The loss of Ace Frehley has weighed heavily on the rock community, and Justin Hawkins is the latest to champion his maverick brilliance in a heartfelt tribute.
The larger-than-life Kiss guitarist passed away earlier this month aged 74, and the tributes to him have come pouring in. Tom Morello has even gone on to say he owes the Spaceman a “life debt” for his contributions to one of America’s most extraverted bands.
Now, Hawkins has followed suit, dedicating an episode of his Justin Hawkins Rides Again series to discuss why he felt Frehley was one of a kind.
“When I think of Ace Freely, I think about a couple of brilliant encounters that I had with him over the years,” he says, having toned down his usual louder-than-a-Marshall-stack attire for a more somber, yet still celebratory, episode.
He goes on to share a photo of himself and Frehley from the Monsters of Rock Cruise, saying, “If every picture tells a story, so does this.”
A feud between the Space Ace and Hawkins’ band, the Darkness, had erupted after the former’s set pushed the latter's back by around 40 minutes. When he did grace the stage, Hawkins took aim at Frehley, joking that “the most important thing about rock n’ roll is punctuality.”
There was also a joke about wig adhesive being on Frehley’s rider – “which is unreasonable when we’re in the middle of the Caribbean.” The crowd lapped up the frontman’s humor. Frehley’s camp not so much.
“A couple of Ace’s people were furious; I got cornered by a couple of Ace's people who were asking if I had a problem,” he reveals. “The way they asked me, I started to wonder if we did have a problem. I thought I was going to get thrown overboard just for having a bit of wig-based amusement.
“I think it's obvious from that footage that I was just pissing about,” he adds. “So they said, ‘Well, Ace is sitting in the corner if you want to go and talk to him.’ So I did. I went over and sat down with Ace Frehley, and I said to him, ‘I didn't realize it was such a touchy subject.’
“But he was laughing to me about the wig, saying it’s just easier to maintain. I had a lovely conversation with him. It was a good moment. But he didn’t remember me from when we performed at a corporate event together.”
Crucially, though, he was a rock star who could take a joke.
