By William Simpson

Have you ever wondered what guitar legend Bruce Kulick, has been up to since he left KISS? StageShottz Magazine decided to find out. When Kiss decided to put the make-up back on, Kulick decided he did not want to “play” Ace (Frehley), so he decided to leave the band; he has been very busy ever since. Currently touring with Grand Funk Railroad, Kulick has formed a band call Union, been in the Eric Singer Project, and a large part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp. He is also in the process of finishing up his soon-to-be-released third solo CD. We recently caught up with Bruce on the road.

StageShottz Magazine: How did you get into the music business and who were your early

 influences?

Bruce Kulick: Well like so many you’ve probably heard… The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. Even though my brother was playing a little bit of guitar already, that really gave everybody inspiration to want to hold the guitar you know, and be on stage and have girls screaming at you; it was historic. I was very fortunate to have an older brother who was exposed to all the really good British invasion bands, from The Who and Cream, Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and then Led Zeppelin and of course Hendrix, who had to make it over in England first. I was aware of a lot of that music and obviously, if you really loved it enough, you knew that this was something really special. I remember buying the first Black Sabbath record and thinking, “Oh, this is evil Cream,” you know what I mean?

SSM: You spent 12 years with Kiss. How did it feel when they actually asked you to join the band?

BK: Well you know at first, I was happy if it was only going to last for three months, which was the first European tour. They were telling me, “We might only need you for two weeks,” so I was just thrilled to know I was going to last the entire European tour and start the American one. By then I was kind of fitting like a glove in the band and it just became obvious. That’s what it was; I didn’t think it would last 12 years but it did. It was all good.

SSM: In the 12 years, did you ever become a partner in Kiss?

BK: You know Gene (Simmons) and Paul (Stanley), once they got past the original guys, they definitely owned the group.  For them, it was always like they created it, they started it. I made a nice salary, I got to write songs and to be a part of their legacy, which after all these years is still is top of my résumé, if you know what I mean. I’m not sure people understand that a lot of bands work that way. If you’re coming in on the ground level, you’re an owner, and if you don’t, you might not be; but there’s nothing negative about this. It was their group and they run the business. They maybe more blatant about it, but don’t think in any way that Mick Jagger doesn’t run the Rolling Stones like a business, OK?

SSM: You’ve played with a lot of great musicians over the years; is there anybody out there that you have not played with, but would like to?

BK: Well, I’ve always had fantasies of various people, but because of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, I have jammed with people like Jack Bruce, backed up Roger Daltrey, and played guitar for John Anderson. I’ve had the opportunity to jam with a lot of my kind of heroes. So, off the top of my head, I guess the one person I’d love to play with would be Paul McCartney. He is just such an incredible musician, songwriter, and performer. I would say any Beatle of course, but there’s only two left now. I would love to play with Ringo or even his son.

SSM: What’s the biggest difference in playing in Grand Funk and playing in Kiss?

BK: Primarily, on stage, there are a couple of big differences. First of all, Kiss is more hard rock or heavy metal and then you have two very, very intense front men. As much as Paul might announce the show, between him and Gene, they’re running around and commanding the stage. My role was just to play the best guitar I can but make sure I don’t run into them. Obviously, when it’s time to solo — in each Kiss song we had a guitar solo — it was my time to shine and do my thing. I think Grand Funk is a little more Top 40 in a way, and I get to feature myself even more. Because Mel (Schacher) is just like keeping down the bass, he’s not running around the stage sticking his tongue out, dripping blood like Gene; Don (Brewer) is an amazing showman on drum kit, but I certainly don’t have to look out for him whenever we’re running on the stage. So I get the chance to be more upfront, and just about every Grand Funk song has the prerequisite guitar solo which I love playing.  In fact, “Inside Looking Out” really features me quite well but in a different way. I promise all my Kiss fans that they will know some of the songs and they’ll be really impressed with how much I’m a part of the show. I always get rave reactions from those fans, but a lot of them either aren’t aware of, or wouldn’t have an interest in coming to, a Grand Funk show. One of the bad things about Kiss, even though it’s been such a great thing on my résumé, is that people just think “Oh well, he must be some metal guitar player.”  No, I can do other things and being in Grand Funk helps round me out that way.

SSM: How did you hook up with Grand Funk?

BK: I knew Don Brewer — actually his wife Sunny — from years ago. She wasn’t actually married to him then; she was married to another guy that was in Michael Bolton’s band. I was working with Michael Bolton at the time. We were opening up for Bob Seger and Don was playing drums with Seger. So when he was thinking of the new version of Grand Funk, I was on the short list of guitar players. I was very fortunate that I got an email from him and within a few days, we spoke; then I went down to Michigan to kind of feel out the situation, and here we are nine years later.

SSM: Can you tell me about your Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp?

BK: Oh yeah, first of all it was a great concept because there’s so many people that are just fascinated with the whole idea of playing in the band and being on stage.  So the camp just provides this really healthy kind of fun; you bond with your band members and your counselor. It’s mostly for professionals. Their life is so “one thing,” and then there they are rehearsing, meeting big rock stars, actually learning what it is to be in the band, and just being exposed to everything that’s cool about music. Lately, we’ve been recording in famous studios, and I got to record in Abbey Road. I got to record at Capitol Studios here in Los Angeles. It winds up the last night at a place like the House of Blues or The Whisky a Go Go, and you see the smiles on their faces when, after the four days of rehearsal, they are tight enough to get up on stage and play a couple of songs. They get to see what it feels like to be on stage for 10 minutes with a band; it’s a lot of fun. I’ve made some really good friends with some of these people and I’ve even produced some artists that had talent.  So it’s been a really fun and rewarding thing for me, even though it’s very hard work. The last camp with Steven Tyler, Todd Rundgren and Duff from Guns n’ Roses was a lot of fun. I had a great time.

SSM: You put out your BK3 EP not too long ago as a preview of your upcoming full CD. How is your new CD coming along and when will it be released?

BK: Well, I got two more songs to finish and obviously, I try to do what I can in between the Grand Funk dates. There’s not a lot of work left to finish them, so my goal is to get them done by the end of June. I’ve already been looking at some album designs and I’m planning a photo shoot. I’d like to see the record out by the end of the summer, September at the latest; that’s my goal. The reaction from the three songs is terrific. There will be 11 tunes on the record. It’s really something to be proud of, especially the fact that I got people like Gene and his son to sing songs and write on the album, and Doug Fieger from The Knack and Steve Lukather on guitar. It’s been quite rewarding, showing a real evolution of my career.

SSM: What do you like to do in your spare time?

BK: Well, I’m always going to music shops or I’m catching movie with a friend or I’ll just kick back with my dog. It’s not like I get to be extremely social because I travel enough that I like to be home when I’m home. So, it’s pretty mellow, but like I said, the music keeps me out of trouble.  Not that I’ve been known to to attract too much trouble. The worst drama of my life used to be if I tried dating too many girls at once, but I have a good one now so I don’t have that drama.

SSM: What other projects do you have going now?

BK: Well, this year started off with doing things like going to Europe and doing clinics in Australia and doing the Fantasy Camp and doing that Monster Circus thing in Las Vegas. I was all over the map, and add in a couple of Grand Funk gigs. Now, I only want to focus on two things: finish the solo record — that’s so important to me and for this stage of my career — and do some great shows with Grand Funk. I love the shows that we put on. So that’s kind of the goals, Grand Funk and my solo record.

SSM: Anything else you’d like the fans to know or say to the fans?

BK: Well, I get everything up on my Web site, www.kulick.net, so please visit the Web site and I appreciate all of the fans support and obviously, if Grand Funk is performing anywhere near where they live, they should really give the band a shot. No, were not Kiss, but I think they will be really impressed with the music and they’ll get to see me up close and tearing it up on the guitar.

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