Leslie Michele Derrough | Glide Magazine
“This music represents a time in my career that I feel helped define the potential of my guitar playing.” Bruce Kulick is not talking about KISS or Grand Funk Railroad. He is talking about the time he spent in 1974 with a couple of best friends in a basement in New York, playing and creating music, when that was all that really mattered. “To think that so long ago I was involved in something this powerful that sat in my closet unheard for nearly thirty-five years made me furious,” Kulick stated upon the release of Got To Get Back. “Play it loud and imagine three young men pouring their hearts out making music, never concerned about anything but the music. That was the intention. It was pure, it was real.”
Kulick, vocalist/bass player Mike Katz and drummer Guy Bois were fresh out of high school and just getting their feet wet in the real world when they formed KKB. They recorded some songs but before they knew it, life began moving them in different directions and the tapes were stored away for many years. Kulick came across his tape in 2008 and released a limited-edition CD but it wasn’t till Katz found the originals that they decided to give the old songs a new lease on life. After a remix and remastering, KKB is seeing the light of day once again, if only for a short shining moment. The CD contains the six original compositions, plus a brand new track the trio wrote and recorded, keeping it true to the early 70’s sound of the band. It has a funky feel with some hippie-psychedelia undertones. It’s fun and it’s rocking.
Kulick would continue his journey into music, spending twelve years in a makeup-less KISS and now fifteen years and counting with Grand Funk Railroad. In between, he was in Blackjack with a pre-pop Michael Bolton, in Union with Slash drummer Brent Fitz and current Dead Daisies vocalist John Corabi, as well as touring with Meat Loaf on his Bat Out Of Hell tour. Kulick has released three solo albums, not to mention contributing his guitar magic to many projects by other artists.
In our recent interview with Kulick, the well-known Beatles fan talked about those heady times when KKB was the whole world, his years in KISS and Union, why music fans should come see bands like Grand Funk, and having The Knack’s Doug Fieger sing on his 2010 solo record shortly before the “My Sharona” singer passed away.