<\/p>\n
The stage volume of Ace Frehley\u2019s Marshall amps was \u201clouder than God,\u201d recalls Philip Shouse, with equal parts fondness and wonder. And when Frehley\u2019s guitar playing was really in the zone? Shouse says being onstage with the Kiss legend was \u201csurreal and chill-bump giving.\u201d An Alabama native and longtime Nashville resident, Shouse played bass in Frehley\u2019s touring band<\/a> from 2018 to 2022.<\/p>\n Shouse adds, \u201cAnd when he would launch into like \u2018Rip It Out\u2019 or \u201cDeuce\u2019 or \u2018She\u2019 or one of those [classic Frehley\/Kiss songs] that it was just muscle memory, it was like, wow, there\u2019s 1975,\u201d Shouse says. \u201cHe would sound the exact same [as back then].\u201d<\/p>\n Onstage with Frehley, Shouse would often back up in front of his own amp to listen to watch Ace instinctively go into his signature, knock-need posture during one of his hummable guitar solos. \u201cIt\u2019s like, man, that\u2019s him doing it right there. Like, I\u2019m playing in this big noise here and we\u2019re making this together. And there\u2019s Ace, like right next to me. Yeah, it was special. There were moments like that every night.\u201d<\/p>\n On October 16, Shouse found out Frehley had died<\/a>, at age 74 from a brain bleed after a couple recent falls at his New Jersey home, the same way most of us did, via social media. \u201cI had heard through, you know, kind of the inside network that the outlook wasn\u2019t good. But still when you get the word that somebody like that \u2026 And even beyond like me being his band, he\u2019s such a giant influence. What an impact he had.\u201d<\/p>\n After news of Frehley\u2019s passing broke, famous guitar heroes like Slash<\/a> and Tom Morello <\/a>posted tributes to Frehley, their guitar hero, on social media. Shouse was among the thousands if not millions of musicians who drew inspiration from Frehley in their youth and throughout their lives.<\/p>\n \u201cAce taught me how to play lead guitar,\u201d says Shouse, who grew up in Decatur. \u201cI had already been taking lessons for a couple years, and then, you know, I\u2019m learning the scales and nothing I\u2019m playing sounds anything remotely like Eddie Van Halen<\/a>, which is what I\u2019m trying to do in high school.<\/p>\n \u201dAnd nothing clicked until I heard Ace. Until I heard \u2018Alive!\u2019 [Kiss\u2019 1975 live double-album] and the solo from \u2018Deuce\u2019 started and it was like, that sounds really familiar. And then a couple more [songs] went by, and I went to the guitar and it\u2019s like, oh, he\u2019s playing these scales, you know. And then finally, for the first time, I realized how to make music from those. So his influence on me is immeasurable.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2019, Shouse has been a full-time member, on guitar, of Accept, the German heavy-metal band of \u201cBalls to the Wall\u201d fame.<\/a> The loss of his hero and former bandmate Frehley stung even more because Shouse\u2019s dad had passed just weeks prior.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then this hits,\u201d he says. \u201cSo then not only am I feeling the loss of Ace, but the feelings from my dad come back in. My mom\u2019s still living, so when you lose a parent like that, there\u2019s no time to grieve.<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily, Dad had everything planned and left detailed instructions of what to do. But there\u2019s still so much work that you have to do, the funeral and then had to get Mom taken care of and all these things. My head\u2019s been spinning with family business for the past like six weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully, Shouse has some great stuff going on in his life to balance the grief. He recently celebrated four years of sobriety. With Accept, he has a North American tour with Queensr\u00ffche, \u201880s metal\u2019s smartest band<\/a>, known for hits like \u201cSilent Lucidity\u201d and \u201cI Don\u2019t Believe In Love.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon, after eons backing stars like Frehley, fellow Kiss giant Gene Simmons, ex-M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce frontman John Corabi<\/a> and country hit-maker Rodney Atkins, Shouse will release his first solo EP. Titled \u201cSide 1\u201d, the record finds Shouse morphing from sideman to frontman. And he wears it well.<\/p>\n On \u201cSide 1,\u201d Shouse handles lead vocal most backing vox, and all guitars and bass. The five-song EP opens with \u201cRun Away From You\u201d and \u201cThe Naked Empress,\u201d a one-two punch of Stonesy swagger and sticky power-pop.<\/p>\n \u201cIt Gets Better\u201d hints at Shouse\u2019s Beatles jones mixed with country-rock sway. On \u201cWon\u2019t Let Go Again\u201d and closer \u201cTime Bomb,\u201d he echoes light and shade of classic Led Zeppelin<\/a> and Heart<\/a> without aping those storied bands.<\/p>\n Shouse says, \u201cMy entire music career has been me playing covers \u2013 now, I may be playing those songs with the guy or people who wrote them and sang them, but to me they\u2019re still covers. So I had no idea what I sounded like. So for my 50th [birthday] this year, it\u2019s like I\u2019m going to make a record, and I don\u2019t even care if it gets released. I just want to make the record, and to see what I sounded like.\u201d<\/p>\n Shouse\u2019s lead vocals on his debut EP, planned for an early 2026 release, are tuneful with a pinch of snarl. Think, Cheap Trick\u2019s Robin Zander meets Oasis\u2019 Liam Gallagher. \u201cSide 1\u201d is being issued via Wild Kingdom\/Sound Pollution Records and will be available on vinyl, CD and streaming.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll support the EP with a tour of Sweden \u201cwith an amazing Swedish band. So yeah, this is farther than I ever thought I would get with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Away from the stage, Shouse is co-founder and co-owner of Swedish non-alcoholic beer company, Rock N R\u00f6ll.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also been prepping a reunion album with his \u201890s Decatur band The Whitey Herzogs. They\u2019ve been cutting track at Decatur studio Clearwave with Jeremy Stephens<\/a>, who\u2019s worked with acts ranging from Southern rock great Gregg Allman<\/a> to indie-soul upstart Lamont Landers<\/a>, recording. Norwood Fisher, of Los Angeles funk-punks Fishbone<\/a>, guests on bass.<\/p>\n Asked to describe Whitey Herzogs\u2019 sound, Shouse says, \u201cIf Biz Markie rapped for Steely Dan. I love it. In the best way, we were all over the map with that stuff. We would go in there with like a crushing metal riff for two bars and then go into this Joni Mitchell type chord progression.\u201d<\/p>\n It was through Gene Simmons, whose solo touring band Shouse played guitar in for two years<\/a>, that he ended up in Frehley\u2019s band, too. Simmons and Frehley booked a tour of Australia, and Ace asked Simmons if he could use Gene\u2019s backing band. Shouse played his first show with Frehley without a single rehearsal, just a soundcheck.<\/p>\n In Shouse\u2019s opinion, Kiss — known for their iconic stage makeup, costumes and theatrics as much as their rock anthems — is second only to the Beatles as most influential band ever.<\/p>\n \u201cI was born in 1975,\u201d Shouse says, \u201cso I was young for this, but if you were a kid in \u201975, \u201976, \u201977, you may not have even given music a first thought, let alone a second thought. But when you see a Kiss album cover, you may be into horror movies, you may be into comic books, you may be just a kid that thinks that looks cool.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then that\u2019s what gets you into music and then that\u2019s what gets you into playing guitar. Because Ace is shooting rockets out of his guitar. They were decades ahead of their time with packaging and marketing. They were the right band to combine all of those things, they did it at genius level and it was just so perfectly timed. And Ace spawned countless guitar players. It was very digestible.\u201d<\/p>\n Shouse says Frehley\u2019s superpower as a lead guitarist was his mix of hot tone, fiery spirit and song-within-a-song phrasing. \u201cIt was very lyrical. He let the guitar breathe and played like a lead singer. When you do a Kiss cover, you do not jam the solo. No. You learn the lead because it\u2019s as important as the lead vocal.\u201d<\/p>\n Frehley\u2019s sense of humor and loosey-goosy way \u2013 his Kiss alter ego was the Spaceman, an extraterrestrial from the fiction planet Jendell \u2013 are also famous. Particularly his unmistakable Brooklyn accent and unforgettable cackle.<\/p>\n Shouse has a road case full of Ace-being-Ace stories. And this is one of his favorites. \u201cWe were in Japan, and we weren\u2019t officially his band yet. Instead of flying Ace\u2019s band that he had at the time, in lieu of paying for flights and hotels, it made sense to use us [for the Australia shows with Simmons.]. And Gene goes, if it\u2019s OK with them, it\u2019s OK with me. And it was OK with us — this is gonna be great.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so from Australia, we went to Japan, but that was just with Ace. And so we did eight shows in four days. And at the end of the Tokyo shows, we\u2019re [Frehley\u2019s touring musicians] getting in the cars at the hotel, and Ace is in his car up there. And he goes, \u2018Alright, fellas, see you on the cruise.\u2019 Because we were doing the Kiss Kruise with him too. And Christopher Williams, who was on drums for that run goes, \u2018No, Ace, we\u2019re going to Osaka. We\u2019ll see you in Osaka tomorrow.\u2019 And Ace goes, \u2018Ah, we\u2019ll figure it out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Like many musicians who were formerly in huge bands together, Frehley and Simmons have occasionally sparred in the press. But Shouse says those two, who along with singer\/guitarist Paul Stanley and Peter Criss comprise Kiss\u2019 original lineup, got along well on their Australia tour.<\/p>\n \u201cGene had a really deep love for Ace,\u201d Shouse says. \u201cThey used to room together [in Kiss\u2019 early days] when they were touring.\u201d Beside his electrifying guitar solos, Frehley was also a key contributor as a songwriter, he penned essentials like \u201cCold Gin\u201d and \u201cShock Me,\u201d and designed the band\u2019s bold logo, with the two Ss in lightning bolt form.<\/p>\n As an in demand sideman for the likes of Frehley, Simmons, etc., Shouse\u2019s busy schedule has resulted in him having to pass on at least one gig he would\u2019ve loved to do.<\/p>\n He was set to do a run of shows with Kix<\/a>, the Maryland hard-rockers known for songs like \u201cCold Blood\u201d and 1988 power-ballad smash \u201cDon\u2019t Close Your Eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n Shouse says of Kix, \u201cThey\u2019re such a great band. And when you meet them as people, you like them even more. And I was so excited to get to play with [Kix guitarist] Brian [\u2018Damage\u2019 Forsythe]. Ronnie [Youngkins, Kix guitarist] was gonna miss some shows. And then that is right when the Gene shows started. We had just done the first one and promoters were just hitting us up, it just blew up and it was like, no, I can\u2019t do it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Making Shouse\u2019s experiences with Frehley and Simmons even more special, he shared them with friends Jeremy Asbock and Ryan Cook, who were also musicians in the Kiss legends\u2019 touring bands.<\/p>\n Previously, Shouse, Asbock and Cook had founded and cohosted Thee Rock N Roll Residency, a recurring Nashville jam night that\u2019s featured the likes of Alice Cooper<\/a>, Cheap Trick\u2019s Robin Zander, Halestorm singer Lzzy Hale and Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really tight,\u201d Shouse says of his bond with Asbock and Cook. \u201cAnd we really leaned on each other recently. With losing Ace and losing such a big part of our lives — and the reason that we three are friends is Kiss. We\u2019ve been in touch a lot, and they came up for my father\u2019s funeral. We\u2019re always there for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to touring with Frehley, they also appeared on a redo of Kiss song \u201cShe\u201d for Frehley\u2019s 2020 album \u201cOrigins, Vol. 2.\u201d In the days of Frehley passed, Shouse says, \u201cI had kind of forgotten that we played on an Ace record. I just wasn\u2019t thinking about it. And then it hit.\u201d<\/p>\n Shouse pulled up that version of \u201cShe\u201d on YouTube and texted it to Asbock, Cook, and Paul Simmons, drummer on that track. \u201cIt was just like, we got to do that. We got to play with Ace on an Ace album and play and sing on that song with him. How cool is that?\u201d<\/p>\n