Is it punk to defend Ace Frehley and KISS?

“I don’t think there is animosity toward KISS in the punk scene,” says Lenny Bly, best known for playing bass in Inciting Riots and Social Spit. “Most people just think Gene [Simmons, KISS’s bassist] is a douche.” While Bly has never identified himself as a punk, he has been immersed in the scene for decades. And animosity or no, his KISS-inspired tattoo has come in for some mockery, which he handles with his trademark diplomacy. “I’ve gotten teased a little by punkers about being a KISS fan, but they can fuck off and be cool somewhere else.”

Bly’s first instrument was guitar; he was inspired by original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, a former San Diego resident. Bly’s six-string bears the same Ace sticker that Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett has on his, and his arm displays further proof of his devotion. Tattoos are forever — and in the best cases, they reveal something about the person behind the fleshy canvas. Bly’s tattoo works with KISS’s makeup design and deep mythology. “Ace usually uses the ace of hearts when he signs autographs. I didn’t want to put a heart on me, so I put his eye makeup pattern inside of a blue ace of spades. I designed it. I even have stars and the Planet Jendell [the planet Frehley has claimed to hail from] around it. Brent Hefner [of Black Anvil Tattoo] designed the planet and stars and put the tattoo on me. I do need to have it touched up. While it was healing, my son picked at it while I was asleep, so some of the blue came off.”

For Bly, the fascination with Frehley began even before he heard the guitarist play. “I became a KISS fan when I was seven years old. I went over to this kid’s house, and he had KISS collectible cards [produced in 1978]. They seemed like superheroes to me. I started collecting them before I’d even heard one song. I was really into Star Wars as a kid, and Frehley’s character was the Spaceman. Then, after hearing and seeing KISS, he became a musical inspiration, and the reason I wanted to play guitar. When my dad asked me what I wanted for my 12th birthday, I drew a picture of Ace’s sunburst guitar and gave it to him. He bought me an acoustic guitar with the sunburst pattern.”

Being too young to either purchase a concert ticket or attend a show alone, Bly was unable to see his hero perform in makeup before his 1982 departure from the band. And when Frehley returned in the mid-’90s, Bly was again thwarted: he had to sell his ticket to the reunion tour. He finally caught the band in concert two years later. “The only reason I got to see them on the Psycho Circus tour was because my girlfriend bought tickets. We broke up before the show, and she was going to take someone else. That person told her she should still take me, because of how excited I was to finally see Ace play live. Ted Nugent opened, but we missed him, because she lagged getting ready. I wanted to complain, but I didn’t, because I knew how lucky I was that she was taking her ex-boyfriend instead of her friend.”

Though billed as the first album by the original members since 1979’s Dynasty, the additional personnel used to create Psycho Circus resulted in the classic lineup playing on only one song together, the Frehley-penned “Into The Void.” The tour was marred by Frehley’s substance abuse — he punched his guitar tech and future replacement Tommy Thayer — and his occasional attempts to play songs not in the set list. Video of the latter can be seen on YouTube videos with titles like “Gene spits at Ace” or some variation of that — the video gets taken down periodically. Frehley doesn’t appear intoxicated or confused. It seems clear that he’s deliberately pissing Simmons off, and he wears a casually defiant expression worthy of any punk.

But despite the backstage and onstage fuckery —or perhaps because of it — Bly remains a loyal Ace fan. And he has no desire to see anyone else wearing the trademark Spaceman makeup. Earlier this month, KISS announced their supposedly final tour dates. “I think it would be cool for Ace to put on the makeup for the reunion,” he says, “but I don’t see it happening. He’s doing just fine on his own. And I don’t believe in farewell tours. They are never the last one. I won’t see them without Ace. So they can have 20 more farewell tours, for all I care.”