Gene Simmons has co-written two songs for Ace Frehley's next solo album, the KISS bassist/vocalist has revealed. The news of the two former KISS bandmates' collaboration was broken by the bassist/vocalist as he was giving an interview to the Minnesota classic rock radio station 92 KQRS last week. Asked if KISS has any plans to return to the studio and make new music, Simmons said (see video below): "Well, I suppose at some point. But literally two days ago I was with Ace, who's not in the band — he used to be in the band three different times — and we wrote two songs. He asked me to write for his next solo record. So I went over to his place, way out in the desert some place, and we wrote two things. And eventually the band [the current lineup of KISS] will go back in [the studio to make new music]. But there's no great incentive, because the record industry, the entire thing, is so dysfunctional. You work hard and you get paid, and if we're gonna work a year on a record, I wanna get paid too. KISS is not a charity. We make a difference between what we do personally and as a band. We buy houses for vets, we supply jobs, we give money to charity, but that's 'cause I wanna give. I don't want anybody deciding that our art, our music, our concerts is free, because 'you have enough money.'" Even though Frehley reached out to Simmons a couple of years about contributing the original KISS guitarist's "Origins Vol. 1" collection of covers, the bassist/vocalist ended up not appearing on the record because "either [Gene] didn't get the message or he was just too busy," Frehley told the WPDH 101.5 FM radio station last year. "Origins Vol. 1" featured a guest appearance by KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley on a cover of the FREE classic "Fire And Water". Frehley said in March that he was still on good terms with Stanley. "Yeah, we're good friends," the ex-KISS guitarist told Brazil's Kazagastão (KZG). He added that he also reconnected with Simmons for the first time since they spent time with each other at KISS's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 2014. "I just saw Gene [in February]. He came to my concert in Los Angeles. He hung out all night. [He was] very, very, very friendly. He was great with everybody." Asked if there is any chance that he will rejoin KISS in the not-too-distant future, Frehley said: "I haven't heard anything. But if I were a betting man, I'd say maybe 50-50. That's good odds." Rumors about Frehley's return to KISS gained strength last year after he teamed up with Stanley on the "Fire And Water" cover in what was their first collaboration since 1998's "Psycho Circus". Stanley told Billboard earlier this year that he had no interest in a reunion of KISS's original lineup. "I sang on Ace's most recent album and did a video with him," he said. "I have the connection and the reconnection and to celebrate the good things we've done together is terrific. The band as it is — I've played with [current KISS drummer] Eric Singer for, I think, 25 years and Tommy's [Thayer, guitar] been in the band probably 15 years at this point. I have no thoughts of revisiting the past. With that said, I am happy to enhance or do whatever I can for anyone who has helped put me where I am, but that doesn't include getting hitched again to somebody I unhitched from."
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