A brief history of Kiss’s session guitarists – ft. Bob Kulick, Dick Wagner, Rick Derringer and more
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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 ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.
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
The older brother of Bruce, 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 Unmasked. It’s unclear which tracks Kulick provided “additional guitars” for, but we know he had a heavy hand in writing Naked City.
Two years later, Kiss solicited the services of Kulick once again for Killers and Creatures of the Night. By this point, Frehley was all but out of Kiss, so Kulick was allowed to cut loose, resulting in some of Kiss’s best cuts in I’m a Legend Tonight, Down on Your Knees, Nowhere to Run and Partners in Crime.
As for Creatures of the Night, Kulick is said to have played on early versions of Keep Me Comin’ and Danger, but in a 2011 interview, Kulick said none of his licks made the final cut.
Dick Wagner
If you believe Frehley, he was ready, willing and able to record, but Ezrin didn’t care for his playing
Known for his work with Alice Cooper throughout the ’70s and early ’80s, after several successful albums under the tutelage of super-producer Bob Ezrin, by 1976, Dick Wagner found himself at the top of Ezrin’s speed dial.
And it’s a good thing, as, during the recording of 1976’s Destroyer, Ezrin had grown frustrated with Frehley’s frequent tardiness. And so, Ezrin summoned Wagner to his chambers, asking him to stand in for Kiss’s guitarist.
Of course, Frehley wasn’t happy, but no matter; Wagner’s electric work, as heard on Sweet Pain and Flaming Youth, and his acoustic licks from Beth and Great Expectations helped make Destroyer an album to remember.
If you believe Frehley, he was ready, willing and able to record, but Ezrin didn’t care for his playing. Moreover, this is supported by the fact that 2012’s Destroyer Resurrected features solos and acoustic work recorded by Frehley on all four tracks.
Perhaps we’ll never know what really happened. But then again, given Destroyer’s greatness, does it even matter? Oh, and if it helps the proverbial sting, Wagner was called in once more by Ezrin to aid in a Kiss-related effort in 1991 while the sessions for Revenge were under way. This time, Wagner laid down a righteous solo for one of the album’s softer moments, Every Time I Look at You, in place of Bruce Kulick.
Mikel Japp
Though reliable and undoubtedly the backbone of Kiss, even Paul Stanley wasn’t safe from studio subbing. To that end, during the recording of Down on Your Knees from 1982’s Killers, for reasons unknown, Stanley’s licks are missing in action.
Instead, it’s Welsh session man Mikel Japp handling rhythm duties. Stanley and Frehley’s absence was a sad harbinger, as this sort of thing would become familiar as Kiss moved ahead.
Robben Ford
There’s no denying that the thought of Robben Ford playing on a Kiss album is weird, if not entirely awkward. Moreover, the fact that Ford features on what’s often referred to as “Kiss’s heaviest record,” Creatures of the Night, makes it all the weirder.
Nevertheless, in the wake of Frehley’s departure, Ford, along with a few others, was involved, and to be fair, his playing on Rock and Roll Hell and I Still Love You was bang-on. In fact, these two tracks – and solos – may well be the finest on the entire record.
Steve Farris
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were in a tough spot without Frehley as they attempted to record their “comeback record.” But thankfully, Robben Ford and Vinnie Vincent came around to save the day.
But Kiss was into diversification back then, leading to Steve Farris getting the call for Creatures of the Night’s title track. Farris is far from a heavy metal guitarist, but his seething solo is debatably the most metal thing Kiss ever did. Go figure.
Vinnie Vincent
Before being anointed Kiss’s lead guitarist, Vinnie Vincent was but a humble session musician banging around Connecticut.
As the story goes, Vincent was recommended to Simmons and Stanley by songwriter Adam Mitchell, and indeed, Creatures of the Night cuts such as Danger, Keep Me Comin’, War Machine, Saint and Sinner, Killer and I Love it Loud all benefited from his services.
The rest of the story, as they say, is history. But before the toxicity became all too real, Vincent and Kiss were a match made in heaven.
Rick Derringer
Funny how things come full circle, huh? Just one album prior, Vinnie Vincent was Kiss’s session savior during Creatures of the Night. Then, during the recording of 1983’s Lick it Up, Vincent’s overplaying became such an issue that Kiss drafted Rick Derringer, of all people, to come on down and mop up.
And while Vincent wasn’t happy that Derringer was getting in on his action, there’s no denying that Derringer laid down an explosive solo on Lick It Up’s opening track, Exciter.
Bruce Kulick
Mark St. John never was right for Kiss. It’s bizarre that they even hired him. Is that mean? No. It’s just that, given how absurdly things went down with Vinnie Vincent, one would think Kiss would have swung the pendulum in the other direction. But as history shows, one would be wrong.
Anyway, while recording 1984’s Animalize, it didn’t take long for Paul Stanley to realize that St. John was nearly incapable of playing the same solo twice, leading to Bob Kulick’s younger brother, Bruce, being called in on Lonely Is the Hunter and Murder in High-Heels. And once St. John succumbed to reactive arthritis, Kulick was in Kiss for good.
Mitch Weissman
Bruce Kulick wasn’t the only guy Kiss called in as things went south with Mark St. John. In fact, given that Kulick plays on two of Animalize’s nine songs, and Weissman plays on Get All You Can Take and While the City Sleeps, one can’t help but question just how much St. John participated.
Anyway, Weissman (of Beatlemania fame) was far from a virtuoso, but that’s the point; Kiss realized that while they might have been in the heart of the shred era, toning it down – to a degree, at least – was in their best interest.
Tommy Thayer
As of 2024, at 22 years served, Thayer is Kiss’s longest-tenured lead guitarist. But before he was a full member of Kiss, he participated in two of the group’s records, 1989’s Hot in the Shade and 1998’s Psycho Circus, in a session-man capacity.
Regarding Hot in the Shade, Thayer’s contributions were minimal, having only contributed acoustic electric guitar on Betrayed and The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away. But Psycho Circus, aka Kiss’s “reunion album,” is a different ball of wax.
Sure, it would’ve been nice to have Frehley’s fingerprints all over Psycho Circus, but no; Thayer plays all the lead guitar except the Frehley-penned Into the Void and the kumbaya classic You Wanted the Best.
Not much of a reunion, but who cares? Psycho Circus is an excellent record, and Thayer earned his stripes during its recording.
