It's Dan Time. Grab a seat. It's Dan Time. Yeah.
It's Dan Time. Only dance on the line. Only dance
all the time. This is the Dan Time podcast with
your host, Dan McGarrett. Welcome to a very special
episode. You've heard me say that in the past,
a very special episode. Well, if you're familiar
with the podcast and the output, the regularity,
and now the lack of regularity, this really is
special. First of all, that there is an episode.
But secondly, as this project has been on pause,
I've I've had to shelve a lot of ideas And that's
okay. It's just the way I described it in the
last one the life outside of Dan time. It's just
the way things are Happening right now and I'm
where I want to be I'm doing the things I want
to be doing so hopefully you've got a lot of
material to go back to if you've you know, just
Really been the ultimate fan and heard over a
hundred episodes I'm just I'm thrilled that you're
that type of listener, but most likely you haven't
heard all of them So there's a lot there to listen
to but this episode is really special because
we're sticking to it The Halloween special I
don't know why it became so important to me And
I think for my guest it is just as important
to him, but I like traditions I like annual installments
of things especially when you get a few going
so this is the third one The Halloween special
with my brother Robert McArdle also known as
Rob McArdle just like You know, I'm originally
Daniel known as Dan. Here he is. And here we
are Happy Halloween folks Get out your favorite
bag of if you've been trick -or -treating If
you just pop some popcorn or whatever you're
doing. You got some movies ready to listen to
watch this weekend Have some fun and here's another
treat on top the Halloween episode. How are you
doing Robert? It's so great to be talking to
you Good to be here. I am wonderful. Can't wait
to talk some some Halloween Amongst other things
but yeah doing good Day and time has has featured
a lot of different guests and It wasn't my ultimate,
you know, I didn't see it going this way in the
very beginning because she, as you people noticed,
some of the first guests were, there wasn't really
any consistency. It was just a mug shop owner.
And then we had it, you know, a former athlete
here, then this and that. But the singer songwriters
didn't come around for a while, but there's been
a real musical theme to the full body of work.
And I'm, you know, I take special pride in that
and in promoting some of these artists that many
of whom you may not have heard of. But one thing
I like to do having you back on the show, Robert,
is talk a little bit of music. Yeah. And we have
an opportunity to do that here tonight. First,
before we get into it, you know, there's somebody
we want to obviously honor his legacy, as many
people have done. So we're not, you know, we're
not breaking the mold here, but. Going back to
Halloween music, we talked about it last year.
Do you have anything different on the playlist
than you'd be listening to in August or April
or something right now here at the end of October?
Well, not really. I'm sitting in my man cave,
which is pretty much Halloween all year. I listen
to the same music all year, so nothing's really
changed. Robert. I mean, I obviously listen to
my horror stuff, but you know. You mentioned
man cave. Would you consider if I had a place
like that, a Dan cave? Absolutely. Have some
Dan time down in the Dan cave. Yep. I've, uh,
you know, if I, if I do have to lay this thing
to rest, I had been thinking about, well, if
I'm going to reboot at some point in the future,
what's the next the next name of the show, what's
the next podcast? Cause I just, I think there
will be something. It may take a couple of years,
but maybe the Dan cave, maybe not. Hey, you never
know. But it's not all about me. So maybe I need
to get off the Dan thing. Cause I think I have
to over explain the fact that it's not Dan time
me just talking about things that are on my mind.
And that's it. But okay. Let's get hey, let's
get to it real quick here. Let's get to some
some ace talk ace freely legendary Kiss guitarist
and I think for the Halloween episode It's kind
of fitting. I mean, I wish he the circumstances
had been different and he's still with us here,
but yo kiss is you know with the the imagery
and the product lines and all the collectibles
and you could really sink your teeth into everything.
It's kind of lends itself to Halloween and this
time of year. Robert, how did you feel? Same
question about the Ozzy episode and you see the
news and it was unexpected when you heard Ace
Freely passed away. I'm shocked, really. I knew
he had had, I guess, some health problems. As
far as I know I think it was an accident that
that led to his death but you know I was scrolling
around on YouTube and a lot of times you get
these little pop -ups that says you know Celebrities
we've lost it will be a picture of you know Michael
J Fox or somebody or someone you know is not
dead But then I saw one from a YouTube personality
it was ace freely You know news coming in that
that he's died. I was like oh my god. It's it's
actually true and so I went and googled it and
found out that it was true, but yeah, just absolutely
shocked. I mean, I wasn't expecting that one
coming. I know that I think he is about to go
on tour or his tour got canceled due to his health,
but just shocked, shocked and sad to hear it.
Yeah, you're right. He was in the studio and
I think he had done some dates with maybe with
Slaughter and Quiet Riot earlier. spring summer
I may have the dates off but yeah apparently
Ace had probably taken some falls in the past
and you know I'm not a student of all things
Ace I don't know everything about him inside
and out but I have heard that for lack of better
description he was a little unsteady on his feet
even in his prime you know even as a 35 45 55
year old man he was Little wobbly and and some
of that was part of his persona too, you know
as a guitarist but um You know that happens when
people of a certain age especially a celebrity
and You see that there's 75 or if it's a another
public figure that's late 70s early 80s and you
see the obituary You don't really think a whole
lot more about it, but there's a lot of falls
that take people down sure At their house if
just imagine if you're that old and I think maybe
there were people around him I don't know but
and you You don't even have to fall off a ladder.
Just the the method the way it happens you fall
and you're laying there for a while and you've
started bleeding and you can't whatever however
it happens, but Anyway ace freely Would argue,
you know even he's getting on up there all those
guys are but gone too soon This was very unfortunate,
but Robert I'm gonna go ahead and say you know
with the four guys and kiss Ace is not he's not
my personal favorite doesn't mean I didn't like
him because I like all of them Where does he
rank with with you if he had kind of have the
four together? Who's who's number one? Do you
have a top four? Classic kiss lineup of the classic
kiss lineup You know, I guess My number one would
be Paul Number two would be ace Number three
would be Peter and number four would be Jean
and I say Paul Because I think he really is kind
of the voice of kiss But ace would be a close
second since I guess I can't really tie them
for first but ace probably the most talented
member of the band and I just had a lot of memorable
songs. Has a memorable voice too, even though
I would say Paul probably more is the voice of
the band. But yeah, I would say he's a close
second. And I'm really, I'm raking this for the
most part based on the four albums that they
put out in 78. Although I recognize Aces is probably
the best, but I'm giving Paul just the edge.
just because I think his voice is a little bit
more iconic. But the albums, when they came out,
basically were ranked as, I think it was like
Ace, Paul, Peter and Gene. So that's why Peter
and Gene kind of at the end. I agree with you
on the Ace vocals, you know, the way he sings
on Strange Ways. Yeah. Yeah, song like Strange
Ways and then the Freely's Comet material and
Ace Freely's solo material. He's got that guy
off the street vocal style and almost like lyrical
style too. That's just really endearing because
he's not terrible by any means and he's got this
engaging delivery. When he sings, uh, you know
back in the new york groove it almost sounds
like somebody you would see singing Uh, or sounds
like somebody you'd see singing in the subway
there. Yeah, uh, so definitely kind of a normal
guy working man, uh type voice, um, even on a
song called like, uh, talk to me Or 2000 man
You know, it's I don't know. I like it Well,
i'll go ahead and just insert without really
any commentary my top four in order And I'll
agree with you, Paul, number one, some of that
is just Paul's commitment to the band. When he
kept Kiss Alive in the eighties. We probably
would have seen the end of Kiss in around 84,
85 had Paul not basically just been dragging.
I hate to say dragging that thing along, but
he found a way to get, get some songwriters in
there. to pair up with and get some songs written,
pull Gene back into the fray long enough for
him to kick out a few tracks to balance the albums.
But also, I love Paul's story. I read his book.
He always likes to pick on Gene for Gene's ego
being the size of Texas or whatever. He lives
down the street from me. I can see his ego from
here. That kind of thing, which I always think
is hilarious because Paul has An enormous ego
himself. He's uh, so but they are a perfect pair
And I kind of have to just tie them together.
I got Paul Paul number one gene number two for
me Then I got Peter at number three Head -to
-head vocals on some of the songs. I mean Peter's
got Beth, of course, but plaster castor. I mean
a hard luck woman Yeah, I love Peter Chris's
vocal style and just have an appreciation for
drummers he's number three and ace is just he's
number four on my list but it's not a whole lot
of uh daylight there between all of them yeah
peter he did the vocals for the title track to
hotter than hell didn't he um i think that's
still gene but you might you could be correct
yeah that's one of my favorite songs on I wish
we could talk about the whole album Hotter Than
Hell. A lot has been made about the production
quality or lack thereof. But the songs on Hotter
Than Hell are some of my favorite Kiss songs.
Got to choose. It's a good one. Yeah. Let's quickly,
because this is the Halloween episode, we want
to talk about a few other things, but can you
easily rattle off a, let's say, It's kind of
a top ten but the bottom five where you just
kind of go all right here's ten nine eight seven
six five or ten nine eight seven six Yeah, and
then these are my runners up and then here's
my five four three two one Can you do that with
ace? I? Probably know my number one, but the
the other nine probably are all interchangeable
Let's just reminisce on some songs and they don't
really They don't have to be in any particular
order, but when you think of Ace Freely, what
you loved about him, what are some top tracks?
Definitely Shock Me, which I think is probably
a signature song of his. I believe he was, I
think his guitar shocked him, and they wrote
that song. I like Rip It Out in Snowblind off
of the 78th album. I like Talk To Me, which I
think is on unmasked. I like 2 ,000 Man, Freely's
Comet. Of course, I love, you know, End of the
Night, Rock Soldiers, but also Insane. I think
It's Over Now is a great ballad. Loser in a Fight
is really good. Really, that's... And I believe
when we did our 89 Top 5 Glam albums, I had second
-siding... my number five or number four album
from that year and then he did a great record
about Ten or twelve years ago Space Invader Which
had a couple good tracks notably give me a feeling
and whatever girl wants is pretty good and he
does a good cover of that Steve Miller song the
Joker so that's kind of a sampling of Aces stuff
that that I really like As usual a great list
and the way you rattle through it there Robert
folks hit that 15 second rewind button, whatever
it might be go back catch all those tracks jot
them down because if Robert's recommending it
and you like this type of music and you already
like some kiss songs go check out those ones
and if you Really didn't listen to much ace freely
solo There's some fun stuff there. Here's something
else. I want to address his live performances
by all accounts were either pretty good or very,
very bad. Yeah. And I really don't want to rag
on the guy, you know, in this particular format,
but I think, you know, it's just, you never knew
what you were going to get. I didn't get to see
him live, but at the same time, Yeah, and certainly
if you if you spent 40 50 60 dollars you go see
something and I can't think of a show Robert
that I've seen Where I went and I was just terribly
disappointed in That artist performance where
I thought Natalie. This is a mess but Who knows
the the wise and the house and and then why like
on the same tour? He's just spectacular other
nights but you got to give ace credit for cranking
out the music spending time in the studio writing
songs i mean he's very active right all the way
up until the end um yeah i think he's i think
he's put like three or four albums out in the
last 10 years right well a couple of those songs
i'm gonna i'll throw them in here insane good
one and i have to i gotta do this Alright, here
we go Robert insane and I remember listening
to the song with you the chorus I Got money got
fame got everything to play this game. No sorrow.
No shame because nothing matters when you're
insane You remember the video for that how goofy
it was yeah Where they're all like they've got
their heads like in between all these girls legs
while they're dancing They're just kind of hanging
out down there. Yep Yeah, uh the opening opening
verse some people call me a walking disaster
just a waiting for a place to occur But I still
got enough that'll last her till the blood gets
ready to burn My meter is running still got a
lot of living to do I live five days to your
one And you know it's true. Yeah, I love that
These lyrics are and you like a lot of his songs
You don't have to think too hard. You don't have
to Fall deep into some concept of Some heavy
topic. It's just fun And it's fun to sing along
to it's kind of like if your your buddy just
happens to be a decent enough Singer behind a
microphone and and they're just wailing with
a great backing band Yeah Give me a feeling you
put you told me about that song several years
ago. We listened to it together Yeah Give me
a feeling Yeah That's on space invader from yeah
for 2014 Because you're on my mind And I start
believing till the end of time All I know I can't
sleep because because I'm thinking about you
and all I know and every day you drive me so
crazy yeah give me a feeling off of space invader
all right some of my my favorite ace kiss songs
i'm gonna try to keep this quick with not a lot
of explanation here because um my thing with
ace robert and i don't know if it's the same
with you it's not like he was a real technical
soloist No, but his solos were were they they
rocked it they were loud and they were memorable.
Yeah big fan of The opening track on rock and
roll over really the whole album, but I want
you Yes, you know, that's a Paul song though,
isn't it singing it? Yeah, it's Paul singing.
I'm just thinking of some you know songs where
I like aces playing on it Okay. Yeah charisma
off a dynasty Oh, love charisma. Really the entire
self -titled debut album. You got to throw Cole
Jen in there, but also, I mean, Deuce and Strutter.
And I don't listen to a lot of Black Diamond
100 ,000 years anymore. I don't know how I either
wore it out or just those two. I never really
cared much for 100 ,000 years. And Black Diamond,
I don't know that, that would never really...
Never really did much for me either. I know that
they're well -known songs Yeah off a hotter than
hell We talked about the title track, but let
me go rock and roll ace is just shredding almost
throughout the song Yep, is that one a favorite
of yours? It's I like it I wouldn't say it's
a favorite, but I do like it and if I'm listening
to hotter than hell it'll get played Yeah That's
another one where we've I think talked about
the lyrics from time to time Because baby's got
the feeling baby wants to show baby. Won't you
tell me baby rock and roll? Yeah, yeah Okay That's
almost uh, it sounds a lot like the lyrics to
uh to rocket ride off of a live too when they
did a couple studio songs Whoa, no I Think that's
the same one All right getting a little dis uh
undisciplined here but a couple more i don't
even know if i've i'm not even in the top 10
i haven't written any of this stuff down creatures
of the night's the last one he's recorded on
i mean i gotta say the title track and war machine
oh yeah those are good ones uh but robert you
may be disappointed here number one And I listened
to it tonight from the unplugged album with the
boys rock and roll all night Party every day.
I Was gonna mention that earlier because I know
that they they all four do Do a vocal on that
version and I always like his Like his and Peters
a lot. Yeah Okay Anything else on ace freely
this you want to talk about? Not really, um,
just he's going to be missed. Um, and, uh, he'll,
uh, he'll be on the, on the playlist for the
weekend, um, for another, another week or two
in a row. So rest in peace. Absolutely. All right.
Yeah. My, my final thoughts, you know, we saw
the reunion tour together in Birmingham, 1996.
Yes. It's really special memory there. I honestly
got into Kiss. What really, really kickstarted
it for me was the Kiss Alive 3 album. So I'm
more of the Eric Singer on drums, Bruce Kulik,
lead guitar, Paul and Gene. And then I went back
and I've got that appreciation for the old lineup.
But, you know, Ace is not my number one in the
original four. And, you know, like I said, I
don't know how you feel, but are you more of
a fan of the 80s Kiss? Or the 70s Kiss? I'm more
a fan of the 80s Kiss. That's when I first got
into them. Crazy Nights is still one of my favorite
Kiss albums of all time and I find myself listening
to 80s Kiss more than 70s but you can't deny
what an impact 70s Kiss had on rock and roll
and going back and discovering it when I did.
I can't put it down almost as much as I can't
put down the 80s kiss. So yeah, yeah, yeah, more
of an 80s. I mean, love crazy nights, love asylum,
hot in the shade, lick it up, animalize, love
animalize. But yeah, more of an 80s guy. Yeah,
agreed. A lot of respect and a lot of appreciation
for Ace. and his imprint on rock and roll, hard
rock, really moving this thing forward. They
were so against the grain in the beginning. I
remember our own mother has admitted to us, she's
like, they were a joke band. They were not supposed
to, you know, make it out of the mid 70s. I mean,
just forget about still being a band and recording
something like Dynasty or Unmasked. Or that just
that strange period there unmasked music from
the elder Yeah, then they just really Well, I
don't know how successful creatures and lick
it up really where they got some MTV Airplay
and then just to kind of continue on into the
Make it to the mid 90s to then recapture that
old feeling Yeah I guess the the country was
ready for it at the time and Ready for just to
come back. Yeah And I would say I enjoy the psycho
circus record. I know that I don't think hasten
Peter really played on it But their images were
on it. Yeah So so I like it probably probably
the last kiss record I really got into Yeah,
I mean, I love the title track psycho circus
We are one is Some people look at that as kind
of a fluff song just not really a lot of substance
there I kind of enjoy going back to we are one
It's all right. I love I pledge allegiance to
the state of rock and roll. Oh, yeah Yeah into
the void Mm -hmm, so it's solid record Well moving
along here because let's face it. We talked about
this Robert earlier today Just on this podcast.
We did a an Aussie tribute now. We're doing an
ace tribute Robert we're 46 47 years old all
these rock and roll stars that we looked up to
are 66 70 76 years old, I mean This is gonna
continue happening and yeah, we also wanted to
kind of get your take on that the coverage Eddie
trunk does a great job Just in general. I really
like that he's You know, he waves that flag and
He's just really been the voice that people turn
to if they love hard rock heavy metal But uh,
you know, how emotional can we get like we're
this is gonna happen There's not be a lot of
more a lot more space in between, you know some
of these big top stars are gonna keep dropping
so Do we keep crying? Do we keep? You know, because
I don't want to say it like that, but, you know,
just picture our parents, people of another generation.
They saw a headline in a newspaper and they may
have seen something at the end of the evening
news. And then they just were kind of alone with
their thoughts after that. When somebody died.
Yeah. You know, now we talk about it for like
three weeks. Yeah, I'm not going to cry over
it. I'm going to celebrate. their music, whoever's
next, but I'm not gonna cry over it just because
I didn't know the person, never met them. So
it's harder for me to cry over a celebrity that's
died just because I never met them. I can be
sad they can't make music anymore and I can appreciate
what their music meant to me, but I'm not gonna
sit around and mope. You know, this is just,
this is gonna keep happening. Ozzy was tough,
I'll admit that. Ronnie James Dio was tough.
But, like, when Mick Mars dies, I'm not gonna
cry. I'll listen to some Motley Crue. You know,
when Rob Halford dies, I'll listen to some Judas
Priest. Yeah. But, as you said, I mean, it's,
they're getting older, isn't it? Yeah. I mean,
Ace isn't gonna be the last, so. I'll just rock
out to their music, you know, just try to have
a good time and I hope that when I die that people
I know Will let's pull crank up ingredients and
Yeah Dig up some old impalement Merch. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, or look if you knew me, it's
okay to cry but if you didn't know me and you've
come across impalement, which is probably a rarity
these days, crank that up. Yeah, and probably
generally you would like for people to have a
fest or to say, hey, let's party the way that
Rob, what would he be doing? Yeah. And yeah,
I think that's all we can hope for is that, and
really what we should focus on is the people
that we know and care about. I don't want to
really dog anybody that's not 18 or 24 anymore
and they're more like 44 or 54 and they're you
know pretty attached to certain figures in rock
and roll like oh man this is my ultimate hero
like I don't want to make a lie to that I mean
I was a teenager I was 18 19 when I heard Harry
Carrey died suddenly and be big Cubs fan. I'm
watching them on WGN since I'm 10 years old.
I'm 18. I sat there in my dorm room and I cried.
I was about to walk out because I had to go to
class and I had to stop myself for like a few
minutes to collect, to get myself together. Yeah,
I was pretty upset. And you're right Ozzy, listening
to some of the songs, I mean it gets you a little
emotional but these are people that Maybe maybe
you had a backstage moment with them one time,
but by and large they were not aware of your
existence or ever ever Thinking about you Not
even two minutes after you met him where they
thinking about you, you know, like when you hear
people Meet somebody for a second time that they
met 1987 as a hate. Hey Paul you know backstage
you played indianapolis um on that asylum tour
and uh and i got you to autograph this my you
know my album cover and uh man that was awesome
and you were telling me about the house that
you guys just built and uh did you remember that
they don't remember it they don't and they and
they don't care they're not concerned about this
so we we just have to be mature i think is the
way of putting it to Just have fun with it. It
just kind of prompts you to get back. Let me
go back into the KISS catalog and just have some
fun with it. Right.