Creatures of the Night

A BRIEF HISTORY OF KISS'S SESSION GUITARISTS

- Andrew Daly

AFTER MORE THAN 50 years of rocking and rolling all night, Kiss have done their damnedest to deliver the smashes, thrashes and hits that the Kiss Army craves. Of course, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing — especially from a lead guitar perspective. After Ace Frehley’s initial mad dash to glory, Kiss, at least for a minute there, had trouble securing the services of a reliable six-stringer.

That’s not to say that Vinnie Vincent and Mark St. John weren’t talented. And, of course, Bruce Kulick was nothing short of a champion during his 13-year tenure, while Tommy Thayer is the epitome of reliability. But there’s no denying that turbulence has long been a part of Kiss’s guitar-related process, as evidenced by the need for several session players to save the day throughout the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties.

Ergo (yeah, we said “ergo”), GW is looking back on the long history of the session guitarists who helped make up the fabric of Kiss’s recording history.

Bob Kulick

KULICK AUDITIONED FOR Kiss in late 1972 but was passed on in favor of the more flamboyant Ace Frehley, who — coincidentally — auditioned immediately after. While Kulick wasn’t a fit for the Kiss aesthetic, his chops impressed Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley enough that they came calling numerous times over the years.

The first occurrence of Kulick subbing for Frehley came in 1977 when Frehley was too busy playing poker to record most of Alive II’s side-four studio tracks. Kulick was asked to cover for Frehley on “All American Man,” “Rockin’ in the U.S.A.,” “Larger Than Life” and “Anyway You Want It.” Reportedly, Kulick was supposedly tasked with trying to imitate Frehley, but it was all too obvious that Frehley was MIA.

Stanley again summoned Kulick for his 1978 solo album, Paul Stanley, but he didn’t come calling again until 1980, while Kiss were recording