Bruce Kulick Interviewed

Interview with Bruce Kulick
RockMusicStar.com
June 12, 2011
Bruce Kulick is one of the most underrated guitarists in Rock and Roll today. Having played in KISS for 12 years, and being a member of Grand Funk Railroad for almost the same amount of time, Bruce Kulick has quietly amassed a career that most musicians dream of. Arguably a better guitar player than both Ace Frehley and Mark Farner, Bruce has never received the notoriety of the 'original' guys that he has replaced in Grand Funk Railroad and KISS. And Bruce is fine with that, as he is totally comfortable being the 'replacement guy,' and knows the role he needs to play, when filling the shoes for other guitar greats. That 'mild mannered' approach is what gives Bruce Kulick his charm, as his fans know how talented he really is, and appreciate the fact that his large amount of skills don't come with a big 'ol ego to match. Bruce is very fan friendly, as he has appeared at dozens of KISS fan expos and other fan sponsored events over the years, to meet with his fans, sign autographs, answer all kinds of crazy questions and most importantly, share his music. Since 2001, Bruce has released a string of great solo CDs (three to be exact), as he released the first two entirely on his own, with no label support whatsoever. While making them available to purchase on the internet, through his website (Kulick.net), the biggest way Bruce has gotten his music to his fans, has been by selling his CDs at the KISS expos - literally bringing his music right to the people. Although Bruce's latest CD, "BK III" was released on a label - Twenty4 Records - Bruce continues his grassroots approach in getting his music to his fans.


RockMusicStar.com recently caught up with Kulick, as Bruce was enjoying a little bit of downtime, recently returning from a European tour with ESP (Eric Singer Project) and gearing up for his annual summer tour with Grand Funk Railroad. We spoke about everything from KISS to Grand Funk, his involvement in the recent Eric Carr book, and the possibility of a reunion of Union.

RockMusicStar: To start out the interview, I'd like to talk about your involvement in the "Eric Carr Story" (which is a book comprised of interviews about the life and death of Eric Carr). I know it's been out for awhile, but it kind of flew under the radar for a lot of people, and I hadn't read you doing much press regarding the book. Did you read the book once it was released?

Bruce Kulick: I read a copy. Actually, to be quite honest, when I got it, I felt like it was looking at me all the time (as Eric's face is on the cover of the book). I kind of put off reading it because I was concerned about what feelings it would bring up. It's a hard thing, reliving anything to do with Eric. Obviously, there were really wonderful things to think about Eric, but having someone pass away from cancer so quickly, (thinking about) all that was going to be really hard. So I finally got brave one night, as I had a quiet night, completely free - as I didn't have to work, and I read it. It is the kind of book that you can read in one night easily. I was very upset by the end, reliving some of the very sad parts. I did get a couple of laughs. Then I saw a few things from some people that I thought were a little heavy handed, one way or the other. And then there were some people that didn't even belong in there get a quote. In particular, my ex-wife Christina, at times, I just thought her take was a little wacky. But she was kind of wacky back then too. In a way, she was friends with Eric, and he would try to talk to her, especially about relationships with Carrie (Stevens - Eric Carr's on and off again girlfriend, also featured in the book), who was our good friend - who I am still very close friends with, and I remember that it was hard for Eric to make Christina understand some of his issues. It was just stuff like that. But it was a good read. Obviously, I've already said it, if you're an Eric Carr fan, it's a must read. It was a hard read for me, only because of the tragedy of the story.

Read the rest HERE!