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Bruce Kulick
Interview
by Kara Uhrlen |
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Upon Bruce Kulick's departure from KISS he was faced with several options,
including embarking on a solo career or starting a new band. He says, "The band
thing appealed to me more, because he lacked the confidence needed to front his
own project. “I wasn't confident enough then to even want to sing a few songs.
Even though I did ‘I Walk Alone,’ I didn't really feel that comfortable with
it.”
While he did form the band Union with John Corabi, the brutal reality of the
music business has placed the future of the band up in the air leaving Kulick
time to revisit the idea of a solo career. He says that everyone in Union still
keeps in touch and gets along, jokes that if they are away long enough people
may “cough up some offers,” and says that the band’s upcoming DVD “will be an
opportunity to show people what we were doing that they never got a chance to
see.”
AudioDog
Kulick says he approached the solo album AudioDog from a completely different
direction than he had gone with Union, making use of some great KISS demos that
he had written and never used. Those demos served as a starting point, though
there were a few songs that were written brand new for this album.
"Some of them were really clearly defined tracks hoping maybe Gene would like
this song or Paul would like this idea, sometimes I developed it a lot but I
didn't even need to do a whole lot, it's interesting. But the album came
together real quickly. I was able to compile that material and finish writing it
within about four to six weeks, including lyrics and melodies."
Although Union’s label Spitfire Records was willing to distribute AudioDog,
Kulick says he wasn’t comfortable working with anyone; he just wanted to do it
himself. “I became the record company…I have done very well with it on my own.”
The easiest way to purchase the album is through Kulick’s Web site
www.kulick.net, however, the album is also distributed by Perris Records and is
available through some national chain stores including Virgin Records. Kulick
puts it bluntly, “I believe that if you’re a KISS fan and a Bruce fan you’ve got
to be out of your mind not to have this disc. It’s done by the committee of one
– me – and I certainly put a lot of integrity into it.”
When working on the album, Kulick says that he just went about getting it down
and at first it was a quick process, but ultimately several necessary breaks in
the recording processes stretched the production of the album over a year's
time.
While Kulick handles vocal, bass and guitar duties on AudioDog, Union drummer
Brent Fitz joined him for all but two tracks, which had been done the year
before with Kenny Aronoff. And, Curt Cuomo, who had worked with Kulick
previously with KISS and Union, co-produced the album.
He also found it very exciting working on all of the albums artwork, packaging,
and distribution himself. The cover art was from a fan in Argentina who has done
pictures of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in the same style, which have been
showcased in KISSTORY. Kulick says he saved it, framed it, and said ‘this would
be a great album cover’; and with a few tweaks, it was.
ESP
Since we met up with Kulick at his guitar clinic at Midnight Music in the North
Hills of Pittsburgh, it only seems appropriate to talk gear for a minute…
He says he has been working with ESP guitars since late 1986. He explained that
back then they were still just a company trying to find their way. ESP started
off as quality replacement parts for Fender-style guitars.
“Then that whole metal world exploded and Charvel got big and Jackson got big
and they started to compete. And, if you notice through the late eighties most
of my guitars were these interesting ESPs, they’re either these one-off bolt-on
models or they were Horizons. I’d ask them, ‘make me an Explorer’ – they weren’t
Gibson’s, because the neck shapes and the quality I wanted then, Gibson wasn’t
really making. So, they made anything I wanted, and you can always order what
you want.”
“The point is: guitar prices went up so much that to order a brand new Japanese
ESP guitar can run you well over a thousand dollars, maybe even more. I don’t
know how long ago they really started with the LTD line, but they got serious
with the Korean factories, which is like where Epiphone is made and every
serious company that has expensive guitars had to compete. But, I’m really
impressed, in the last year I’ve really gotten hip to some of he LTD models like
this Viper (that he played during his performance that evening) and there’s a
new model called the H-1000 that I’ve been taking on the road with Grand Funk
and it’s a great guitar and those are much more affordable and competitive with
other things.
So I’m very happy that they’ve got that quality. I look at them as like a Lexus
of guitars, Naturally not everyone can afford ‘Lexus,’ so, ultimately getting
their Korean’s made really well. And, they are to the point that I can play them
in front of 10,000 people now says a lot about the guitars.”
Kulick says he did have a signature model for a while. “Unfortunately, it came
out right when I wasn’t going to be playing with KISS anymore although I did
play it on some of Carnival of Souls and tour with it with Union. Then, they had
a lawsuit with Gibson over some of the models being a little too reminiscent of
their guitars.”
The outcome ended production on that guitar leaving about 100 available, 30 of
which Kulick has been selling himself through word of mouth and his Web site. A
dozen or so of the rare guitar are still available only through Kulick, infact,
it is not even possible to custom order the guitar any more. The Japanese made
signature model can be compared to the Viper, which Kulick calls a warped SG
guitar.
Grand Funk Railroad
While EMI/Capitol Records are releasing a Live Grand Funk album from the 70s,
the band currently has no record deal with anyone, but that doesn’t mean they
aren’t working on new material.
Kulick says, “We’re already doing two new songs in the set, and that’s pretty
brave, cause there is no way you can buy the songs, you’d have to see the band
to see it. They go over really well, one of them I co-wrote with Max and the
other one Max (Carl) wrote with Don Brewer The songs are named “Sky High” and
“Who Brought Down the Stars” and I’m very excited about that.
Our plan is not necessarily to do a whole record this year but to record three
or four songs and get like a DVD of us live doing those songs as like a little
teaser about the band. But this band can definitely record just building on
base, building our confidence, and learning what the new Grand Funk is. There’s
a tremendous amount of talent in that band, and I’m very fortunate to be working
with these guys.” |
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