Kiss has always taken its share of knocks from the critics and sometimes, even fellow musicians. Former guitarist Bruce Kulick will be the first to tell you that’s unfair.
“Nobody could play it better than those guys the way they performed it,” he explains, using the solo in “Detroit Rock City” as one particular example. “Anyone that considers Kiss simple or easy music to play, they’re idiots. This stuff is hard. It’s just that the band never got credit that way and it always should.”
Kulick has had some extra time since his departure from Grand Funk Railroad became official in January, but it’s hardly been idle time. He traveled overseas for the first time in nearly a decade to do a series of events and clinics in Finland in May. He followed that with an appearance at New England’s Super Megafest in June. This week, he’ll travel to Ohio to host the Kiss-themed You Wanted the Best charity benefit on July 22, with proceeds supporting the Alzheimer’s Association.
As he discussed during an appearance on Ultimate Classic Rock Nights, each of these events have put him back in front of a mix of guitar players and Kiss fans, who are thrilled to get the chance to pick his brain, something that he understands as a guitarist.
When you’re hanging out with people who come to see you that also play guitar, what do they want to know?
It varies, of course. Lately, a lot of people share, “Oh, I learned ‘Forever’” or “Here’s the ‘Reason to Live’ solo.” Some of them get it really close. Sometimes, I even learn from one guy. I go, “That’s a better way to play that!” Because I’m having a hard time playing [some of this stuff] 40 years later, so I’d like to play it differently. It would be easier on my finger choice. People have reached out from the bands that are performing that are fans, who have shared things with me. You know, I actually have the inside thing on most of the Kiss catalog, obviously. Now, there are certain songs from the makeup era that I did have to interpret or guess, even though I might have played it with Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons] and [Eric Carr and Eric Singer] — but I didn’t know exactly what Ace [Frehley] played. One time on a cruise, Grand Funk was on it — and Ace played! So of course, Lisa and I went to see Ace, which was fun. I went, not only to see his show, but also, it was like, “Oh, that’s the way he likes to play ‘Parasite,’ oh, that’s interesting!” Because I wasn’t going back to YouTube and studying every vintage video of Kiss.
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Listen to Kiss’ ‘Parasite’
You get to see the hand positions.
Right, right. That’s one thing that always impresses me — or disappoints me, how people are confused by how it’s done. I do give some lessons and I also do some arrangement help with bands and artists. It’s always interesting to me how everybody approaches things a little different and they may not know better, but I like sharing my experience. I was challenged…..there was one thing that I learned new in Finland. I’ve had people ask, “Can I play the harmony part on ‘Tears Are Falling,’” and I’m always nervous about that, because it might throw me. If they go off or they don’t play it right, I’m going to be freaked out. Because I’m solid with me. Sure enough, in Finland, I let the guy try it at rehearsal and I was kind of like, “You got it right, but I’ll tell you before the gig.” Then, at the gig, I did let him do it. It was flawless, so I kept giving him [props] after the solo was done! But you don’t know what you’re going to get when you’re jamming with people.
What’s the Kiss song that was the most difficult for you to play when you first joined the band?
That’s a great question. When it comes to, what was I told before going on tour? I knew the Animalize record had some terrific playing from Mark [St. John]. Some of it was real speed metal. I remember Paul giving me a tape. I have it archived and I don’t refer to it, but I know it’s popped up in my head that I need to go check that out again. We didn’t do all of the songs that were on it, but he had live stuff from the Lick It Up tour. So there was Vinnie [Vincent] playing those things and there might have even been something from another tour. I’m not sure. But I know that they wanted me to listen to the studio stuff and listen to that live thing. Vinnie took some tremendous liberties that I didn’t agree with, to be honest, with the playing. That’s up to Paul and Gene, okay. But obviously, they didn’t take any liberties with Tommy [Thayer] being the Spaceman, we know that. He would play Ace’s riffs. I was never given a direct order to play one way or another. I think they knew…..I’ve always had this ability to know the essence of the solo and make it your own — but [how important it is to] never lose what that artist created.
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I’m not going to play the beginning of [Grand Funk’s] “We’re An American Band” wildly different than what was played on the hit by Mark Farner. There’s no reason to. So if Ace has some cool riffs, I’m going to use them. I might make them my own. But I think that’s why I connected with some of the Ace fans. But a challenging song? Obviously some of that stuff from Animalize was a little bit hard. I had to interpret a bit, “Thrills in the Night.” That’s all on Animalize Live and we were playing too fast — faster than the record. But one song later on in the catalog that I was really excited about was “100,000 Years.” We did that later on. Obviously, acoustically, we fooled around with “Goin’ Blind,” I was like, “Whoa, this is cool. That works acoustically too!” You know, “I Still Love You” is a great tune. But I did that early on. “100,000 Years” and “Makin’ Love.” There’s great riffs there. I mean, you’ve got to remember that a lot of that material, when it was created and first played live, especially on Alive!, they were just dialed in.
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Listen to Kiss Perform ‘100,000 Years’
Sometimes I refer to earlier Kiss as a “littie bit garage band,” because they weren’t trying to be overly finessed. Which is why all of the Seattle bands gravitated to early Kiss — they didn’t necessarily relate to my era, because it was more polished. I mean, by the time Bob Ezrin walked in [for] Destroyer, he walked around with the whistle. He was contributing a lot of things. Nobody in Kiss wrote the “Detroit Rock City” solo, that was an Ezrin idea. That’s orchestrated. It’s brilliant, it’s like a trumpet, but nobody could play it better than those guys the way they performed it. So anyone that considers Kiss simple or easy music to play, they’re idiots. This stuff is hard. It’s just that the band never got credit that way and it always should. Gene never wants to brag about how good he is on bass and what a tremendous musician he actually is. That’s part of his schtick, I believe. I don’t buy it for a second.
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He’s actually unbelievably gifted at playing an aggressive style with [Paul] McCartney melodic bass lines and those lines he came up with in songs. I don’t buy that any producer spoonfed him a whole lot at all, if anything. Paul is a tremendous rhythm player. Whatever he hears for leads that he can’t play, he can sing it to you. The “Tears are Falling” solo wouldn’t have been that special, that first half, without Paul’s direction. These guys are really, really talented musicians. The body of songs and the catalog that they created, I’m just thrilled to be part of it. I know sometimes that some of my era’s songs are slagged. “Oh, Gene was busy with movies” and all of that, but I don’t buy that completely. Everyone’s going to like their own thing. People rave about Carnival of Souls, others are like, “That doesn’t sound like Kiss, I don’t like it.” So what can I say? It’s a huge body of music and you have to respect Kiss, even if you’re not a fan.
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