Union--noun. Act of uniting or state of being united; a whole formed by the condition of individual parts or persons. Webster's New Dictionary

There's no doubt of Bruce Kulick's contribution to the world of rock and roll. Having been a member of KISS for twelve years, his presence is, indeed, known by many. Previously employed by the likes of Billy Squire, Michael Bolton (or Bolotin, as he was known then)and Meatloaf as well, Bruce is definitely a guitarist who's seen it all. Except, that is, for leading his own band. The opportunity came when he met up with Motley Crue's newly freed vocalist John Corabi. The two seemed a natural to work together, with similar situations in their former bands reunited with original members. Rounding out the line-up with Brent Fitz on drums and Jamie Hunting on bass, the band Union was born. Releasing their debut album on Mayhem Records, the band started a tour of the United States, only to have to leave that tour midway through, due to both health problems and more importantly, financial instability probably due more to hasty planning than anything else, since the band was eager to play. With the promise that the band would return soon to the concert circuit, all has been forgiven, at least in this fan's eyes, and all who are fans of this band's music anxiously await that return. On May 29, 1998, the day which would have been their Chicago gig at Jackhammer's in nearby Schaumburg, Bruce Kulick called for a phone interview at WRSE-FM, Elmhurst College, where I was the metal music director up until my graduation two days later. Although not given the chance to be aired, the interview was very informative, and a thrill for a KISS fanatic like myself to partake in. With that, the interview follows.........

Q: Bruce, how is everything going?

A: Everything's fine, everything's fine.

Q: You're all feeling better, and getting ready to get back on tour?

A: Absolutely, we really needed to get well and regroup. I regret any inconveniences on behalf of the band, certainly the Chicago date was looking great. I know we have a lot of fans there, and we really appreciate it, and when we get back there, we're going to make it a priority to do a kick-ass gig, and make sure we hang with the fans and sign everything for them like we've done at the shows.

Q: Yes, you guys do have a lot of support in Chicago, you ended up on my playlist at number 7 to close out the year on WRSE's Top Ten Metal Playlist, reported to CMJ, you've been at the top, and you closed out this term really strong, a mainstay on my chart.

A: Well thank you, I appreciate it.

Q: When you do get back on the road, will you tour with another act?

A: Well, you know, that's possible, something that might be looked at, but either way, I know that Chicago and Detroit and some areas on the East Coast have always been really strong for us, and that's why we really want to do those gigs right. So we're looking forward to getting out again and making up those dates and really having some fun.

Q: Do you think you'll pick up where you left off geographically, or start someplace else?

A: Anything's possible right now, because what's going on is we're coordinating some things and looking at all the options, but even if it means starting in the Midwest...what I've learned is it can be done many different ways. I've learned so much having my own band now that I didn't have to deal with very much when I was in KISS, obviously. But even then there's always plans that you try to make, and sometimes things don't work out, and you have to go back and try to make it up and re-schedule, so I'm used to that, I just hope the fans are patient about it, that's all.

Q: When you were playing, how many KISS and Motley Crue songs were you playing?

A: We really only got to rehearse one Motley song, "Power To The Music," which we did...we didn't do it a lot, only because...I think it's a great song for John and the band, it's just that it's another guitar change, being in a different tuning, but more than that, it's like John's voice was going to get really strained. You notice on the Motley record he did push a lot harder...he's capable of a lot of different singing styles, but what they wanted on that record was him kinda screaming a lot. And on that one he screams and I'd hate to have him in a lot of pain during an hour and a half set just for one song. So we did it sometimes, and sometimes we didn't. As for KISS, fortunately, John was really into doing "Jungle," which was a very cool song for us to play, since you'll probably never see KISS in make-up perform any of that material (from "Carnival Of Souls"). And I got the opportunity to sing "I Walk Alone, " which was a lot of fun for me, and obviously an event for me every evening to actually sing a song. It always went over really well, so I was proud of that. And then acoustically when we sit down, John always loved "Beth," and it was a song I didn't get to play on "Unplugged," so we do that one as well. We could have jammed other KISS songs and things, but we kinda kept to just those because we obviously wanted to play a lot of the Union album. And there was, of course, the Scream song called "Man On The Moon" that was very well known. That was always a part of the set, too, it was a lot of fun to play that because Scream doesn't exist anymore, and I think a lot of people were familiar with it, too.

Q: Now, with "I Walk Alone" and the bonus track on the Japanese import release of the Union CD, "For You," is this going to be a trend, are we going to hear you sing more?

A: I'd like to, I don't in any way consider myself a great singer, I regret I didn't do it more in KISS, if the opportunity was there. I do enjoy it, though, I have to admit, and it always turns out live to be a lot of fun, like, "Hey, someone else is handling a lead vocal." And just as well, we also did an instrumental of mine that kind of features me, so it's nice to show the band, take a little bit off of just John doing the lead vocals, and getting into either me handling a vocal or an instrumental thing. But the next record, yeah, I definitely would want to sing something on the record. "For You," which will only be released in Japan, is a really cool track, it's very aggressive, very different from "I Walk Alone," in fact there's a little bit of distortion blended into my voice, so it's not like the kind of tone you heard before, but you can definitely tell it's me. When you're putting the record together, there's only so many songs you can put on the record, and when it was a choice between that one and another track that was kinda up in the air for the Union record, we were like, "This is so different, maybe we should save this as a bonus track" because it was just so different. So we wound up mixing it later, and it wound up being the bonus track. Japan always insists on having some track that's not available on the US release, that's just part of their unwritten law of trade.

Q: To make it unique.

A: Yeah, they don't want everyone there buying the US product, basically.

Q: You sounded great on "I Walk Alone," I was very disappointed that I hadn't gotten to hear you sing more when you were with KISS. But it was great to hear, I was really surprised. The first time I heard "I Walk Alone," I was set back a ways, and it's still one of my favorite songs.

A: Thanks. I pushed for it, I was really happy Gene let me give it a shot. At one point, I know, even though he thought it was good, he still wanted to sing it. But I have to thank Toby (Wright), our co-producer, for saying, "What are ya doin'?? This is great!! Let's leave it!!"

Q: Now with John Corabi, John seems to be like a natural for you, the two of you make a great team. Do you see yourselves in the future in the same similar situations as Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley?

A: Gene and Paul are basically the nucleus of KISS, they created that band. In the same way, John and I have created Union, and we both write and collaborate well together. I would hope that it could be that successful and go for that long. John and I are really pleased with the fact that we do work well together and that we very much compliment each other, so I'm looking forward to doing more records with John and the guys. Jamie and Brent have been very helpful, too. The band has a lot of talent and there should be a lot more for us to look forward to. The only thing I have to understand, and so do the fans, it's still a "new" band, so it takes like six months to a year for everyone to know who the hell you are.

Q: Right, right. It should be interesting, too, when you decide to cut your next record, to hear Jamie and Brent's collaborations with you guys, for them to add their own flavor to the band. They're great musicians, and it'll be great to hear them add to the songwriting.

A: Yeah, that's obviously open for them. They didn't get the opportunity when we were doing the first album, because basically between Curt (Cuomo), John and I, Curt being the co-producer, who also is a very good writer, he's the guy I met through Paul Stanley. A lot of the stuff was already demoed or getting shaped up, and we just like when in and did it. The goal was always to do the best album we can but also to put something out in early 1998, because we didn't want to take too long, we were hyping the fact that John and I were putting something together and we didn't want to lose anyone's interest.

Q: I want to go back now a little bit tin time, to around 1984 and your time in KISS. When you began playing with KISS, you were a fill-in for Mark St. John.

A: Right. Q: Well, being a total KISS fan, to the point where I could be called a KISS fanatic....

A: OK, you know everything! (laughter)

Q: Yeah, well I know everything except this: about how long were you just a temporary guitar player with KISS before you actually replaced Mark St. John? (St. John was stricken with Reitter's Syndrome in his hands and fingers, a rare form of arthritis)

A: Well the way it went down was, I was asked to fill in for him for possibly two weeks, because there was a European tour booked that they were not going to blow off just because their "brand new" guitarist that no one's actually ever seen couldn't do it. So it was my initial understanding that I would be out for two weeks, maybe longer, it all depended on what would happen. The European tour was actually about six weeks long, I believe, so of course I did that whole tour. Mark didn't come over to Europe, but he was getting better. So then we started rehearsing for the American tour for "Animalize," which I can't remember the exact date that it started, it was like late November or early December of 1984. They actually wanted to give Mark a shot, so he came out and was there, as well. So I was doing the shows for at least the first couple of weeks. Then they let him try half a show first, but I was still there, all dressed and ready, just in case, and then they let him do a whole show. At that point, I think, was when they realized that even though Mark was better, it didn't turn them on as much as they would have hoped. And I have to say, in all fairness, Mark's very talented, but I had a "home court advantage" over him, by performing with the band for a couple of months, understanding their routine and gelling with them on stage, you see what I mean? So Gene and Paul made a business decision to just move on without him because they really felt that I was doing the job, and they offered me the gig. It wasn't like major announcements, I was always like this secret new member or something.

Q: You were already there, too, that had to seem a little strange.

A: Yeah, and people didn't know if they saw Mark, or if they saw Ace, why would they think Bruce would be there? It was really kinda weird, but I wasn't going to complain, the gig that I obviously didn't want to go home from became a gig that I could keep.

Q: I remember reading in a magazine years ago how some people used to confuse you with Mark. That's understandable in that kind of situation, how something like that can happen.

A: Sure. And on another footnote, just ironically, they had to change the tour book because it was silly to have Mark on the cover of the "Animalize" tour books. So by the time they got around to changing it, there was one page where there was a picture of Mark's hand on top of a guitar, and he has such a bigger hand than mine, on top of the fact that it was kinda swollen a bit from the illness he had. So there would be a picture of me on the left, then on the right, there was his hand and I would be going, "It's NOT my hand!" So when I used to sign those tour books, I'd say, "NOT my hand!!" (laughter)

Q: Was there talk of a reunion even at that point?

A: At that time it was still kind of new, I joined in 1984, officially at the very end of 1984. It once came up, I remember just chatting with Paul saying, "So do you ever think you'll put the make-up back on?" He said, "Oh yeah, it's possible, there'd have to be a good reason to, who knows how that will go down, but I could definitely see it happening again." But I don't think that there's any way, certainly in the Eighties, that that made any sense at all, because it was still too new, and they were still too...ya know, Ace had his own career going, and I'm sure Peter didn't want to be in the same room with those guys at that point. But a lot of things heal in time, and nostalgia is an element of time, or else it wouldn't be called nostalgia, and it became very strong for them. And by the "MTV Unplugged" event, that's when the timing was right, not like some time in the Eighties.

Q: Speaking of the reunion, and this it total speculation on anyone's part, but do you think that if Eric Carr were still alive there would have been a reunion?

A: Well, I've gotten that question before, and I have to say that if Peter was still workable, like he obviously became, because I know there was a period of time where he was not saying good things about the band and wanted nothing to do with KISS, but he really came around. Maybe the first choice would have been Peter, but if for some reason Peter couldn't do it, or something, it would have been Eric. I know a lot of Eric's fans probably are upset, but guess what? It's really a hypothetical situation, there will never be a true answer.

Q: No one will ever know, it's just speculation.

A: Well, look, Eric, in his years in the band, really developed a strong bond with the fans, he was extremely popular, he did have a make-up character, it was very identifiable, but he didn't have that many years in make-up. So business wise, I would have to say that if you were going to tout, "First time in make-up, all original members, in seventeen years" they couldn't have touted that if it was going to be Eric Carr. Would it still be amazing, and have been an amazing show with Eric? Of course. It would have been great. But just as well that if, God forbid, Ace suddenly couldn't do the gig, it certainly wouldn't be Vinnie Vincent in make-up. I can promise you that.

Q: I don't see that happening at all.

A: Right.

Q: Do you have any other fond memories of Eric that you'd like to share with us?

A: Well, I obviously miss him. He was always a very funny guy, and super, super sweet with the fans. I know a lot of people are really interested in some of the Rockheads music that he has, and now that I'm home for a bit, I'm going to look into it a little more because I know some people are trying to release it. Eric's missed, he was a very talented guy. The fans were great to him, and he loved being in the band. It was a real tragedy.

Q: You mentioned the Rockheads. How much involvement did you have with the Rockheads?

A: At one point, not in the sense of animation or concept was I ever really involved, but I kinda had the best year at the time, recording-wise. I usually do, not that any of us has gotten crazy with that, but I had enough of a little demo studio that when he wanted to lay down these song ideas, which would be part of the package to shop the Rockheads, or approach animators that do those kinds of shows, like "The Simpsons" or whatever. So what happened was I wound up co-writing and helping record like four songs. Fortunately, I do have good mixes of those. I don' t know where the master tapes are, because when he passed away, they were supposed to be given to me, but there was a lot of monkey business, not on his family's behalf, but with some other people involved, which is unfortunate. Make sure you have your house in order, even when you're very healthy, if you know what I mean. You want to have the right people take care of your estate and everything. So these songs are on a tape, and maybe there's something that would be cool to do with it, I'm just not sure yet how I want to handle that, but I'm definitely in touch with Eric's family, who have been very close with me through the years.

Q: That's great to hear that you're still in touch with Eric's family.

A: Oh yeah.

Q: Just want to shift gears here for a bit now, at the "Unplugged" sessions, how well did you and Ace get along?

A: I never really got to spend a lot of time with Ace in the past, it was always more like I'd run into him at a rehearsal studio where he was coming in and I was leaving, and maybe we got to say "Hi." I know he knew my brother Bob pretty well. I never had any animosity, of course it was always awkward. Here I am rehearsing some songs, playing his solo almost note-for-note, and he's like in earshot. It made me a little nervous, and I know I used to make him a little nervous, too. But we always had a lot of mutual respect for each other, so doing the "MTV Unplugged" thing, we all knew, all six members was like, "We've got to be good, we're going to have some awesome cameras right in our faces." So there was a lot of pressure, we learned a few things to do, all six of us, and the other four learned their two songs that they were going to perform. So I have to admit that I was very proud of the whole event, and my relationship with Ace was always a little bit awkward, but never, in any way, a problem. We just always had a good respect for each other, and it was great because when Union played here in Los Angeles, besides Gene and Paul coming, Ace came down, too, which was very cool.

Q: Now you also did a track on the "Return Of The Comet" CD called "Liar." Any insights on that, how it came to be?

A: I had that song, once I knew about the reunion tour, I knew I was in a holding pattern with KISS at that point, so I did some clinic performances, solo performances with a backing tape. I booked a whole tour in Europe for about a month. One of the pieces I put together,besides playing some KISS things and that "Zeptune" song I did for a guitar magazine, since I wasn't going to sing all of these songs, I needed some instrumentals. "Liar" was a track that, at the time, didn't have a title, didn't even have a melody, it was just a whole music track that I wrote to show Gene and Paul for possible inclusion on "Carnival Of Souls." I remember Gene really liking it, Paul dug it, but what we did was we used it as a way to write something else, but the other song didn't make it on the record, either. So I just went back to the original version of my demo, I said, "I can write a melody to this," I started singing a melody idea, and next thing I knew I was formulating a Jeff Beck/Joe Satriani version of a rock instrumental. It was a lot of fun to play, people always responded to that one. There were always people that came to see me, most of them were KISS fans, but occasionally it might be someone who worked at the music store that sponsored the gig at the club, and they would always comment that they really liked "Liar." So I realized that I really had something cool here. But what do I do with it? Would it be something I should include on a Union record? It's not really a Union song, Union is supposed to be a little more collaborative project, a band feel, not so much like a solo effort. We knew we could do it live, of course. The people who were putting together the "Return Of The Comet" record, who I'd met at KISS Expos and on-line through the Internet, they asked me, and I told them to talk to my manager, because those kinds of things, I'm never really sure if I want to deal with it, or how it would seem to come off. I was kind of surprised that they wanted me to do something that I wrote, because let's face it, I've done a very good justice for a lot of the years in KISS on Ace's solos, so I wouldn't want to do it again on a record, but I thought that it was very cool, and they saw it as kind of a real bonus to the record, and I got a chance tocut the song in a bigger studio, and there it is. I'm really proud that it's out there.

Q: And you mentioned, also, "Carnival Of Souls," I have to touch on that. Speaking as a fan, I believe "COS" to be the best thing KISS ever recorded, and I'm not just saying that because I'm talking to you. I believed that when I first heard it. I believed it when I first got hold of a copy of the bootleg. The first thing I did the day it came out was buy it. I wanted to know what you think of as the best on that album. You've got to obviously be proud ofthe work you've done on it, because it really is great.

A: Well, thanks! But as much as I appreciate the fact that you liked it, I also hear criticism from some die-hard fans, because it's just so different. I hate to hear it referred to as "The Elder" of the Nineties. "The Elder" was a concept record that was way out there, even though there is some cool stuff on that, as well. For me, yeah, I got a chance to do a lot of riffs, I contributed a lot of stuff. The idea was that the lyrics are a little more gloomy than typical KISS albums, some of those riffs were really heavy and nasty, and didn't lend well for party lyrics. I think the mood of the band at the time was to be one step further than "Revenge," if you know what I mean. I think we kind of accomplished that, of course. Overall, I think there's a great common thread of heavy, heavy riffs, and I was certainly proud of "Jungle," I was really flattered that a lot of major rock stations that don't always play KISS were really on that song. I was really excited about that. Of course the fact that I got to sing a song, and some of the lyrics on "I Walk Alone" are a little more typical KISS, in the sense of you feel like you're identifying with someone who can get through all the troubles in life, which is kind of one of the unwritten KISS themes. And there's a lot to highlight: I always loved "Hate," it's a relentless riff; "Rain" is really cool, Paul sounds really trippy, that song with headphones is going to freak you out; "In My Head" has some of the most distorted guitar work I've ever done; "Childhood's End" is a great sing-along track, with a choir towards the end, it's kind of (Bob) Ezrin-ish in production. Then Gene's got "Seduction Of the Innocent" which takes you on a trip to the Middle East. I was very proud of my slide guitar work on that. I don't always think of myself as a great slide player, but I definitely captured a vibe there that I was proud of. And Paul's ballad ("I Will Be There"), really sweet song, I got to play a classical acoustic guitar solo, which was really cool. It shows a lot of musicianship and a lot of depth in writing for the band, I think , but unfortunately it came out at a very odd time.

Q: One thing tied in with the release of "COS " was the issue of your ESP signature guitar. How has that been going for you?