Bruce Kulick doesn’t agree with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley that they were behind the original KISS lineup.
“Absolutely,” the guitarist replied when asked by Guitar World whether they were as good as the ’70s. He added, “I’ve heard Gene pick on ‘Alive III,’ for example, but it’s a load of sh*t. It’s like, ‘Dude, give me a break. We were killing it then.’ Here’s the truth about the ’80s and ’90s: We could play the old sh*t right, and we played the new sh*t right.”
Kulick continued, clarifying his words, “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. I’ve always said that was bullsh*t.”
“I also don’t buy Paul putting down some of that stuff,” said the rocker, targeting Stanley this time. “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.”
Then, Bruce blamed KISS’ reunion tour for that era, “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.”
The guitarist was dismissed from KISS in December 1996 when Ace Frehley and Peter Criss rejoined for the reunion tour. He was paid for a year after leaving. “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 the same chat.”But once success came, and Ace and Peter did their jobs, the writing was on the wall.”
Kulick 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.”
Kulick stayed with KISS between 1984 and 1996. He performed on five KISS studio albums and two live records.