Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley recently made a comment about the band’s frontman, Paul Stanley, allegedly using pre-recorded tracks for live concerts.
Ace made the remark during his concert Saturday night (June 11) at the Palladium in New York City, just before he and his solo band performed the classic KISS song “Detroit Rock City“.
Frehley told the crowd: “This song’s a great song written by Mr. Paul Stanley. By the way, we don’t use tapes. Anyway, this one’s about a city in the Midwest on Lake Michigan. It’s called ‘Detroit Rock City‘.” You can check out fan-filmed video of the comment below.
Ace’s remark stems from a caught on camera “mistake” which made the rounds online last week which saw KISS drummer Eric Singer make a slight error in a drum break during the make-up clad band’s performance of the same song in Antwerp, Belgium.
Towards the end of the song, Singer seems to “forget to rest for a measure, instead, continuing to play the standard beat for two additional measures” according to YouTube user Austin Ogonoski, who uploaded a video of the performance. After “Eric realizes he messes up,” he “begins the drumroll/breakdown a measure late,” which “means Paul’s vocal track is out of sync with what the band is actually playing,” Austin explains. “Paul’s track plays ‘Everybody’s gonna leave their SEAT,’ completely out of sync with the song and when nobody is at a mic.”
KISS fan and YouTube user Jochem Blaauw, who also shared fan-filmed video of the “Detroit Rock City” performance, posted in the clip’s description: “Show opening of the Antwerpen show 2022. Eric’s rare mistake at 5:05 makes even more interesting.” Jochem also went on to comment on another posted clip of the “flub”, writing: “Great quality. Curious about Eric’s rare mistake at 5:09 and Paul’s ‘singing’ right after…”
Speculation about KISS using “backing racks” for their live performances during their current “End Of The Road” tour began in late January 2019. The speculation comes from the fact that fans have noticed that frontman Paul Stanley has seemed to struggle with hitting certain high notes in many of the band’s tunes in recent years.
KISS are currently on tour for their “End Of The Road” farewell tour which launched back in 2019 and is scheduled to end sometime in early 2023.