BRUCE KULICK Believes He And BOB KULICK Would Have Resolved Their Differences If His Brother Hadn't Died

During a new appearance on The SDR Show, former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick was asked if he had a chance to resolve his differences with his brother Bob prior to the latter's death in May 2020 at the age of 70. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "He knew that I didn't take it personally. And I heard, as much as we didn't have the conversation, I heard from his people that he loved me very much, he knew that, if God forbid anything ever happened to him, I was there and that he didn't want [our feud] to continue. Now, I know that was happening in the middle of the pandemic, and that might have put that mindset on him. And I'm sure that if he didn't pass away so suddenly, we probably could have resolved everything. But sadly, all of a sudden he had the heart attack and that was it. But thankfully, I knew that weeks before, people that were close [to him] shared all that with me, which really made me feel a lot better about it. But I know he always knew I loved him. But I needed the distance from him."

Bruce added: "You look at the music business, how many brothers in the business [are butting heads]. Oh my God. It's pretty common. I don't know — maybe it's a psychological thing."

In May 2021, Bruce released a video tribute to his brother to mark the first anniversary of his death.

In a note accompanying the video's YouTube release, Bruce wrote: "A year ago today my brother Bob Kulick passed away. For his one year anniversary, I've created a loving video tribute. At the end I share his final resting place. Bob Kulick's life and career was 'Forever Larger than Life.'"

Bob passed away on May 28, 2020 at his home in Las Vegas. He died from natural causes due to heart disease.

In October 2020, Bruce said that he was unaware that his brother had complained to his doctor about chest pains and heart palpitations. "I recently discovered this by looking at his medical papers, and I believe he was due to be treated, but the pandemic might [have] prevented it," Bruce wrote in a social media post. "For me this was a shock, as it was so sudden.

Throughout his 40-plus-year music career, Bob Kulick worked with an astonishing array of artists: from Meat Loaf to MOTÖRHEAD; from KISS to Michael Bolton; W.A.S.P. to Diana Ross; as well as legends such as Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed and Paul Stanley's first solo LP and tour.

Bob began his musical profession at 16 — when most high schoolers are still trying to figure out where they're going in life — appearing on the 1966 album "Winchester Cathedral" from the RANDOM BLUES BAND, the "baby band" that Bob played in that played The Café Wha in New York's Greenwich Village alongside Jimmy James and the BLUE FLAMES (later rechristened Jimi Hendrix).

1973 saw Kulick make the connection that he has been associated the most with throughout his career. He auditioned for — and got passed over by — KISS. Instead of being dejected, the six-stringer aligned himself with the band over the years, playing on the studio material on "Kiss Alive II", providing solos on the "Killers" album, co-writing "Naked City" from "Unmasked" and guesting on Paul Stanley's 1979 solo album and tour a decade later. He even suggested his brother to the band.

In April 2020, Bruce admitted in an interview that his relationship with Bob was "not healthy." Bruce spoke about his estranged older brother five months after Bob made a public post on his personal Facebook page as as well as on his Instagram accusing Bruce of contributory "copyright infringement" over the sale of "Kulick Brothers" merchandise items, including a signed photo. According to Bob, the items were being made available via Kiss Army Merchandise with permission from Bruce only. Bob went on to say that Bruce had "a restraining order" against him, but didn't offer any more details about the circumstances that led to the order being issued.

During 2017's "Kiss Kruise VII", the Kulick brothers played a 13-song set that featured 10 rarely performed KISS songs such as "Turn On The Night" and "All American Man", as well as three classics from Paul Stanley's 1978 solo album (on which Bob performed). That same year, Bob released a solo album, "Skeletons In The Closet".