Former Whitesnake and Dio guitarist Doug Aldrich recalled an angry phone call with Gene Simmons that took place after he auditioned to replace Ace Frehley in Kiss in 1982 – a position that eventually went to Vinnie Vincent.

The incident took place after Aldrich decided to use his recent contact with Simmons to secure his first-ever backstage passes. “There was a party at his house, you could hear it,” he told the White Line Fever podcast. “They were partying. I called him and he was like, ‘Lose this number!’ I was crushed, I was devastated. I turned around and I was like, ‘I’m sorry guys, I don’t think we’re going to make it to the show.’ Actually, I don’t have his number anymore, but I know how to get hold of him – I have his email.”

You can listen to the interview below.

Aldrich, who’s now a member of the Dead Daisies, said he thinks Kiss would probably have followed a path similar to the one they have even if they had chosen him over Vincent.

“At the time, everyone was looking for guitar players who had a little more chops,” he said. “Everybody wanted to have an Eddie Van Halen. … [Kiss] were having trouble with Ace, or whatever, and I think they wanted someone who also had a little bit more of a technical style maybe. Vinnie is very technical, and I think we were all kind of going down the same road at that time. It probably would have been similar at that time. But I really like that stuff that Vinnie did with them. That was some of my – aside from the Ace classics – favorite stuff that they did."

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