Put simply, I am crazy for all things Kiss. They have been a ruling force in my life since I was in school. In that time I have seen the band go through many changes, with many degrees of success or failure. One of the bands best decisions was to bring Bruce Kulick into the fold in the mid 1980s, in my view, this move helped the band stay relevant and fresh during this period. By the mid 1990s the original band reunited for a reunion world tour and Kulick found himself on the outer, but instead of moaning and groaning about it, like so many others would, Kulick remained on good terms with the band and move on, forging a career of his own with John Corabi in Union and as a solo artist. So when a member of the ‘Hottest Band In The World’, current or past, wants to give me a call, that is an opportunity I am going to take.
Rock Man: You have had a long outstanding career playing with some of the biggest names in the music industry, could you have imagined your career would take the shape it has?
Bruce Kulick: Well you know, the more I go back and look at all the things I have done the more I realize, while I was doing then, of course I was excited and as professional as possible, but I did not realize the impact that all the things, especially the Kiss years, would ultimately have. Even prior to that the dual lead guitars for Meat Loaf and touring the world for the Bat Out Of Hell Tour, you know, when it first came out, I mean that album is still huge and the version of that record you buy now has a couple of live tracks on it featuring Bob (Kulick) and I. So I am very blessed to be a working musician all these years, could I have imagines it? … not completely, definitely not.
RM: Who are some of the artists or guitarists that influenced your musical upbringing?
BK: Well you know, it all started, I mean, I need the mention The Beatles before anything else, because that was such a huge moment, the Ed Sullivan Show here in America, it was quite remarkable to experience something really magical musically and then their kind of vibe about how it is to be a band and play music, kind of changed our culture and I am very, very pleased, as much as I will be nearing 60 at the end of the year, I am happy that I grew up in that era that I can enjoy that. Because from The Beatles everything else started to fall into place with bands like The Who, Led Zeppelin and Cream and The Rolling Stones and all, and Jimi Hendrix had to go to London to make it, you know, the whole British Invasion was fascinating to me and I was a huge fan of all the bands that came out of that time. And that music is still timeless, I really think there is no mystery why The Beatles is still huge and Hendrix is on the cover of magazines. So strictly guitar hero wise, I will say someone like Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck and later on a guy like Eddie Van Halen who kind of supercharged some of the stuff he heard from Clapton and those were the people, Eric Clapton I need to mention of course, being a huge influence on me loving guitar. So it was never a dull moment in my bedroom with what to listen too and what to try and pick up.