Bruce Kulick spoke about the “problems” KISS had with Ace Frehley following the classic lineup’s reunion, noting how Tommy Thayer was better suited for the revamped makeup era than him.

After one failed audition, Bruce Kulick joined KISS in 1984 and became a mainstay — and a focal point — of the NYC hard rock trailblazers’ unmasked era. Kulick ended up parting ways with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in 1996, as the famous MTV Unplugged show proved there was plenty of demand for seeing Ace Frehley and Peter Criss return to their Spaceman and Catman costumes.

“I was never fired the first time. It was simply, ‘Well, we’re making all this money. Now we’re selling out from arenas to stadiums in makeup.’ So my era ran its course”, he tells Loaded Radio in a new interview. Asked why he was never approached with an offer to rejoin after Frehley permanently left the band in 2001, the guitarist offered (transcription via Blabbermouth):

“That’s a great question. And not everyone’s aware of some of the backstory. I would hear things about them having problems with Ace and Ace was getting erratic or difficult. And [later KISS guitarist] Tommy Thayer was tour-managing with them; he was on the road with them.”

“Even during my era, he was involved with the band, helping with ‘Kisstory’ and doing things for the group. He wrote some songs with Gene and was always part of the inner circle, shall I say. So from what I understood, there were one or two things that KISS did — not a concert, even though once Ace was almost not gonna make it and they made Tommy get the outfit on. [He had a] similar build — tall and thin — and Ace made it to the show. But there were a couple of other things they needed to do.”

Kulick went on:

“I believe ‘That ’70s Show’, when they were taping, Ace didn’t show up. ‘Tommy, get the outfit on.’ And then I think there was a private gig, too, that no one would really know about — one of those things where you go to an island and play for some rich people. And Ace wouldn’t go. And KISS wasn’t gonna say, ‘All right, we’re not gonna take the gig.’ So if they ever had a thought of me, I think they would have known that that probably would have been a lot harder.”

“Tommy was younger, there already, if you know what I mean, working with them. And Tommy, not everybody knows that he was in a tribute band for fun at times called Cold Gin as Ace Frehley.”

“I lost the big gig for the right reasons”

In the end, Tommy Thayer proved to be just as reliable as Kulick was, and the older guitarist notes how Thayer’s playing style was also much closer to Frehley’s. Nevertheless, he admits he would have been tempted by the offer, had he ever received one:

“Had they gone to me, I can’t say I absolutely would have said ‘no.’ I miss being in KISS. I do realize it would have kind of pooped on my era because then I’d have to kind of play the role of the ‘Spaceman’ and shoot rockets and play more like Ace. I was never given that direction from Gene and Paul, where Tommy knew that it actually was more comfortable with his natural style of guitar playing. He wasn’t a Floyd Rose, play-some-flashy-riffs king of the mountain.”

Defending Tommy Thayer & Eric Singer’s work in KISS, Kulick added:

“I never felt like [Gene and Paul] made the wrong choice — ever. I always felt that was the right way to go ’cause then Tommy could assume the role of the Spaceman in the group. Eric sometimes gets some criticism, like Tommy has, but Eric being behind the drums and having five years in the band without the makeup, maybe he gets a little less.”

“Neither of them really deserves criticism because they’re talented players doing a great job. And it was Gene and Paul’s choice to say, ‘And now you’re the Catman,’ ‘And now you’re the Spaceman.’ It wasn’t [Thayer and Singer] saying, ‘Please, I wanna be the Spaceman.’ And to new generations, Tommy is the Spaceman. Even though Eric has a lot of credibility from ‘Revenge’ and ‘MTV Unplugged’ and ‘Carnival Of Souls’ and all the work that we did together for those five years.”

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