A Shame It Was Killed

Bruce Kulick shared that he understood why Kiss leaders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons decided to stage an original lineup reunion, complete with makeup, in the ’90s – though it took him some time to accept it.

The guitarist also pushed back against the dismissal of the work done during his twelve-year tenure, which began in 1984, arguing it compared favorably to the band’s best output.

Kulick’s official separation from the band occurred in December 1996, after Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had successfully participated in the reunion tour that year. By that time, Kulick had been retained on full pay for a year.

“Paul and Gene did the right thing by keeping us on salary for a year, but they had to do that because they could go back if the reunion blew up,” Kulick said in a recent interview with Guitar World. “But once success came, and Ace and Peter did their jobs, the writing was on the wall.”

He added, “I’ve always looked at it as I was never fired from Kiss; I was left behind for a wildly successful commercial venture. You don’t have to be an accountant to understand Paul and Gene. What Kiss would make with Eric [Singer] and me was like five million, but with Ace and Peter, we’re talking about netting 50 million; that’s truly obscene.”

Addressing the notion that the lineup change was made “at the expense of chemistry and musical integrity,” Kulick acknowledged, “True. All the cracks reopened. If you look at [1998 album] Psycho Circus, that was not a band album. It’s got Tommy Thayer on guitar, Kevin Valentine on drums, I’m playing some bass – and Ace and Peter are barely there. Sure, the four of them toured in support of it and did that ‘final tour,’ but the truth is that putting the makeup back on at the time was a purely commercial decision.”

When asked whether the return to makeup “killed Kiss as a creative entity,” Kulick replied cautiously, “That’s tough to say because you’ve got people who like the music they did after the reunion… [D]id they turn their back on what was a very creative and solid band? Yes, they did. But it was for the popularity and massive success of a reunion tour, which I can understand.”

He continued, “Our version of Kiss had a lot of promise. We clicked, got along, and shone brightly. It’s a shame it was killed. I understand why it happened, but it took me time.”

Kulick went on to express pride in Kiss’s efforts during the ’90s, saying, “Musically speaking, we were as good as any Kiss era… I’ve heard Gene pick on [1993’s] Alive III… It’s like, ‘Dude, give me a break. We were killing it then.’ Here’s the truth… we could play the old shit right, and we played the new shit right. I’m not saying we had the magic of the original band, but don’t put that era down because you’re trying to sell the makeup.”

He also pushed back against Paul Stanley’s downplaying of that period, adding, “I also don’t buy Paul putting down some of that stuff. He was there. He sang his heart out. He worked hard on it. Is Paul entitled to his opinion? Of course. But to reduce an era to nothing? I don’t buy it.”

Kulick concluded, “We persevered and would have made it out to the other side given a chance. It wasn’t grunge that killed that era; it was a reunion tour.”

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Gallery Credit: Jeff Giles