ACE FREHLEY INTERVIEW AND “SPACE INVADER,” CHART POSITION AND SALES

rbtaleman August 28, 2014 Leave a Comment

Fox 5 co-anchor Steve Lacy recently conducted an interview with original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley. You can now watch the segment below.

“Space Invader”, the first new solo album from Frehley in five years, sold around 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 9 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores on August 19 via Entertainment One Music (eOne Music).

Ace‘s previous CD, “Anomaly”, opened with around 17,000 units back in September 2009 to debut at No. 27.

“Space Invader”, which was made available in Europe on August 18 (three days earlier in Germany and Scandinavia) through SPV/Steamhammer, includes 11 brand new original songs as well as a cover of Steve Miller‘s “The Joker”.

Asked what the songwriting process was like for “Space Invader”, Frehley told Guitar World magazine: “You know, all my life I’ve never had a formula for writing songs. Sometimes it starts with a guitar riff, sometimes it’s a lyrical idea or just a melody. Sometimes I wake up with an idea. There’s no rhyme or reason. Sometimes I write on an acoustic, sometimes on a bass. There’s a song on the new album called ‘Into The Vortex’. It’s a riff song, but I wrote it on a bass guitar. Why? Because I write differently with a bass guitar in my hand than an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar. When I feel creative, I just sit down and start playing.”

Ace also spoke about the recording process for “Space Invader”, telling Guitar World: “I did most of the recording at my friend’s studio in Turlock, California, called the Creation Lab. Turlock is in the middle of nowhere — it’s like a farming community — and that’s why I loved it. I have Attention Deficit Disorder, and there are absolutely no distractions when working at this place. You record for eight or 10 or 12 hours, then you go back to the hotel and go to sleep. You wake up and go back to the studio. There’s nothing else to do there, which means it’s the perfect place for me to record. Plus, I like working with the least amount of people, and this studio is great because it’s quiet and there aren’t all kinds of people walking through. I did most of this record with just me and a drummer, Matt Starr. For a couple of songs I brought in Chris Wyse from THE CULT to play bass.”

The “Space Invader” cover artwork was created by Frehley‘s longtime friend, artist Ken Kelly, who designed the iconic cover art for two of KISS‘ best-selling LPs “Destroyer” (1976) and “Love Gun” (1977).

Published by rbtaleman

Heavy metal (fiend/friend?) Writer, frustrat(or), frustrat(ee), decorated U.S. Navy veteran, Husband(twice), father(three times), grandfather(of seven), FM radio veteran, Concertgoer, music collector, muscle car aficianado. Grown up since five. Child since 45. View all posts by rbtaleman