About Ace Frehley
The only thing more recognizable than Ace Frehley’s signature “Spaceman” makeup is his guitar playing…
Those thundering riffs and singable solos have enshrined him as one of the most influential, inspiring, and impactful musicians of all-time. Simply put, rock ‘n’ roll and heavy metal wouldn’t sound, look, or feel the same without him. Among hundreds of accolades, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® inducted him in 2014 as a Co-founder and the original lead guitarist of Kiss. Guitar World named him in the Top 15 of its “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time” and plugged the lead from “Shock Me” on the “50 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.” Magnifying the imprint of his catalog as a solo artist, Foo Fighters cut a fan favorite cover of “Ozone,” and he even jammed out “New York Groove” alongside The Roots on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The late Dimebag Darrell of Pantera proudly sported a tattoo of Frehley on his chest, while Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine celebrated him on X/Twitter as “My first guitar hero.” Embedded in popular culture, he also, penned the New York Times bestselling memoir No Regrets, and packed venues everywhere on tour for decades.
However, the GRAMMY® Award-nominated Bronx-born legend continues to elevate and electrify rock ‘n’ roll with his tenth full-length solo offering, 10,000 Volts [MNRK Heavy].
The record upholds an incredible legacy for Frehley, spanning 50-plus years in the limelight. Back in 1978, he delivered his solo debut, Ace Frehley. It reached platinum status and exploded as “the highest-selling of the four Kiss solo albums in the Soundscan era.” Pitchfork even retrospectively rated it a rare “8.5” score. During 1987, he dropped Frehley’s Comet, followed by 2009’s Anomaly. In 2014, he made history once again. His Space Invader LP captured #9 on the Billboard 200 and emerged as “The only solo album by a past or current Kiss member to reach the Top 10 on the chart.” Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Slash, Lita Ford, and John 5 jumped at the chance to collaborate with him on 2016’s Origins Vol. 1, bowing at #1 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums Chart and in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top Rock Albums Chart. He notably maintained his momentum with Spaceman [2018] and Origins Vol. 2 [2020]. Applauding the latter, Forbes proclaimed, “The idea of fun has always defined ‘The Spaceman’s’ best work but never more so than on the cover songs that make up the Origins releases.”
Jumpstarting his next chapter, he parlayed this energy into 10,000 Volts. He introduces this body of work with the first single and title track. A surging riff sets the tone for “10,000 Volts” as his swaggering delivery takes hold and never lets go. It culminates on the chantable chorus, “She hit me like 10,000 volts, when I saw her face,” giving way to a fret-burning guitar solo—of course! Then, there’s “Walkin’ On The Moon.” His voice rings out between towering distortion as a lovestruck hook echoes, “When I wake up, you’re all I see. You got me walkin’ on the moon!” His string bends practically engages in a call-and-response with the refrain, while another celestial solo resounds. A mean palm-muted chug underlines his pensive vocals on “Cherry Medicine” where he confesses, “I knew I had to change my ways for sure to keep you by my side.”
Elsewhere, he beams out an otherworldly sonic frequency of his own on “Up In The Sky.” He urges, “They’re up in the sky. Girl, I know what I saw. Can’t trust the news. Can’t trust the law.” A cinematic hum dissolves into melodic clean guitar on the instrumental finale “Stratosphere.” Frehley’s evocative playing channels epic emotion with one of his most stunning and lyrical lead lines to date.
In the end, Frehley doesn’t need any makeup, because there’s nothing but uncontainable electricity at the heart of 10,000 Volts. As it turns out, the man who once sang “Shock Me” is as much of a livewire as ever in 2024 and beyond.
About Stephen Pearcy
As the founder, lead singer and songwriter of the metal rock band RATT, Stephen Pearcy is credited with having been a pioneer of the early 80’s Sunset Strip rock scene. Having led his creation to Mega MultiPlatinum Success Year after Year from 1984 to 1991. Capturing critical acclaim for his performances, style and uniquely salacious vocals. Pearcy formed RATT in Los Angeles in 1982 from his previous band Mickey RATT. Known for their overtly sexual appearance, rebellious attitude and take no prisoner approach to metal, Atlantic Records recognized RATT’s potential and star power thus signing the band to a contract resulting in the 1984 album “Out of the Cellar”, which became one of many multi-platinum successes. RATT climbed up the charts with singles from “Out of the Cellar”, soaring past Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”, Van Halen’s “Panama”, Madonna’s “Borderline” and David Bowies “Blue Jean”.
The record generated top ten singles followed by sold out tours throughout the world. This momentum remained with every proceeding RATT album to include their most recent release of “Infestation” in 2010.
Their last recording from that time in 1991 is Ratt “81-91″ of which marked the end of an era, and to the disbelief of many die hard metal fans who seemingly could never get enough of Pearcy, it seemed to mark the end to a self-proclaimed “dynasty of rough & tough metal” that ruled the better part of the 80s.
Throughout RATT’s nearly four decades of success with Pearcy at its helm, they released 8 albums and played thousands of shows worldwide all the while selling over 20 million records.
In 1992 Pearcy explored other areas of interest and created the band ARCADE with Cinderella’s
drummer, Fred Coury. With the release of his first solo debut in 2002, “Social Intercourse”, and 20 CDs to his credit, he continued to record and tour vigorously to the delight of a new emerging fan base of metal fans.
Added to his list of achievements is 2002’s Cult Horror Classic, “Camp Utopia” with Pearcy playing the notorious camp slasher and cult leader, Timothy Bach.
RATT & Mickey RATT songs are featured regularly in film & TV; Point Break, Weird Science, The Golden Child, Academy Award winning movie “The Wrestler”, Emmy Award winning Stranger Things, Wicked City, Cobra Kai, The Goldberg’s, Young Sheldon…
Pearcy’s continued exploration away from music is as a New York Times Best Selling Author, “SEX, DRUGS, RATT ‘n’ ROLL… My Life in Rock” by Stephen Pearcy. Hailed as “A jaw-dropping tell-all from the lead singer of the 1980s super group Ratt: the groupies, the trashed hotel rooms, the drugs—and just how much you can get away with when you’re one of the biggest hair metal stars of all time.”
2020, “Year of the Rat”, started in a positive direction with RATT landing a Geico Insurance commercial that would introduce RATT to a whole new breed of fans with the catch phrase “We have a RATT Problem”, seen by over 15 million viewers in its first 2 weeks on air, RATT’s “Round and Round” recharted on Billboards Top Ten Hard Rock Digital Song Sales and a newfound fanbase was born. Live Nation scheduled RATT to headline “The Big Rock Summer Tour”, RATT was ready to Take Over the Rock World once again.