What follows is the interview with Bruce Kulick as conducted September (2000) by the KISS Kollector Fanclub (www.kiss.animalize.com), but it's not just the edited version of the interview as it appeared in KISS Kollector magazine: exclusively for KISS ASYLUM/Kulick.net here's pretty much the entire conversation, including almost all bits 'n pieces that could not be included in the magazine.
Late September former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick spent some days in Holland
to catch up with his friends down here, since he already had to be in Europe
because of his appearances at the KISS Expos with glamband Shameless. He was
the special guest at the KISS Expo in Zaandam (Holland) and travelled
through Germany early October were he appeared as the special guest at five
KISS Expos there. While in Holland, Bruce also gave a guitar clinic in
Rotterdam at a store called Feedback and of course he also checked out
Amsterdam while staying their and he also did a recording session at a local
studio. As it had been a while since I last did an actual interview with
Bruce, we also decided to do an interview at the end of the second day of
his stay in Holland. We sat down in his hotel after we had returned from the
studio were he had recorded some guitar tracks. After the many extensive
interviews with Bruce that have appeared in KISS Kollector throughout the
years, you might be surprised to still find out some very interesting new
facts about the talented guitarist. Although Bruce was quite tired we sat
down for almost an hour and he gave away a couple of great scoops during the
outspoken conversation - including his remarkable involvement on the last
KISS album Psycho Circus, his session with Poison's Brett Michaels and an
audition he did for Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger's solo tour while
Bruce was still in KISS. Curious? Well, quickly read on...
KK: What brings you up to Europe again?
BK: "Well, I got to do a clinic in Rotterdam which was very well received and
I'll be travelling with the KISS Expos, with a band called Shameless that I
did a session with. And it's good to be in Europe, it's always very
different..."
KK: And the rest of Union, what are they doing at the moment?
BK: "Well, I know John did some dates with Ratt. Brent just got married and he
also does some dates with Gilby Clarke mostly with all the family stuff. But
the truth is with Union it's been very difficult for us, instead of saying:
'We give up' we're just kinda waiting for someone to offer something that
makes sense for us. We can't tour and do it for nothing, have us pay for it
ourselves, you know. It's very expensive to tour and it's just very
difficult. So right now we're all kinda laying low, see what happens. And
I'm not happy about that, but it's the smart thing to do."
KK: What's the current state of rock 'n' roll in the States? Especially on the
Internet I keep reading that Poison, Ratt, etc. are back touring and
recording but here in Holland, in Europe, we hardly hear anything about
those bands. So what's going on in America, is it healthy again for that
type of music?
BK: "I wouldn't say it's real healthy. Let's put it this way: if you have a name
from the eighties or nineties, that had a gold or platinum record, there's
some opportunities there for you. And obviously the bigger the name, the
better. Poison being very big, so they did a big tour during the summer
time, a package with Cinderella, Dokken and Slaughter and it did well in
most of the places - most of the time, not everywhere."
KK: Are they touring clubs or arenas?
BK: "No, they call 'em sheds you know. Outdoor amphitheatres, you know what I
mean. So anywhere from 6,000 up to 20,000. That's been happening for them.
I'm not sure if it's better than it was before. But again Union doesn't
exactly fit into that, because eventhough I came out of an era where people
who were fans of those bands are probably familiar with me and some of them
might be familiar with John, but Union doesn't have a brandname. And Union
was never about just doing Motley and KISS songs, it was about doing its own
music. That's why we're kinda getting left out of that. Eventhough I think
the fans would really like it, but it's hard to convince a promoter. A lot
of those bands know that we're really good and they love our music. Brett
Michaels, who I did a session for for something he's gonna put out either
later this year or next year - like a remake thing, we did some songs - he
loved The Blue Room, he wanted to get us on the tour but they had already
committed and the promoters were very happy with names from the eighties.
And they tried to get us on fifth, but that didn't make a whole lot sense,
so it didn't happen. But I appreciated him being enthused about us, but
enthousiasm is not enough to make us get on the road. I think that
internationally sometimes it might be easier for the band. I know at one
point when I already had other commitments, and John was on the road with
Ratt, there was a firm offer to do some festival in Russia. And we didn't do
it because it came up so quickly and we had other plans. And as you know we
went to Sweden a few times and we've been to Argentina and we might be able
to go again."
KK: How do you explain that in only three years you released 3 albums with
Union? You are a new band but you managed to release a new album every year,
something the other former KISS members never managed to do - even not Peter
and Ace.
BK: "Well the live record was really the odd one, okay. And that was because we
didn't know what was gonna happen after the first record deal, record
company actually - Mayhem - was going out of business. What actually had to
happen was a big question mark as to what was next. And in that meantime, in
that period where no-one was sure what would happen we were offered a live
record by a different label, that was already recording a Cinderella live
record. So Union had a lot to gain by doing very little new because besides
it's making a little bit of money from the recording of the record there's
the fact that people who didn't see us got to hear us and the fact that it
kinda bridged the gap between a next studio album. That's why we put that
out. And it was almost a year later that the The Blue Room was ready."
KK: You're also busy now with your solo album. How do the other guys handle
that?
BK: "I think they always knew that I had the opportunity, both me and John after
Motley and KISS could have said: 'Well, I just wanna do a solo record', but
my attitude was that I wanted to be in a band and collaborate. That doesn't
take away the fact that certain things that I write and certain songs that I
have in the past, that root for me and my career. Maybe there were other
cool KISS type songs that I used to write when I was living in the land of
KISS, you know, that I wound up having lots of material that wouldn't fit
necessarely a new band called Union with John Corabi singing. I've had
friends always ask me are you still gonna do a solo record, 'cause they knew
that I used to think about that in '96 when I did the clinic tour in Europe.
By the time I got home from that trip was when the option of going into a
band situation came up. Since John I thought was very talented, I liked
writing with him. He was able to complement what I couldn't finish. It's
been very rewarding working on my own record. And I see it is different. I
mean the process of it is the same: you gotta get the material together and
fine tuning and then record it and get it right. But what's different is
that I'm not doing it as much by committee, as we say, but I'm doing it
myself."
KK: But I guess you're using some outside help.
BK: "Well, Curt Cuomo is the main guy that I'm off course bouncing everything
off at. Curt of course worked on the first Union record and did stuff on
Psycho Circus and Carnival Of Souls. I get along very, very well with him.
He's got a great sense of melody and song writing. We didn't sit down and
write anything new, I actually took everything that I had sitting around
that I felt was very strong that did not have a home. Some of it as far back
as '87, '89... And I just... what I couldn't come up with, we worked on.
Meaning: if I didn't have the perfect melody yet we worked on it together.
And lyrically it was the first time that I really got involved. Curt helped
me, but all the themes and ideas, sometimes a lot of the lyrics I was able
to come up with, which is a good feeling. In KISS I know I never... I Walk
Alone, people think that I might have contributed lyrically and I didn't. It
was just Gene imagining somebody in that state, not knowing of course that
Bruce would be walking alone! So, both lyrically and musically I was able to
really find my voice. And that's been rewarding. Because even John wants to
sing about things that John relates to and that's different than my life. So
this record is gonna be a great opportunity for me to really both focus on
musically and emotionally express myself without me having to be interpreted
by other people. It doesn't mean that I'm not proud of what I did with Union
or that I'm anti-band. But this record should be very defined Bruce. I think
some of the vocal songs people will be surprised, some are very KISS-like,
some are very, I don't know, kinda like 'lead guitar meets KISS', meaning
like a Joe Satriani meets KISS style music. I'm very excited about it, and
it's gonna come up next year one way or another. I hoped for it actually to
come out this year, but I just had too many personal things that I had to
take care of this year that got in the way."
KK: How many songs will be on the album?
BK: "I'll finish 12 or 13. I'll probably put 11 on the record and have one or
two left-overs just for like maybe an Internet thing or bonus stuff."
KK: And 5, 6 with vocals..?
BK: "Six of those 12 or 13 are definately vocal songs. And the rest all
instrumental. Different than Liar or 495, but very..."
KK: ...but I thought you named those as well when you mentioned the album
before, that you had like different arrangements...
BK: "I re-cut them. There are versions, there's like an advanced - something
that someone put out as like a demo of 495 just to show off his label. Both
Liar and 495 are re-cut. Because I wanted everything to be as consistent.
And I wanted Brent to play the drums. We re-did those and I'm very happy
with that."
KK: So that means they will end up on the album in different arrangements and
with different titles?
"No, they'll have the same titles. The arrangements will be very similar."
KK: Can you name any other titles?
BK: "There's Monster Island, another instrumental, it's a very aggressive, scary
kinda track. That's the one that I want my brother Bob on it. There's this
song called Change Is Coming, also a kinda heavy D-tuned song. And then
there's, let me see, there's one called I Can't Take It Anymore, it's kinda
like a Gene song but I don't sing it like Gene. It was something that I
thought Gene would like. Then there's a song called... the most pop song on
it, is this one called Please Don't Wait For My Heart. A lot of my friends
were really like 'Wow, Bruce, that's a nice song!', you know, I mean like
that. 'Cause it's a more melodic verse. There's one called Strange To Me,
and there's Dogs Of Morrison, which I actually wrote two and a half years
ago. That one I recorded with Kenny Arronoff, right around when Smashing
Pumpkins played with KISS at the Dodger Stadium, that's when he was in LA
and that's when he recorded it. But then Union got the call 'we got another
record deal, we gotta do another album'. So that's when I stopped thinking
about my solo record. So you see what I mean that at times I thought about
the solo record whenever Union was kinda like not sure what was next.
Obviously there's more titles than I can't think of now but it's been a
while that I've been working on it only because my family things that I had
to take care of. I'm excited about the music though. It's something that I
think a lot of the fans will appreciate. It's probably a little closer to
what they're familiar with of me than Union. I love the direction and the
songs of Union, but this has more... since some of the material really came
from the eighties and early nineties, it has more KISS years kinda sound."
KK: You handle all the guitar parts, you also play bass? And who's taking care
of the drum parts?
BK: "And the drums is Brent Fitz. He did a great job. And a couple of the songs
that were demos earlier, with Kenny Arronoff, I'll see how those sound. I'll
probably use them, but they might be the bonus tracks, I'm not sure yet.
Kenny is a really amazing drummer."
KK: How about your book?
BK: "The book is basically being done by interviews with this guy Ken gullic. He
works actually for a record company called Loud, which does like rapmusic.
But he's a big, big KISS fan and he's been a friend of mine for many, many
years now. When we first talked about it I said 'sure' and all we did was a
few interviews and then he presented to me the first concept for a chapter.
And I really enjoyed the way he was writing it. I think it's gonna be a very
entertaining book. A lot of people really - first of all when they hear a
KISS book from a former member they always think it's a trashing book..."
KK: But it's not just a KISS book, right?
BK: "No, yeah, exactly. Obviously the 12 years of KISS are in there. But I wanna
bring up my whole life. I mean, it's not that I have a big ego, I just got
interesting stories to tell. Growing up in Queens and Brooklyn, and being so
affected by music at a young age and then actually realizing the dream, as
much as it had its bittersweet moments as we all know. But it's not only
KISS, people should be aware how I struggled with the Meat Loaf gig. And
there's Billy Squier, my band with Michael Bolton who of course got famous
later on. So you see there's lots of stuff and stories along the way. People
probably don't know that I auditioned for Mick Jagger when he was doing a
solo career so I'll talk about that. That was while I was in KISS actually."
KK: Yeah?! How would you have done that, while being in KISS?
BK: "KISS wasn't doing anything at the time and Gene and Paul said: 'Go ahead'.
I didn't get it. I think it was just for a tour. It was sometime in the
eighties, I think like '88 or '89, something like that. You understand
there's a lot of interesting stuff, how I meet Gene and Paul, what was that
like. The first tour - that was very exciting, never..."
KK: Yeah, there's something I was going to ask you about that. In the Metal Edge
Farewell Tour special there was an interview with you and you said you were
really nervous during your first KISS show. But even then you already had a
lot of experience in the recording and touring business, so how come you
were that nervous?
BK: "Well, I mean it was KISS! Partially that and there's big expectation there.
I was one of the four guys as opposed to let's say a Meat Loaf as a part
where you're backing him up. There was a lot of responsibility in that. Plus
I had just injured myself prior to that trip. I didn't get quite as much
rehearsal as I should have had with the band. I think they rehearsed for
like four or five weeks, and I missed out on like the first three. So you
see I had a lot of reasons to be nervous. Although I have like a bootleg of
like the third show, or the second show, and I was pretty good actually."
We then got to talk about Bruce's recording session in a local studio in
Amsterdam, where he laid down some tracks for Dutch group Mind Menders ("I
don't always get a chance to record in Europe and it was kinda fun spending
a couple of hours in the studio with everybody. Pictures on my website:
www.kulick.net.") and also about KISS' last album, Psycho Circus, of which
we now all know that it's not as much of a Paul/Gene/Ace/Peter effort as it
should've been. Ever since its release, there was a lot of gossip regarding
who played leadguitar and drums on the record. A lot of the time, Bruce's
name came up in these rumors. But according to Bruce ("I know everyone just
was like: 'That's you playing leadguitar', you know, and it isn't, I wasn't
playing lead") he only did the backwards thing in Within and was there when
Paul did demos and arrangements of his songs. Gene's demos Bruce didn't
really have anything to do with, although he knew about a couple of the
songs Gene was gonna record. However... it turns out Bruce had another kind
of involvement in the album: "One thing interesting was that the guys rented
a few things from me. Tommy Thayer got my Les Paul junior, the one that's in
the Revenge or Hot In The Shade tourbook. Because I used it on the demo for
Revenge and they really wanted to get that sound. I said: 'Well, this guitar
has a certain thing to it'. That and there was a couple of vintage pedals.
When I got the pedals back there were a couple of marks: 'Gene', 'Paul', you
know... There was a flanger that they used, it's called an Electric
Mistress, apparantly they, I think they put it on their voices on a couple
of songs. That was kinda cool. Of course I didn't charge them what Guitar
Centre would. It was kinda interesting to say: 'Hey, you can rent this stuff
from me, that's fine'..."
KK: ...and to make some money out of them for a change.
BK: "Yeah, yeah, I got paid."
KK: You still keep in touch with them, even now?
BK: "Yeah, everything's fine with them. I regret not seeing a show of course.
Everytime I was planning on it, my schedule didn't work. So, we'll see. We
don't know how much longer they're really playing of course, so I still
might get an opportunity. So, it wasn't intentional, but everytime they were
in LA, where I live, I wasn't there. [laughs] And the one time I was in
Omaha when they were going to be there a few days later, not too long ago,
unfortunately I had to take care of some things with my family and my band.
So I had to leave right away. So I couldn't stay and see them. But I know
that the new show obviously is not that different from the Psycho Circus
Tour..."
KK: What's your take on Alive IV? Any ideas why that's still not out?
BK: "Ahh... I know there's lots of rumors about it, and I do not really know for
a fact, I do know that when it comes to KISS and the record companies
anything's possible. They will battle sometimes, and when it comes to KISS
and product anything happens too. Look what happened to Carnival Of Souls,
it didn't really have a title yet but yeah... So, of course it's really a
miracle there's no bootleg out of it. I don't know what there'll be gonna
be. I'm not even sure if they're really signed to the label, I'm not sure
what's going on. But to be quite honest with you: a live record, so what,
you know what I mean. And I don't think anyone is crying over it. Although,
it is interesting when you have the cover..."
KK: Yeah, yeah, there even was an advert in Metal Edge...
BK: "Yeah, yeah, of course, it was all set to go and then something happened.
What that something is, I don't know. Whatever."
KK: I believe that contractually they still have to put out two albums...
BK: "...I'm not sure..."
KK: ...let's say they have to do two more albums. How would that work? Now with
Alive IV not coming out, or at least not very soon, how will that work if
either KISS doesn't want to do two albums or the record company says: 'Well,
we're not gonna bother anymore'?
BK: "I don't know. They could still put out Alive IV and maybe another
compilation, I don't know. I don't know... [laughing] How about a Worst Of
KISS instead of a Best Of KISS?!"
KK: And how about the Union homevideo, is that totally..?
BK: "A video?"
KK: Yeah, because I believe Jack Sawyers was doing something...
BK: "About as far as we got was an advert in the DVD for Eric Carr that'll come
out in October. We really weren't in a position to get more money from
Spitfire to do it, eventhough Jack - who's talented at what he does - was
gonna do it for practically nothing. He still wants to do one, you know what
I mean. But just in editing-time, and what you need with a camera and film
and things like that, just for that it's money. And it's money that
generally a record company pays for, and I can't be upset with Spitfire -
they gave us a nice amount of money for tour support, which was used in
those two months that we were out. So I'm not upset with anybody, it's just
very hard. Plus the video exposure now in America isn't as big as it used to
be. But I'm sorry that we didn't get to do one. I know the band would have
been great, it couldn't have hurt us. But who's gonna put up the 10, 20, 30,
40.000 dollars to do it? Not me! [laughs] You?"
KK: I recently interviewed German rockband Bonfire because they recorded Sword
And Stone -written by yourself with Paul and Desmond Child- for the Shocker
soundtrack. They told me they worked at the same studio as you did in 1987
and that they lived near you back then in Hollywood. Do you remember
anything about that?
BK: "It sounds familiar. I remember meeting them. I don't know if I was living
there at the time, I remember us talking about something like that but I
can't remember where it was exactly. They were all excited about the song. I
just felt really bad that Ron Nevison didn't like the song 'cause then it
would have been on Crazy Nights. But I couldn't control that. And the demo
that is out there in bootleg form is pretty good. We did it at Electric Lady
with Eric Carr and it's a full blown KISS track practically. I actually came
up with that riff backstage on tour early on, Asylum I think. That's what
happens. Paul didn't mind as much, I felt pretty bad about that. But I had
other songs on Crazy Nights, I think there's four co-wrotes on that album."
KK: Well, and talking about Eric Carr. As you know my next issue will be a
Memorial Tribute issue, is there anything you can say about Eric? Is there
like an anecdote or whatever funny story you can share with the readers?
BK: "Oh well, we're in Amsterdam so I may as well tell the Amsterdam story. Eric
certainly knew how to drink, he would like to have a drink with the fans
after the show sometimes. That was obviously his social kinda thing to do.
But everyone knows in Amsterdam, you know, pot is really good to get high
here. At the time the roadcrew and myself, me having a lot of experience
especially from the seventies pre-KISS years about pot, there's no way that
I was like a pothead in KISS, no way, and one of the forms that you can get
high is like space cakes. So Eric didn't smoke and figured well I'll have
one of these. He isn't feeling anything after that one, so we gave him
another one. I think he probably had two and a half, okay. And then by the
time, you know, it affects everyone's metabolism different. Sometimes they
say the first time getting high if you never smoked pot or had the chemical
that's in pot, in your system, it doesn't know what to do... But all of a
sudden his body started to feel numb and he felt like his legs couldn't
move. Instead of going with it, and I certainly understood, I mean it's
gotta be frightening for somebody when you don't know is this supposed to be
good, and you really don't have control over your body? I mean, of course we
didn't have a show that night, but it was pretty weird. He was just really
upset. And the rest of us, the crew and myself, we were all sort of high and
obviously that kinda like straightened everybody out. He was really unhappy.
He was thinking that he was gonna die or something, it was weird. So we
babysat him, as we say, and made sure that he was okay."
KK: Why was there suddenly so much (well deserved) attention for Eric Carr in
1999, with the release of the homevideo Tale Of The Fox, the Rockheads EP
and the Rockology album?
BK: "There was no real masterplan. I know it came to Rockology and the EP, that
was something that I had some control over because I had the masters. I
obviously had all the unfinished Eric music. I was waiting for the time when
A) I had the time and B) that I felt someone made an offer that made it
happen. So again, no real masterplan for it but at the same time of course
his sister Loretta always having people present things to her that she never
knew shall I do it or shouldn't I do it? The video finally started to come
together and it all did come out practically in one year. But it's not like
'Oh, a 10th anniversary or a 9th anniversary', this is just the way it came
out. And I was happy to do a song on The Blue Room, you know, Dear Friend.
And it was great to do the interviews. Yeah, it seems like a lot of
attention, I'm just happy that stuff is out."
KK: Are the 11 songs on the Rockology album really all there is?
BK: "From during the KISS years that's all I have. I know that his sister and
family have stuff pre-KISS, but they sound very different. For what Eric's
fans really know him for and what's on Rockology is a good representation of
what got left off KISS albums. But I know that if you're looking for more
material, I might have like one or two loose jam type things..."
KK: Do you have any favorite songs on Rockology?
BK: "I love Eyes Of Love and Somebody's Waiting. And I think the Rockheads songs
are really cool. He had a very cool sense of the whole music thing,
tongue-in-cheek."
KK: Back to you again: if you would not be a musician, what would you be or what
would you like to be?
BK: "I always used to get asked what do you wanna do when you grow up? And
before I knew I had the talent to be a musician I used to say an architect,
I'd like to build things. And I see why I was attracted to that, though I'd
never really read a book about it or really understood what's involved with
blueprint and a draft. The way I approach, I'm very methodicalized to how I
do things sometimes. Even sometimes I approach music... although music is
very emotional... I would certainly imagine myself doing something creative.
I wouldn't be a policeman."
KK: Are there any artists that you would like to work with or artists that you
worked with in the past that you'd like to work with again?
BK: "I always had fantasies of meeting the remaining Beatles. I'd love to jam
with any of them. Ringo, George or Paul, although with Paul I probably would
be so nervous... The Beatles are what KISS is to a lot of the diehard KISS
fans. I have even gone to a Beatles convention. I think there's one coming
up in Los Angeles in November, I think I'm gonna go. The only thing I'm
missing going to a Star Strek convention, I should try that some time. So, I
have a lot of respect for artists. I'd love to jam with Lenny Kravits. He's
a good KISS fan too. He met me and the band back in '93 when we did some
clubtours, and he was very impressed. I was the one giving him directions as
to how to get to the club. I really admire Sting a lot. I don't think I'll
ever get the chance to be his guitarist."
KK: You'll never know... So what's the story behind you auctioning off a piano?
You thought: KISS did a big auction, I got to do my own?
BK: "No, I can see why you're asking. But it really came down to first off all,
e-Bay and things like that are a great way to get things exposed. It used to
be: get an ad out in the newspaper, or whatever. But the truth is, a piano
is not an easy thing to sell if you think about it! And I sold the piano
because my parents had, you know, they're selling their appartment, their
home. It's one thing to get rid of furniture and say, okay, take the
dresser, take the coffee table... here's 50 bucks. A piano is not only a
piece of furniture, it's also a musical instrument. My idea was to put it on
the Internet and sure enough someone that I met through the auction, not a
KISS fan, just someone who wanted a small Baldwin Spinet for her daughter
[they both were not aware of a band called KISS at that point - ed]. She has
the piano now. She's totally happy. And now the girl, the daughter is like:
'Oh, I'm learning about The Kisses'. It just proves that auctions do work.
And I gave some money towards Eric Carr Foundation. I'm gonna do some more
things like that. Some people know that occasionally I have sold something
from my collection. But it's always been very private, one on one with
somebody."
KK: What kind of things did you sell?
BK: "There was obviously some clothes that are associated with KISS. In the same
way that they [KISS - ed.] didn't want everything in the warehouse, I got
rid of it. But that's a little difficult if you don't have a warehouse. I
haven't done much about guitars. Maybe in the future I can see getting rid
of a guitar. There might be some items and interesting things that I
collected through the years that I'll auction as well. Just certain items
and it will reach everybody that way. We'll see."
KK: To end this, I have a few catchwords that I would like you to react to in
one or more words:
BK: Union. "A big struggle."
KISS. "Never a dull moment."
Los Angeles. "A beautiful, but smoggy place to live."
New York. "Not so beautiful, but a very intense place to live."
Amsterdam. "Beautiful place to party. [laughing] If the restaurants are open."
Bob Kulick. "My brother and a talented, intense musician."
Jimi Hendrix. "Probably the ultimate guitarist."
Eric Carr. "A friend and a very talented, funny guy."
After the above interview we also did a short interview for the magazine of
Feedback musicstore where Bruce did his guitar clinic on September 28. Here
are the questions I asked him especially for Feedback Magazine:
KK: What did you think of the clinic?
BK: "I really enjoyed it. The crowd was great, you could tell that they were
enjoying the music. And it was a beautiful store, and they had the equipment
I needed and everything so I was very happy."
KK: What equipment do you use?
BK: "Well, I'm a big Marshall fan and they did have the head that I'm very
familiar with. And they had a good DAT machine. Sometimes DAT players are
very tricky, they don't play the tape right. Obviously they had a good PA. A
really good full service store, as I could tell from their website. I was
actually very impressed with how big it was."
KK: What kind of pedals do you use?
BK: "When I travel I use like Boss or Ibanez pedals. I have a lot of vintage
pedals that I use in the studio."
KK: Do you collect the vintage pedals, or do you only buy it if you can use it?
BK: "It's both. Some of it is to collect."
KK: What kind of strings do you use?
BK: "I use S.I.T. strings. On the ESP strat that I used at the clinic, it was
kind of a set that is a mixture of 10's and 9's. On the more Gibson skill
stuff that I use, I use 10's."
KK: Do you play ESP guitars exclusively?
BK: "Everyone knows that I endorse them, and I had a signature model. I'm
offering the remaining guitars on my website www.kulick.net, there's only
two dozen left of my model, because ESP was involved in a lawsuit with
Gibson. A couple of models that ESP had out were reminiscent of Gibson
models. Instead of trying to battle which could've cost them a lot of money
they just stopped making these models, mine being one of them. I play Gibson
Les Paul too. I have a nice guitar collection, I have to admit. But of
course I'm most grateful with ESP."
For much more on Bruce Kulick (plus KISS and Eric Carr), please check out
issue 34 of the KISS Kollector magazine.
Editorial address:
KISS Kollector Fanclub
P.O. Box 1159
1200 BD Hilversum
HOLLAND
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