Bruce Kulick mirrored on his departure from Kiss in a new Guitar World interview and mentioned he was superb with not being invited again into the fold in the early 2000s, as the circumstances of his return would have invalidated his tenure with the band.

Kulick performed in Kiss from 1984 to 1996, holding down lead guitar duties for a lot of their non-makeup period and serving to them climate the grunge storm in the early ’90s. He ceded his place to Ace Frehley when the unique lineup reunited and reapplied the make-up, however after Frehley left a second time in 2002, Kiss recruited Tommy Thayer as an alternative of giving Kulick a name.

Considering the function Thayer crammed in Kiss over the previous 20-odd years, that is superb with Kulick.

“I’m not disappointed they didn’t ask me to be in Kiss again,” Kulick mentioned. “To be in Kiss again, I would have had to be the Spaceman, right? If I had done that, I would have negated my entire non-makeup era.”

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Bruce Kulick Has ‘Made Peace’ With Kiss Farewell Tour Snub

Kulick was additionally notably absent from Kiss’ End of the Road farewell tour, not even showing throughout the band’s ultimate two exhibits at Madison Square Garden in December 2023. Although he believes his former bandmates “dropped the ball” with their goodbye extravaganza, he would not have needed to take part with out receiving an invite anyway.

“I’ve made peace with not being included in Kiss’ End of the Road,” he instructed Guitar World. “That said, no, they never called me.”

He continued: “I’ve always missed being in Kiss, but if being in Kiss meant being the Spaceman like Tommy, I wouldn’t want to do it. And if being a part of the final shows meant I had to ask to be there, I’d rather stay home. I guess that’s why Ace respects me and has always been kind to me.”

Kulick did spare some sort phrases for Thayer — which is greater than could be mentioned for Frehley, who claimed earlier this yr that he may “definitely blow Tommy Thayer off the stage” and that his successor “can’t duplicate” his method. “Tommy Thayer did a fine job playing Ace’s riffs with some swagger,” Kulick mentioned. “He did the Spaceman well, but I never wanted to.”