The friendship between Ace Frehley and Alice Cooper began in the 1970s and continues strong to this day, with both touring together in North America Kiss guitarist recalled a birthday party for the Father of Shock Rock – and the reason why Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons weren't so well received.
As Frehley recounted on The Eddie Trunk Podcast , the reason for the mutual connection with Cooper was drinking. “We were invited to Alice’s birthday party and, of course, they had several cases of Budweiser, and I’m sitting next to Alice,” he narrated (via Ultimate Guitar ). “Paul and Gene are on the other side of him. Those guys don’t drink, and Alice and I are drinking beer and laughing our asses off, completely ignoring Paul and Gene because they don’t drink. Alice identified with me because we’re both beer drinkers. We had a great time that day, but I can’t remember, it was in the 70s.”
Thinking about the length of their friendship, Ace Frehley did the math based on how long they both stopped drinking. “Normally, when people ask me, ‘How long have you known Alice?’, [I reply that] we’ve known each other since we got drunk together, so how long has Alice been sober? I’ve been sober for 15 years, my birthday was yesterday, but Alice’s has probably been sober for twice that long,” he estimated.