the ceiling you know on their on their platforms and
05:59they still got the boots and you know the whole thing you're just like i mean there's just no
06:04replacing what they have done for all of us in our lives yeah i uh i was lucky enough i got to
06:09detroit in november of 1995 and in june of 1996 they played tiger stadium and they opened up that tour
06:15when they reformed and yeah god i remember that you know me and marty friedman were in second row
06:20it was 1996 right is that the one you're talking about yeah so 1996 they came through phoenix
06:26and um they played the arena there and of course meganeth had played there a lot so we knew the
06:31the building manager so he got a second row like dead center tickets you know to see to see the the
06:37reunion and and you know we're sitting there you know at this point of course now we're you know
06:41we're experienced professionals as well so it's fun because you know i think marty and i we could
06:46agree it's fun to watch our childhood heroes because you still get that you know we're going
06:51to disneyland like this is you know we're going off to fantasy land yet now we know the wizard behind
06:59the curtain of oz we kind of we know how it's done you know what i mean but they still did it bigger
07:04and better than anyone you know now uh you're playing here uh coming up to the token lounge and also the
07:09machine shop this weekend we'll put all the information in the story but uh are you also
07:14playing cadillac yes playing cadillac yes yeah so if you ever you've never seen the cadillac you know
07:21kiss money have you so here's the funny thing october 9th um is the mayor of jackson minnesota the
07:32little town i grew up in you know we did a big coffee store there and everything he decreed that
07:37forever and for always is david ellison day right so i happen to look up october 9th is also the day
07:45kiss was given the keys to the city in cadillac michigan back in what 73 75 74 whatever this was
07:52okay i guess i guess it was the kiss alive tour right so back then and um of course we read about
07:59this in all the magazines when we were kids you know so i'm thinking what an awesome day so it's funny
08:04as as we kicked off the tour last week we were eating ribs down at nico mcbrain's restaurant in
08:09fort lotto daryl's celebrating uh david ellison day meanwhile i think up in cadillac was like a whole
08:15kiss yeah you know extravaganza going deservedly so so uh yeah i'm super excited man we you know we've
08:22never been there of course me and jeff young we're the same age pretty much and you know he saw a kiss
08:27on the kiss alive tour at hair arena in dayton ohio when he was growing up so we're super super
08:32excited to go um are you going to be able to join us are you going to be able to come up there or not
08:37it's it's like three hours away you know i wanted to go this past weekend then i had computer issues
08:41and i couldn't make it up there but uh right i'm kind of jealous that i've never been up there to see
08:46the the kiss uh monuments so i have to make it a journey one day dude i can't but i mean i'm so glad
08:51they just did that you know it's kind of a big kiss week right so between you know the cadillac thing
08:57gene marries carla and charlie benante and then you know sadly this news about ace so it's like
09:04kiss is just everywhere again you know what i mean the you know for better and not so better i guess
09:09but um you know the last time i hung with ace was a year and a half well almost two years ago when
09:14eddie trunk had his 40-year anniversary of broadcasting the event that he did over at the house of blues
09:20uh las vegas and normally eddie always had his events in the east coast so i could never be
09:25there um but he did this one the west so i was able to get there from where i live in arizona
09:29and um so there was talk of you know me and portnoy maybe you know sitting in and playing with ace and
09:37but ace brought his own band so it was it was fine um but i i got to hang out and have dinner with ace
09:43and um in fact i put that picture up on my on my facebook yesterday and don jameson was there so
09:49we were just hanging out and we had just a lovely conversation it was really great um just talking
09:55about everything from the old you know the old rebel rousing days for both of us and uh you know
10:01talking shop on business and songs and you know kiss stories and mega death stories and so it was
10:06really it was really really great you know so and then i got to you know stand side stage and watch
10:11him play and you know that new album i i messaged steve brown from trickster i said dude how did you
10:16how did you get ace to play and sing like that the record's great it's like to me it was like
10:23is that 10 000 volts was as good as the first ace fraley solo record with rip it out and everything
10:29else so i was said he just said man i just got him to sit down and play guitar and it was it was
10:33not hard at all and so i was just so happy for for them uh i love that record i think that's a
10:39when we were on bass warrior back in march we were driving around europe listening to 10 000 volts
10:43you know kind of just being fans you know as we all are so um yeah it's it's sad news you know
10:50you think about it though 70 was he was what 74 yes i think so 74 ace fraley years you know that's like
10:57you know 77 ozzy osborne years you know i mean these are these are guys that were true rock rock and
11:03rollers in every every sense you know so you know the fact that our our beloved heroes have been with us
11:09this long um you know is is something i think we all should be should be thankful for as well you
11:15know because they certainly gave us a lot yeah don jameson actually before when i was waiting for you
11:19to log in he posted on his instagram about that night and uh he said that ace looked at him and
11:24couldn't think of who he was he's like now where do i know you from right he goes i think i remember
11:28that actually yeah and he's like he's like i'm don jameson i'm a comedian and i and i guess they called
11:33for an uber and an ace looked at don and said uh let's just tell jokes for the next 15 minutes you
11:38know whatever something like that you know i remember don i remember don saying some days
11:43because ace was telling some jokes and don said he goes you know ace you got really good timing for
11:48a comedian he goes you know as a comedian you know there's sort of a pace and the cadence of how
11:53you tell a joke so those guys are sitting there you know an ace i think was just a natural born
11:58you know uh storyteller and joke teller you know what i mean but yeah those two guys were kind of
12:03bro and down talking shop on comedy you know what i mean so it's pretty fun he was he was a funny dude
12:08and quite a quite a character there's uh there's a lot of people in this business that i wouldn't
12:13consider a character but he was definitely one of them for sure no 100 man he and he he was kind of
12:19the same guy throughout it seems like and uh i mean you know one of the funniest things about ace you
12:24you think about his guitar playing and you know there's the hit the solo that do do do do do do
12:29do do do do do right on the kitchen from kiss alive you know and and um and he's he's got his
12:35signature licks as we all do but one of his greatest signature licks didn't require any notes at all
12:41it was the toggle switch on the les paul on the beginning of cold gin yeah
12:46right i mean dude that that lick because it's a lick right and you know even though it's a
12:55mechanical thing dude that that as much as anything defined ace fraley man and just something so
13:02charming and simple like that you know it's uh it just was so so ace you know yeah no doubt uh we
13:10can sit here and talk about ace all day long i'm sure you're gonna be talking about him for uh quite a
13:14while uh but uh what do you have going on man at the uh the kings of thrash you got all sorts of
13:18stuff happening as you always do i i texted you i'm like tell me what you have going on because i
13:23can't keep up with you yeah yeah i sent you back a little itinerary i think well so yeah so we got
13:29kings of thrash dates here is um newark delaware tonight new jersey tomorrow and we're making our way
13:35over to you guys in michigan uh coming up this weekend so it's like nine shows over the next 10 days
13:40and i'll go uh back to arizona for some halloween time and then right after that i've got two
13:46weekends of the alice cooper uh rock and roll fantasy camp yeah you welcome welcome to my rock
13:53camp with with rob helford uh as a featured guest which is great because uh priest and alice are on
13:59tour together right now so doing that and then kings of thrash go to mexico uh for our first trip down
14:05there um and uh so we're doing that and then i go over to europe we've actually got something we're
14:12going to be announcing here in 10 days or so some some dates over there so i guess technically we're
14:17kind of announcing it right now but i've uh got some base warrior dates that'll be coming up uh the first
14:22week of december um and then um you know from there i'll kind of chill through the rest of december and
14:29then we just announced in january around the nam show we've got the metal allegiance show uh at the
14:35anaheim house of blues yep which is always that thursday that first thursday night of nam um you know
14:41so nam i'm not gonna have the coffee booth this year we've done it the last couple years i just kind
14:45of wanted to lighten the load and do do metal allegiance and just kind of walk walk the nam
14:49floor a little bit and just kind of uh just kind of chill this year a little bit so i'm sure jam sessions
14:55and other things always ramp up around that and and then kings of thrash is heading to uh to japan
15:01in february and um we also announced some uh some canada shows uh that we're going to be doing in may
15:09and in between there's like a whole bunch of other stuff that's uh to tba to be announced uh here in
15:16the in the coming weeks so there's a whole bunch of other stuff so yeah the calendar's pretty full man
15:21it's it's like i'm i'm out here full time rocking the free world man yeah and
15:25also within that within all the stuff you're doing you got to get me on the monsters of rock
15:29cruise so that's uh oh yeah that's right yeah yeah you know thank you for reminding me so in april
15:33yeah so jeff scott soto and i just put out a record back in august yeah called unbreakable um
15:39i think a a very good record if i may say so myself um that band really plugs and plays very
15:47very well together um so we have a warm-up show that we're going to do at whiskey in hollywood on
15:54april 9th and we get on the boat on the uh monsters rockers uh out of miami um that's uh 12
16:03through 17 april 12 through 17 i believe is what that is so um yeah doing that yeah then then we
16:10go to canada with kings of thrash and like i said a whole a whole whole whole bunch more stuff
16:16that'll be announced here in the next few weeks as well so and you still haven't mentioned you still
16:21haven't mentioned getting me on the boat that's number one priority as far as that oh yeah oh
16:25yeah that's right so anyway me and jeff scott soto are going on the boat and we will probably bring
16:31our friend melton out so uh no it would be great to have you dude you know that's such a fun you know
16:36all the cruises are great you know i've done you know ship rocked and obviously we had a mega cruise
16:41you know we we formed metal allegiance uh on the motorhead the motor motorboat cruise so you know i've
16:48done a lot of these i did the uh two years ago i did a monsters rock cruise it was super great
16:53you know the british lions on there zach wilds uh with black label society night ranger so you know
17:00cool cool mix of you know stuff that we all know right stuff that's you know probably been on your
17:06airwaves and in our record collections you know yeah so we were talking about this yesterday for a few
17:10minutes but last time i talked to you uh you told me about you know standing on the side of the stage
17:15watching ozzy uh back to the beginning and you watched mama i'm coming home and killed crane said
17:21yeah well lemmy wrote that and well in the book the last rights i was telling you about this um
17:25yeah ozzy said lemmy wrote that in under two hours and he wrote three different versions of it or
17:30something i guess yeah way with words and stuff if you had a chance to to to see the book or anything
17:35well you know i i have not i've heard of it i know of it you know max norman was here on the bus
17:41with us uh last week um he came to our show in tampa and and max is a funny guy man he's you know
17:48his british midlands accent and his stories he is funny and you know he recorded those first well he
17:55recorded the first three ozzy records blizzard uh blizzard of oz diary of a madman and bark of the
18:00moon um in fact he even did the first mix of it i didn't i was not aware of that um and they did
18:06i think all the ridge farm studios there where max was the staff house engineer and um we were
18:13talking about ozzy stuff and he said lemmy he he said that he thought lemmy had written quite a bit
18:19with ozzy you know they were good friends and obviously mama coming i'm coming home was the
18:24big one what what what what phil crane told me that i didn't know was we were standing there in the
18:28stadium is that the song was about england mama i'm coming home mama is england and then as i started
18:38listening i was going god okay that would make sense because you know uh you could have been a
18:43better friend to me i've gone that's a weird line to put in a song and then i was thinking okay maybe
18:50you know because both lemmy and ozzy moved over to la they lived in california so maybe they were
18:55thinking about i don't know you know back in their homeland of england so just putting it out there
19:02that if that's true and i have to trust because wit lived with ozzy and sharon for a while you know
19:07wit basically backpacks around the world and just shows up in random places i remember i remember when
19:13we were at ozfest 98 he goes yeah i live with ozzy and sharon like when since when you know like like
19:18uh you know i i've been hanging out over there you know so um he you know he would know of course
19:25about something like that but i thought that that was very interesting twist on that song so
19:29um every time i hear it now i think about it more as a patriotic song rather than you know mama doesn't
19:37mean your mom you know what i mean so uh it's it's that kind of thing no that's uh it's great and i
19:43thought about you right away because yeah he wrote he wrote uh four songs on no more tears and ozzy said in
19:49the book he probably made more money off those four songs the entire motorhead you know publishing rights
19:54i'm sure he did yeah i'm sure he did yeah yeah it's uh well you know and it's funny that you
20:00know lenny you know all that he it's funny i was just listening to uh no sleep till hammer smith
20:04yesterday on the airplane you know because that's kind of my groove you know and i love uh fast eddie
20:10clark was such a great guitar player and a cool cool songwriter cool riffs and just listening to a lot
20:15of those lyrics and you know that was kind of my motorhead sweet spot you know was was you know kind of in
20:23that era um but you know you think about lemmy i was thinking about him as a writer writing with
20:28ozzy that you know there's always more to each of us than just what you hear maybe in our own band
20:33you know and then for ozzy to or for lemmy to step out of motorhead and you know right with his buddy
20:38ozzy there's a different mood a different um maybe a different permission that you can write other stuff
20:46it doesn't have to just sound like motorhead you know i remember that being in megadeth it kind of
20:49always had to sound like megadeth because that's what your fans want you know i mean you're you're
20:54supposed to you know in ace look let's go back to ace fraley you know as we've seen in these
20:58documentaries and you know ace wanted to quit kiss apparently and go solo and gene simmons i think
21:06was the one that said don't quit don't quit why don't we all or the manager somebody said why don't
21:10you all four do solo albums that way it doesn't look like one guy's out going rogue you know so that
21:16idea that in at the peak of their career you know maybe ace was unsatisfied who knows maybe you know
21:22that's how we are sometimes in bands you've you want to spread your wings and do some other things
21:27but you're not really allowed to inside of your band and that's how bands are um that you know so
21:33they all did each did solo albums at the same time which is pretty bold you know um i like paul's
21:39album a lot the others i like gene's probably the next uh mostly see you in your dreams tonight
21:44with rick nielsen on guitar i thought that was kind of cool peter chris's stuff is pretty out of my
21:49just out of my wheelhouse musically you know what i mean so it wasn't so much something that i listened
21:54to but ace fraley's you know his solo album is great in fact the opening track rip it out we me
22:00and frank bella we had that in our altitudes and attitude set list yeah you know that was that was
22:04just the the go-to no that's great i was listening to it say you're right it's it's it's my favorite
22:09solo record of the four as well so yeah you know well i'll tell you what junior we'll let you split
22:15here uh we'll see uh let's see friday you'll be at the uh at at the machine shop and as we post this
22:22and then saturday at the token lounge down here in detroit so looking forward to seeing two nights
22:26and then don't forget cadillac on thursday so you know what when you were talking earlier i thought
22:34that maybe you were doing cadillac this weekend and i'm like i might be able to take a ride up there
22:37but yeah i don't think about that one it's about three hours away but uh i'm jealous going up there
22:42it's gonna be fun i'll tell you all about it when i see you on friday and saturday all right you got it
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