Guitarist BRUCE KULICK (GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, ex-KISS) was recently interviewed live onstage at the 22nd annual NY/NJ KISS Expo by the mysterious Maul Stanley (a parody hybrid of Star Wars character Darth Maul and KISS guitarist Paul Stanley). Part serious interview and part comedy roast, the exchange has been transcribed and is now available online.

In the first half of this two-part feature, Bruce discusses his dismissal from KISS, his work on the Carnival Of Souls album and his memories of late KISS guitarist Mark St. John.

An excerpt from the interview follows:

Maul Stanley: Even though you officially joined KISS during the Animalize Tour, you did in fact play some guitar on the album itself. Were you brought in before or after Mark St. John and at the time did you know you were being considered for the band?

Bruce Kulick: "No, Mark had already been announced as the guitar player for Animalize when I was brought in. I know that he was having some health problems, plus I think Paul didn't like some of the stuff he was playing on one song, maybe a song and a half. That's when they asked me to come in and help out. As everyone knows, Mark then became ill so they asked me to fill in for him on tour. Along the way, they started to think that maybe I was the right man for the job and that's how my time in KISS got its start!"

Maul Stanley: Was it weird being on tour with KISS, knowing that the man you replaced was hanging around backstage?

Bruce Kulick: "Well, I tried to handle it in a very positive way. Mark was always cool with me and I was always cool with him. I didn't want to make it a competition and I didn't want it to seem like I was his adversary. We actually used to jam backstage. After touring Europe for 6 weeks in the fall, KISS had returned to tour the US. We started in Pennsylvania and I think Mark was on the road with us for about 3 weeks. He learned the show by watching it every night. When they finally tested him out onstage a couple of times, that's when they realized that it probably wasn't going to work out with him. In the end, I simply had the home court advantage because I'd already been out touring with the band. So at the end of 1984, Gene and Paul asked me to officially join KISS."

Read the full interview here.