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From: Brave Words/Bloody Knuckles BRUCE KULICK recently sat down with BW&BK to talk about his latest collaboration, The ERIC SINGER Project or ESP (for short) with his onetime bandmate in KISS, ERIC SINGER. The band is rounded out by UNION bandmate, John Corabi and Chuck Garric (ALICE COOPER). Together they've just released the Live In Japan CD featuring many classic cuts from KISS, MOTLEY CRUE and Alice Cooper. Mitch Lafon: You've got both you and John (Corabi) on the CD, so why is this not Union? BRUCE KULICK: "ESP did a record of all covers back in '99. At the time all of Eric's friends were telling him he should have a project and he was not sure who to use. He had started working with Karl Cochran and Eric realized it wouldn't be bad to do this thing. We had done so much good stuff in that era of KISS that he realized he'd love to work with me, and John would be kind of cool because he 'compliments Bruce well' and so that became the ERIC SINGER Project. In the last couple of years, we've had the opportunity to do some things and it just clicked as a good cover jam band. We're all comfortable with each other and we can do the material that we're known for by the fans. I'll agree that the lines sometimes get blurred between Union and ESP, but the key to Union was covering the first two albums we did if we ever gigged and with ESP - we all want to have fun with the music we represent. There's less pressure with the ERIC SINGER Project because we can do whatever we want, but Union represents something much different and right now I prefer working with Eric and hope to continue to." ML: You mentioned that ESP is a cover band. Any thought of making any original music? BK: "It's interesting you ask, but I don't know. I only found out recently that Eric was like 'maybe Bruce could have asked me to be in Union'. As for ESP doing anything original, I'm not going to say we would, but I don't want to rule out anything ever." ML: Tell me about the DVD. Will it be the same songs as on the CD? BK: "No, that would not have been cool. The cool thing is that this CD is 'Japan' and we went there with a certain set list and after we were done we realized we're going to Australia two months later, so 'let's do it differently'. So, when we got together to rehearse for that we picked a very different set list." ML: How many songs on the DVD? BK: "Seventeen. This concert is great. I was so happy when I saw it because it captures us very relaxed, but powerful." ML: John always tends to stick to the Motley Crue songs he's sang on. You never hear him do 'Live Wire' or 'Shout At The Devil' and you've picked KISS songs that you had nothing to do with originally like 'Black Diamond' and 'Watchin' You'. Why do we get the whole catalogue with the KISS stuff, but not the Crüe stuff? BK: "We didn't want any rules with ESP. The set list can be anything we want, but I really enjoyed playing 'Watchin' You' with Eric and KISS even though it's not my era. 'Black Diamond' – Eric sings it. You know as the Revenge band version of KISS evolved we always wanted to change the set and we'd go back to the old songs. So, I don't keep it era specific when we pick songs – 'She' is another song Eric and I like doing, but I'll give you a reason for any song like 'Watchin' You'. It's just a great powerful riff song and I knew that Chuck nails that Gene vibe vocally. 'War Machine' has that big drum thing and Chuck can nail it (on bass). We just wanted to do stuff like 'Unholy' and 'Domino' and realize that if people see 'Eric & Bruce' play together; it'll be really nice to do a couple from Revenge. We also did an over nine minute jam of 'Jungle' that'll be the bonus track for Japan, but I'll go back to the beginning of your question – John doesn't really like playing the other Motley stuff." ML: It would be nice to see John , at least, do 'Hooligan's Holiday' from Motley. BK: "We've talked about this and even fooled around with it at jams, but John has a love/hate relationship with that whole thing. He's proud of that record, but the band tortured him and blamed the whole downfall of their career on him. It's a brilliant record, but I think he has a mental block where he doesn't feel that comfortable and we've tried to push him a few times. One time, we did 'Till Death Do Us Part' from that record. It's a cool riff, but not the most known song from that record. It's a record like Carnival Of Souls and it's just not easy to cover songs from those records to be honest with you. I wish we would do more with John, but that's the cool thing with ESP or Union - nobody is the boss and says 'you've got to do this song'." ML: I'm sure fans would love to hear him do a Vince (Neil) vocal. BK: "Well, the closest to that is the track 'Smoking In The Boys Room' from the DVD and it came out great." ML: When does the DVD come out? BK: "It'll be ready for the Christmas season, but we should be able to start taking orders around Thanksgiving." ML: Briefly – how was it playing with Paul (Stanley) on his solo album? And why does he keep coming to you to play bass? BK: "Anytime I demo-ed with him for a KISS record, I'd naturally pick up the bass and it happened that I wound up playing some bass on Psycho Circus because Paul's songs had a vibe and when it came time to record them Paul said 'let's call on Bruce' and I was happy to be there." ML: You played bass on a lot of KISS stuff. From Asylum on, I don't think Gene picked up a bass. BK: "No no no. I didn't play a thing on Asylum or even Crazy Nights. I played bass on 'Forever' which is the most important song from Hot In The Shade and I certainly played (bass) on Revenge and Psycho Circus (which a lot of people don't know)." ML: And Carnival Of Souls. BK: "Yes, yes and Carnival Of Souls. So, for Paul's album it was just natural for him to say 'come in and play some bass'. You'll notice it's on the ballads. I seem to have the sensitive ballad touch for him. I think the ballads on his record are very strong and seem the most KISS Paul like." ML: I like the record. It's exactly what it's supposed to be – a pop rock record. BK: "It's a strong album and it's much more focused than Gene's solo record and I'm looking forward to seeing him play live." ML: And finally, what's the story with Dick Wagner playing guitar on 'Everytime I Look At You' from Revenge? BK: "Dick is a sweet guy and a brilliant guitar player. Sometimes we work really brutal amounts of days in the studio especially when there's a deadline. We'll work on Gene's songs and who's playing guitar? Well, Bruce. Then we'll work on Paul's songs and who's playing guitar and bass? Bruce. So, who doesn't get a day off? Well, Bruce. So, it was one of those runs where I really wanted a couple of days off to rest myself, my ears and everything. I was not aware the band had this artificial deadline to finish a couple of songs... and it's absolutely true that Dick Wagner was working at the same studio. He's the go to guy for Bob Ezrin and after I had my two days off they broke it to me 'ah, by the way we put a solo on 'Everytime I Look At You' and Dick Wagner did it'. So, one part of me was like 'wow, I'm a fan of Dick Wagner's' and the other part of me was like 'wow, I'm crushed'. I was really hurt and to this day I made them promise not to tell anybody. I defy anybody to tell the difference when I covered that solo note for note on the Unplugged thing. Dick plays a style that I just so feel comfortable with. I'll admit that Paul let me try a solo too. He was like 'we have a solo and we know that it works, but do you want to try and do one better?' It was really frustrating because Dick is one of those players that once he comes up with the right thing – it's the right thing. So, I was stuck with that, but at least it's a solo that I could imitate perfectly. I was very hurt and upset, but I know they didn't do that because they didn't think I could cut it. They really wanted to finish the song so they could play it for the label – it was part of a political move they were trying to make and had nothing to do with the album... The band has done many things like that before where I'm going to play bass and this guy is going to do that and we're going to have a different drummer... what I am going to say?" ML: They also replaced Eric with Kevin Valentine on the track 'Take It Off'... BK: 'Yeah. Eric kind of cut it, but we knew it wasn't perfect and he had to leave, so he wasn't going to get another chance and so we had to nail it that way – where Kevin comes in and plays it. Anybody can plug in and possibly do something in the KISS thing as you know." For more visit: www.ericsingerproject.com, www.kulick.net, www.eric-singer.com, www.john-corabi.com, www.chuckgarric.com or www.kissonline.com. |
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