Alternate Kisstory: Tommy Thayer, Eric Singer & Bruce Kulick Speak Out

Rolling Stone's first-ever Kiss cover story mostly focused on the original lineup of the band: Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. The Rock and Hall of Fame also chose to induct only those members – a decision Simmons and Stanley made quite clear that they opposed. They invited current Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer, current drummer Eric Singer and former guitarist Bruce Kulick (who played in the band from 1984 to 1995) to join them at their table for the April 10th ceremony, and thanked them from the stage for their contributions. In that spirit, here are Kisstory-spanning conversations with each of those musicians, culled from the cover-story transcripts.

Tommy Thayer

When Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent wore makeup in Kiss, they had new characters. Did you have any discomfort about simply wearing Ace's makeup?
No, first of all, I didn't have any input on that. That was a decision that those guys made. There was not even a conversation about it, because I think it was so obvious, that they weren't going to introduce new characters 30 years into the band. I never thought that there should be some new designs or something. I thought that would have been ridiculous. And the only thing is, you've got a lot of push-back from some of the diehards. And that's understandable. Hey, you know, if you lived in the Seventies and Kiss was your favorite band, and that's what you grew up with, and suddenly there's another guy wearing that makeup, I can understand how some people, it might not have appealed to them as much. But as time as gone by, a lot of people have changed their mind.

You can imagine what Ace has to say.
He probably wouldn't agree with that, would he?

He told me, "A supergroup has one of the most dynamic, greatest lead guitarists in the world leave the band, and who did they hire to play lead guitar? Their road manager, who used to be in a Kiss cover band. How insane is that? You can't make this shit up."
[Laughs] You know, that's one way to… that's one way to put it, I guess, even though that's not really accurate. These guys like to say that, oh, he was the road manager. He never paid his dues. Well, you know, if you look back, I've been in music professionally for over 30 years now, and I've made just as many records as they have, probably. And it's not to detract from what he's saying as far as, he was iconic in the Seventies, you know? And he did influence a lot of guitar players, and he did record and write some great stuff. Specifically, the first three or four Kiss albums, up to Kiss Alive!

He feels that it's almost like trying to trick people that he's still in the band. 
Yeah. Well, you know, I can understand him saying that, too, but I don't think that's really accurate. I don't think there's anybody going to a Kiss concert thinking that it's Ace Frehley on stage. I really don't. And if it is, then they're really not paying much attention at all. But the vast, 99.99 percent of people that are there, they know what's going on.

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