Bruce Kulick Revisits Kiss’ ‘Asylum’ on ‘Three Sides of the Coin’
Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick takes a special photo-assisted journey back to the Asylum tour on a new episode of Three Sides of the Coin.
The long-running Kiss-themed podcast invited Kulick to share his memories of the mid-'80s tour while looking through a series of photos from the band's Jan. 21, 1986, show at the St. Paul, Minn., Civic Center. The pictures were taken and recently uncovered by the podcast's cohost Tommy Sommers.
During the hour-plus interview, Kulick talks about the distinctive guitars, outrageously bright clothing and oversized Kiss sign the band used on the tour, which ran from November 1985 to April 1986 and is one of the few major Kiss tours that wasn't professionally filmed.
Although the Asylum single "Tears Are Falling" was in heavy rotation on MTV at the time, Kulick says part of the reason the band didn't film this tour was because attendance could vary wildly from show to show.
Also, bassist Gene Simmons still hadn't figured out his post-greasepaint look and particularly struggled with the colorful, glammed-up clothing the band sported on this tour. "He was uncomfortable - he tried to do what he thought could work," Kulick notes. "It was a struggle. If you look at the Asylum [publicity] shots, he didn't look this crazy. Now [for the tour], we're gonna go wild. We're gonna introduce the rhinestones and the sequins and things."
You can watch the full episode of the podcast below.
Kulick also recounts the short history of the lighted cape Simmons had created for the tour.
"It was a disaster, it cost like $5000 to create, it came out one night and that was it," he explains. "I wasn't his comfort zone, obviously. For [1987's] Crazy Nights, things were easier, the clothes got more leather and tough ... and by [1992's] Revenge, we really dialed in the look. [Guitarist] Paul [Stanley] can get away with acting like a stripper onstage and wearing all that color and still be a terrific frontman, he pulled it off."
See Gene Simmons' Light-Up Cape From Kiss' 1985-86 Tour
Kulick says he's grateful fans still want to celebrate his decade-long tenure in Kiss; they've helped make his annual Kiss Kruise shows such a success. "I just see this very very fond passion for my era, and I'm the one who waves the flag," he notes. "Even Paul and Gene have embraced it quite a bit - they love me doing that material. They respect [Kulick bandmates] Todd Kerns, Zach Throne and Brent Fitz. They're not gonna do it like that, and they definitely are happy that we're doing it."
You can learn all about Three Sides of the Coin, and catch up on its archive of more than 300 episodes, at the podcast's website.