Former KISS Guitarist BRUCE KULICK Could 'Finally' Get Around To Writing His Memoir: 'I Think I Have A Great Story To Tell'

Former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick, who has just left GRAND FUNK RAILROAD after playing with the legendary rock band for 23 years, has told Ultimate Classic Rock that he might "finally" get around to writing a memoir. Asked how far he previously got into writing a book, the 70-year-old musician said: "It's got to be about 20 years ago. I'd have to check the dates. There was somebody in the industry that I was working with, Ken Gullic, who actually was very influential in 'Kissology' coming out and things like that, because he worked for [the label] Universal. He was involved with my 'BK3' album as well. We had the idea of doing a book together and he was able to go get interviews with people [like] my parents and Bob Ezrin. There are chapters that exist that I never took any further."

He continued: "What's ironic was that at the time, yeah, that was almost enough to ask people, if you were looking for a book deal, 'What do you think [as far as a book telling] the story about Bruce Kulick?' Timing-wise, it actually wasn't great. It was too close [to KISS] with their [ongoing] fame, the reunion and [return to] makeup. But all the [publishers] wanted was the dirt — like MÖTLEY CRÜE. I won't do a book like that. I don't like ripping people apart. I've heard plenty of the books from people I've worked with and I've read things. And I'm kind of like, 'They didn't have to say it that way.' But I get that they wanted to say that they didn't get along with this person or that person. I'm not looking at a book like that. Which meant I wasn't going to get a book deal back then. [Laughs]

"You know, for me, I want to celebrate my years, but tell the backstory. I'd like to get into the things that only if you were there you could describe. For example, what it was like to be at a video shoot for 12 hours with Eric Carr doing 'God Gave Rock And Roll To You II'. I don't have to say anything negative about anybody. Obviously, there are some stories I think are great to clear up for people, because they were aware there was tension here or there. You know, what was it like working in the band? But I really want to just tell my story in the sense of celebrating the music and how it was done — almost like some of my blogs that I used to have on my old web site. I still think it would be very compelling for people.

"I do know some people have written books and the more outrageous they want to be, the better, is the way they looked at it," Kulick added. "I think unfortunately, some of the publishers prefer when you're saying outlandish [things] with heavy accusations. I'll be honest, I thought both Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley] were very strange with each other. I didn't read all of it, but some things that I've heard, I was, like, 'Ooh, I wonder how that felt for the other person to read that or hear it on the audiobook?' I think I have a great story to tell. There's certain things about even how my career started and how I got to that point to being in KISS — and some other things that I've been really quiet about, because I want to save it for the book."

In 1984, Bruce joined KISS, where he remained as their lead guitarist for twelve years, accompanying the band on the "Animalize" tour and continuing with the band until the 1996 reunion tour. Bruce is heavily featured on "Kissology – Vol. 2" and "Vol. 3", the band's DVDs spanning their historic 45-year career.

In his 2014 memoir, "Face The Music: A Life Exposed", Stanley insisted that his relationship with Simmons had slowly improved over time. But Stanley also wrote: "[Gene] chose to ignore his underlying issues and instead committed himself to creating an external façade and persona that, unfortunately, he felt required to knock down anyone who threatened his singularity in the spotlight." He also dismissed the notion that Simmons is some kind of financial genius. "Gene's most successful venture in business was promoting the perception that he was a savvy businessman," Paul wrote.

A few years back, Paul admitted that he "read a little bit of" Gene Simmons's book when it first came out but that he had a different recollection of some of their shared history. While reading Gene's book, Stanley felt, "Gee, I thought I did that. I thought that was me. You thought you were me," he said.