East Coast Invasion From Outer Space With Ace Frehley Guitarist Todd Youth

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 by Todd Youth

Tags: Ace Frehley, Todd Youth
Posted in On the Road with Stretch Fuck'n Jeans |

Greetings Lip Servants, Todd Youth here, with my first attempt at doing a blog. Some of you might know me already and, if you don’t, here’s a quick rundown. I’ve been playing in bands since I was 12, my first band I was ever in was Agnostic Front way back in 1983. I spent many years in Murphy’s Law, D-Generation, and Danzig, did some shows playing guitar for Motorhead, Glen Campbell, The Chelsea Smiles, and most recently I’ve been playing guitar with none other than ACE FREHLEY!!!!

Anybody who knows me, knows what a big Kiss fan and more importantly what a big Ace fan I am. Ace is the reason I started playing guitar many years ago. He has been the biggest influence on my playing ever since my Dad took me to see Kiss on the Dynasty tour at Madison Square Garden, so when I got the call to tour with Ace in Australia a few months back I jumped at the chance. I’ve known the bass player, Anthony Esposito (ex Lynch Mob), and drummer, Scotty Cougan (Brides of Destruction), forever, so it was a no brainer.We had a great time down under so I decided to stay on board.

Which leads us to our mini east coast tour. Flew out of Lax to NYC on St.Patty’s Day. Was hoping to go see my old band Murphy’s Law do their annual St.Patty’s show, but had to head on down I-95 to Connecticut for a day of rehearsal and then our first show at the Mohegan Sun Casino. Got a few hours sleep, headed down to the lobby of the hotel to score some coffee and ran into my old friend “Nitebob” who’s going to be doing sound for the run. Nitebob has been around a long time; he worked with the Stooges during the Raw Power tour, the Dolls, Aerosmith, the list goes on and on. We play catch up and he tells me about watching the Stooges rehearse for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, then it’s off to practice.

I help the crew guys set up, run a few songs, and wait for Ace to show up. Seems he missed his flight the day before and won’t be getting to the rehearsal till about 7p.m. One thing I’ve learned working with him is that you are know operating on Ace time. Anthony, me and Scotty run a few songs we haven’t done live yet and, before you know it, Ace Frehley has landed on planet earth. We decide what the set is going to be for the run and add 2 songs we hadn’t done before, Into The Void, which is off of Psycho Circus and Pain In The Neck, off Ace’s new record “Anomaly”. (If you haven’t checked out, Anomaly yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up, it’s right up there with Ace’s 1978 solo record.) We do a quick run through of the set, pack up the gear and head to the Mohegan Sun for a night of r-n-r.

Friday 3/19

After about 5 cups of coffee, I head on down through the casino to see how things are going with the set up and sound check, but I don’t have to look to far. Tonight’s show is free and there’s already about 200 to 300 fans waiting on line. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Kiss shirts in my life. Ace isn’t coming to sound check, so we do Shock Me and I get to sing it. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought when I was a kid listening and staring at Kiss Alive II that I would be playing along side Ace Frehley. Ahh Rock and Roll has been good to me. The show goes off great and after I grab some dinner with my friend, John, who hosts “Talking Metal” on Fuse TV, then call it a night.

Saturday 3/20 House Of Blues Atlantic City

Meet up with everyone in the lobby for the ride to A.C. We stop on the New Jersey Turnpike somewhere near the shore for gas and coffee and, let me tell you, these people take that show “Jersey Shore” seriously. I swear, I think I saw Snookie standing on line at the Starbucks!!! Check into our rooms in Atlantic City,and off to sound check. My good friend Phil Caivano from Monster Magnet comes on down with a old Marshall amp for me to use – one of my Marshall’s wasn’t sounding right – so I owe Phil a big one!!!!

For all you gear heads out there, our backline with Ace is pretty big. Between me and Ace we have 12 4×12 Marshall cabs, 6 100 watt Marshal heads, 6 8×10 SVT cabs and 3 300 watt SVT amps … and all this stuff is live. When I played in Motorhead I thought that was loud, but onstage with Ace Frehley is twice as loud as Motorhead. Another killer show, got a great pic of me hold Ace’s “smoker guitar” during the Shock Me solo spot. After the show, hung out with a bunch of friends, my good buddy Jason Trioxin from Wednesday 13 had come down for the night. Did a little gambling and was up 100 bucks, so I called it a night. Want to be good and rested for the show in New York City.

Sunday 3/21 Nokia Theater Times Square New York City

There’s nothing like seeing the skyline when you’re getting close to the city and, as much as I love living in L.A., New York City will always be my home, which also means a big guest list. Between friends and relatives, I had over 25 people for the list but the tour manager was cool and made it work. I was so stoked to be playing in my home town with Ace Frehley, who’s also a home town boy. I just new this would be a special night and it was. From Eddie Trunk of That Metal Show introducing us and kicking into Rocket Ride to the last notes of Cold Gin, it was magic. I’ve done New York Groove with Ace in Australia and the other shows, but doing that song in New York was something else, one of the highlights of my career for sure!!! It was great to see so many old friends and family after the show. Jesse Malin, who I use to play with in D-Generation gave me a copy of his new record and all I can say is WOW, it’s some of his best stuff. Got to spend a great day off with my family and then back to L.A. to finish a record with my new band “The Royal Highness.”

Check us out at <a href=”http://www.myspace.com/theroyalhighness” target=”_blank”>myspace.com/theroyalhighness</a>, and be on the lookout for more Ace Frehley dates coming soon …