As a self-proclaimed ‘Kiss Apologist’, I’ve spent the vast majority of my life--both childhood and otherwise--closely following--i.e. obsessing--over the group’s various incarnations and exploits.  Despite an arguable lack of consistency (or, for that matter, overall quality), my oft-misguided affection for the group’s frequently metamorphosing line-ups continued unabated well into the early ‘90’s.  Ultimately, however, one seemingly unavoidable question arose: who was the most talented Kiss axeman?  Ace Frehley?  Vinnie Vincent?  The late, woefully-underrated Mark St. John?  The possibilities seemed endless.  Fortunately, this question has at long last been answered with the long-overdue release of BK3, the latest solo offering from acclaimed Kiss/Union/Grand Funk Railroad alumnus Bruce Kulick…

Todd: Retrospectively, what were the main ‘motivations’ behind the delays in the recording processes for BK3?

Bruce Kulick: “It had to be right, ya know?  With my touring schedule and other work schedule on top of me occasionally revisiting and improving the record by changing its recipe…  Once Nick (Simmons) and (Kiss frontman) Gene (Simmons) were involved, some of the earlier material that we had spent good quality time recording didn’t fit the equation of a quality record, ya know?  So between that and my Grand Funk (Railroad) commitments, touring with them and other work, it took a lot of time.  I don’t want anyone thinking that I’ve been constantly sitting in the studio for the last four years (laughs).  I was able to record between my other work and I will admit that there were other times where I needed to readdress where the record was going.  It was like ‘Don’t we need an instrumental on this?’ and ‘Now that Gene and Nick are singing on it, this song doesn’t really fit’.  So the overall formulas of the record kept evolving with the ultimate goal of making a great record.”

Todd: Taking everything into consideration, do you consider yourself a perfectionist when writing or recording?

Bruce: “I guess I could be called that, but I also have to blame my Producer Jeremy Rubolino (Kate Bush, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn and Queen).  I knew when Kiss did the (1992) Revenge album that many things can be revisited.  Sometimes, in order to make a great record, you have to be a harsh critic and go back work until things are right and not settle for anything less.  I had that approach on this record and Jeremy certainly pushed me to do the best we could…to use the best studios that we could afford, user real strings instead of synthesizers, use a great Engineer and if the vocals weren’t right, go back and do them again, even if it takes three times.  …Getting the best performance and making the best music that we could was a very long journey.”

Todd: Were you surprised when Gene agreed to appear on BK3?  Had you anticipated Nick becoming involved?

Bruce: “Everything is a surprise to me (laughs).  To be honest, Jeremy and I came to the realization that on some of these tunes, I would not be the ideal choice as a singer.  It’s not my best instrument.  We weren’t trying to tailor anything specifically for my voice; we were just trying to write some great tunes.  It was actually (Kiss drummer) Eric Singer, who played drums on this…that got us thinking ‘Hey, this would be great for Gene.  …So I did get together with Gene and Eric over the Holidays and Eric was like ‘You’ve gotta ask him’ and I was like ‘I know’.  It’s always hard to ask someone something like that because you don’t want to get a ‘No’ from somebody and he certainly doesn’t need the upside of playing on my record, ya know?  …What’s the upside for Gene?  He was actually very gracious.  He said ‘Sure’ and I was like ‘Wow’.  Within the same day, he was talking about Nick.  He was like ‘Would you like Nick to do something with you?’ and I was just blown away.  I was gonna ask him about Nick, but he just offered him up.  I think that he knew that it would be a great experience for Nick.  The collaboration is going to just blow the Kiss fans away, especially the American ones who know him from (the A&E series) Family Jewels.  It was very much like old times working with Gene.  It was very much fun.  …Nick wrote the lyrics.  They’re very intense and are very much from the pint of view from someone who is from the realm of comic books or The Lord Of The Rings…much more than I ever could be anyway.  Nick really got a handle on it and I know a lot of the label people that I’m workin’ with are just like ‘Wow, that Nick song is just a monster’ and I don’t even know if Nick knows that.  When you meet the guy, he’s funny, very tall of course, and very friendly.  He has a great sense of humor and a great sense of who he is.  It was really fun taking him into a professional studio.  He didn’t know all of the terms that musicians throw around.  We were like ‘Okay, let’s double that and then we’re gonna comp your vocal’ and he was like ‘Comp? What does that mean?’  He was very much like what I guess a young Gene would be like.  I’m really convinced that Gene kinda threw him into our laps knowing that he would get a little education with Jeremy and me.  I know he was working on his own music, but it was in his bedroom.  It’s not the same as going into a bid studio.  So the proof is in the results that I got from everybody.  …It was just really so cool working with both of them.”

Todd: When recording BK3, you obviously worked with a wider variety of vocalists (the previously mentioned Gene and Nick Simmons and Tobias Sammett, among others).  How did each of the scenarios ‘come together’?

Bruce: “With Gene and Nick, that was a one-two punch.  I met (late Knack vocalist) Doug Fieger at a fantasy camp.  I’m a really big fan of the Knack and when I met him, we really hit it off.  Jeremy and I had this really cool Power Pop song (“Dirty Girl”) and I was like ‘We need to record this, but I’m not gonna sing it.  What are we gonna do?’, ya know?  Doug’s name came up right away, so we were like ‘Let’s throw this at him and see what he says’ and he was really into singing it, ya know?  Tobias Sammett is a very popular singer from Edguy and Avantasia, which means a little more in Europe than it does over here, even though I think people should know who he is.  Eric had done an Avantasia disc and I had heard it when Eric Singer and I were in Japan to do some gigs.  We have these Meet And Greets that are like this Kiss society type thing, ya know?  …All of a sudden, I was like ‘Who is that’ and Eric was like ‘That’s that record I did with that kid Tobias that I told you about’ and was like ‘Wow, this guys sings great!  Can you get me his contact info?  I want to ask him to be on my record’, ya know?  (ex-Toto guitarist Steve) Lukather came about in an unusual way.  I needed to book a local studio here in L.A. and I had remembered that he had been involved with Steakhouse Studios, which is this really cool place in North Hollywood.  I didn’t hear back from the studio and I kinda panicked because I was trying to book something.  So I asked Steve, who I could easily reach out to in a quick E-Mail.  The next thing you know, we’re having lunch and of course he put me in touch with the studio.  Jeremy was like ‘If you’re gonna have lunch with Lukather, you need to ask him if he’ll play on this track, okay?’ (laughs).  I was like ‘Really?’ because he’s very intimidating.  Lukather is such a tremendous guitarist, but having him on there made for a great chemistry, so I was real excited about that.  And obviously, last but not least, having (ex-Mötley Crüe frontman John) Corabi on there was simple.  The scheduling was a bit difficult, but we found the perfect song for him.  His approach on “No Friend of Mine” made it a stronger tune.  He did a great job with it.”

Todd: Once you officially begin touring in support of BK3, what type of set list will you often be working with?

Bruce: “Well, for example, I’ll be going to Australia to do a week of dates over there.  I’ll play at least one song from BK3 even though it’s not officially released yet.  I have an EP out with some of the songs, so I’m sure I’ll rehearse at least one of those with the band and see how it goes.  I tend to do material from the eras that Kiss doesn’t do.  Obviously they’re in make-up, so they feel more loyal to the make-up years, ya know?  But I feel much more loyal to the Asylum, Crazy Nights and Revenge years, so I’ll obviously focus more on those things.”     

Todd: As far as backing band(s) are concerned, have you given any thought to the musicians you’ll be utilizing?

Bruce: “When I go to Australia, I pick up some guys over there that are very, very talented.  Sometimes, one or two of the guys will be different, but usually it’s the same guitarist and everything.  Obviously, I don’t take them to Europe or America.  I don’t know what I’m going to do in America, to be honest.  I know of my short list of guys that I would like to ask if I were to put something together, but I’m not going to fanaticize with you like I have dates in America already put together.  I seem to do better when I go out of the country, to be honest with you.  But it’s typical.  During my lunch with Steve Lukather, he was like ‘Dude, where do you like to tour when you’re outside of Grand Funk?’  and I was like ‘I reckon I do well when I go to Japan, Europe and Australia’ and he was like ‘That’s exactly what I do’.  It’s sad, but it’s kinda of a reality that some of the American music stars are more popular outside of the country.  …I was just in Europe and they announced the dates for the Kiss tour over there, which isn’t until May or June, and most of the places are sold-out already.  Here in America, yeah sure, they’ve had some sell-outs, but not all of them, ya know?  I know on some of the West Coast dates, they were promoting to sell tickets.  It’s hard, ya know?  There’s a Recession goin’ on and Americans are spoiled.  You blink your eye and there’s some major act comin’ to your city, ya know?  There’s something be said about international artists.  There really is.  There are some bands that are American, like Meatloaf, that just do better in Europe.  (The 1977 Meatloaf classic) Bat Out Of Hell sells far more copies in Europe each year even though it does have strong catalog sales over here.  There’s really no telling why that is.”

 Todd: How did you initially become involved with Grand Funk Railroad?  It seems you would have been a less than obvious choice, considering your time with Kiss and the general heaviness of your remaining resume.

Bruce: “If you were to see the band now…I’ve been involved with them for nine years and we’ll be starting our tenth soon, you’d see that I really fit.  It was a situation where I ended up on a short list with (Grand Funk drummer) Don Brewer when he and (Grand Funk bassist) Mel (Schacher) decided to move on without (original Grand Funk frontman) Mark (Farner).  They knew they need a vocalist/frontman, which they had already found with Max Carl, who had worked with .38 Special and they certainly wanted a guitarist who had a certain resume of fame under his belt.  Between my work with Michael Bolton and Meatloaf…  I don’t even think the whole Kiss thing was all that attractive to them.  I think Max looked at it as ‘Oh, he must be some Heavy Metal dope or something’, ya know?  Of course all it took was us jamming together and me showing them that I could play on one of the really beautiful songs that Max had done with .38 Special called “Second Chance”.  I also showed them that I could rock out on “Inside Looking Out”, which is this Heavy Metal type Grand Funk song that has a big Bluesy tone.  It actually works really well for me and I get to solo in every song.  They’re actually a very terrific band and I’m lucky to have the gig.  It’s been a lot of fun working with them all these years now.  We haven’t bothered to record anything.  There’s been talk of a DVD, but we’ve never gotten around to it.  We do some new songs in the set, but we’ve really honed the show and we can win over the crowd no matter what.”

Todd: In regards to Blackjack, what eventually led to the group’s demise?  Was it an overall lack of chemistry?

Bruce: “By the time we did the second record (1980’s oft-overlooked Worlds Apart), the record company was considering us selling a hundred thousand records as a disaster, which is really funny because if you did that right now, you’d probably enter the charts at number one or something, ya know?  But they poured a ton of money into it thinking that it was going to be a Platinum record straight out of the box.  I think that when the first record didn’t sell huge, they were actually ready to drop us right away.  …We all ran off into our own separate corners.  (Vocalist) Michael (Bolton) changed his name and went off to a solo career.  He was ‘Michael Bolotin’, but became ‘Bolton’.  It was the same as it is with all bands.  Why did Union end?  John Corabi and I definitely had a really great chemistry, but the label wasn’t going to support us anymore and I wanted to do a solo record because I had become so frustrated with everything.  It’s just how it happens, really”

Todd:  How would you describe your relationships with the various members of Kiss?  Good, bad or otherwise?

Bruce: “It’s great.  Not only am I considered part of the family, I’m really tight with Eric.  Gene, Paul and I speak fairly often, especially Gene as I’ve worked with him recently.  …Paul and I did a fantasy camp where he was a special guest and that just blew everyone away, ya know?  In fact, I was just backstage at a Kiss concert last week.  Cart Blanche, go wherever you want to go, ya know?  I was just hangin’ out in the hospitality room, practically watchin’ them put the make-up on.  It’s always been really cool.  It was kinda funny when I was walking out of the arena because some of the fans were stopping and going ‘Hey! There goes Bruce’ (laughs).”

Todd: When Ace permanently left the group in 2002, were you given seriously consideration as a replacement?

Bruce: “I would hear that my name would come up, but I know that (ex-Kiss lead guitarist) Ace (Frehley) put them in such an awkward position sometimes that (current Kiss/ex-Black ‘N Blue lead guitarist) Tommy (Thayer) would have to suit up, ya know?  And that happened more than a few times.  It even happened where he had to go out and play.  I believe it was for a private party that they were booked for.  I think at that point, they were like ‘We can’t carry on like this’.  I think they knew that approaching me without any guarantee when I already had the gig in Grand Funk…  I think it was just so easy for Tommy to do it since he was already there and used to play Ace in a tribute band.  I can easily go on record saying that I miss playing in Kiss.  There’s absolutely no doubt.  But I also established my own identity during those twelve years, so for me to become Ace or something, which is the role Tommy is more or less in, is something I would be less comfortable with.  I think it was much more natural for Eric to do that with only five years in the band without the make-up and only a few albums (Revenge and MTV Unplugged) under his belt.  I kinda represent the Crazy Nights era, ya know?” 

Todd: When you were shot, how dire were your injuries?  Which were graver: the head or leg wound?  Were you able to find musical and lyrical inspiration during the course of your rehabilitation and recovery processes?

Bruce: “I was very, very lucky.  When they brought be to Cedar Sinai (Hospital), they heard ‘Head Injury and Leg Injury’.  My head was grazed by a bucket, ya know?  All they had to do was put a little ointment on it, but another two inches in, it would have either taken out my eye or killed me, ya know?  The other bullet passed through my leg and you can only imagine all the things that could have happened had it hit the wrong thing ya know?  But it went through the fleshy muscle part and very fortunately, I did not have any permanent damage.  It was miracle, ya know?  But it still made me kinda self-reflective.  There I was a couple of weeks later, strumming my guitar saying ‘I will survive’.  …It took me a while to write the lyrics to that song (“I’ll Survive” from BK3), even though I knew it was going to be about me being shot.  That’s why I wrote it.  I tried to be poetic about it and it was actually a fun challenge, ya know?  How do I talk about being shot without saying ‘I was shot’, ya know? (laughs)  It was interesting trying to be poetic about it.  I remember thinking ‘How do I describe the shooter?’ and I was like ‘The beast in man’.  The guy happened to be very, very drunk at the time.  Drunk out of his mind.  How else would you be crazy enough to get a gun out of a friend’s car and then challenge the security guard at the famous Rainbow on the Sunset Strip, ya know?  This wasn’t a dark alley and it wasn’t a robbery.  There was no insane motive.  It was just alcoholic anger.  I just looked at as someone who is very twisted.  ‘The evil in man comes out’.  It was fun to be poetic about it in a way that was so very intense.”

Todd: How much did you ultimately contribute to the recording sessions for Animalize?  Rumors are persistent..    

Bruce: “I did a little ghosting, which is probably what you’ll read if you do a little looking into it.  (Former Kiss guitarist) Mark St. John was already having problems and two of the songs weren’t finished, so Paul asked me to do it.  He said something like ‘Don’t cut your hair’.  Two months later, I realized why he said that when they asked me to go to Europe with them.  It was something that I thought would be very interesting because I thought I would be in the band for two or three months, something that would look good on my resume.  I didn’t think it would turn into twelve years.  I just kinda slipped into there.  There was not big announcement or anything, ya know?  I was kinda frustrated by that, but I understood it at the time.  It was pretty embarrassing for them to go around touting a new guitarist that could make an album and a video appearance, but can’t tour.” 

Todd: In hindsight, how do you feel regarding Asylum?  Do you consider it one of the group’s weakest releases?

Bruce: “I think it’s a good record.  I never really felt like it was a weak record.  I think for me, the biggest criticism was that the artwork was a little to ‘artsy-fartsy’, but it was something that Paul really liked.  I tend to prefer the more typical Kiss colors, ya know?  But at the time, that was the vibe, ya know?  I think there’s some really cool stuff on there and I stand by all the stuff that I did.  If there’s one record during my Kiss tenure that irked me, it’s (1989’s) Hot In The Shade.  I thought maybe it had too many songs and there wasn’t any real chief on it.  But there was still some real great stuff on it between “Forever” and “Hide Your Heart”, ya know?”

Todd: When (ex-Kiss drummer) Eric Carr passed away in 1991, was there any doubt the group could continue?

Bruce: “Eric had some great contributions to the band, but we were in the middle of starting Revenge with (acclaimed Producer) Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd) and I knew that the machine would keep going.  It was sad, of course, but we were too committed, ya know?  Unlike a Led Zeppelin who just falls apart when a drummer dies, Gene and Paul are just going to keep moving forward.  I don’t think it was the wrong decision.  Fortunately, Revenge had a nice tribute to him with the song “Carr Jam 1981”.  I was the one to play first after we buried our friend.  It was crazy, but work is a good healer, ya know?  It affected all of us in our own way very intensely, but the truth of it is that you want to remember someone fondly, so I found it very exciting to play on a track that I didn’t even know existed until he passed away.  So I just looked at it that way.  I know Ace put his name on his new record (2009’s Anomaly), which was cool.  He and Eric were very close, actually.”  

Select Discography
BK3 (2010) ********
Live At The Marquee (DVD) (2006) ********
Live In Japan (2006) *******
Transformer (2003) ********
Audio Dog (2001) ********
Do Your Own Thing (DVD) (2005) ******
The Blue Room (2000) ******
ESP (1999) *******
Live In The Galaxy (1999) ******
Lost And Spaced (1998) *******
Union (1998) ******
Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions (1997) *****
Kiss Unplugged (1996) *****
Alive III (1993) *****
Revenge (1992) *****
Hot In The Shade (1989) *****
Crazy Nights (1987) *****
Asylum (1985) *****
Everybody’s Crazy (1985) ****
Michael Bolton (1983) ****
Great America Music (1981) ***
Tale Of The Tape (1980) *
Worlds Apart (1980) *
Blackjack (1979) *

* as a member of Blackjack
** with Billy Squier
*** with The Good Rats
**** with Michael Bolton
***** as a member of Kiss
****** as a member of Union
******* as a member of ESP
******** as a solo artist

kulick.net