Carmine Appice has had one of the most extraordinary careers in the annals of rock music. Starting in the late 1960s with psychedelic rock pioneers Vanilla Fudge, through his time keeping time and collaborating with Rod Stewart, his work with Ozzy Osbourne, and the seeming multitude of supergroups that he has been a part of, from Beck Bogert & Appice to Blue Murder and more recently Rated X, Appice has been not only a witness, but an active participant in the changing nature of rock music and the music industry.
At one point in the early 1990s, he was starting to get a little annoyed as to how it seemed to be remarkably easy for many guitar players coming out of successful bands to land solo recording contracts, even if they were less prolific and with less of a pedigree as he possessed, and yet with all his talent and experience as a songwriter and band leader, none were offered to him.
So, as he told a friend back at that time, “I guess I will have to make a guitar album.” And that’s exactly what he did, not once, but twice. First in 1995 and then again two years later, Carmine Appice’s Guitar Zeus project brought together a host of six-string luminaries to play on songs penned by a core band that featured Appice on the kit, long-time pal and collaborator, bassist Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder, Rated X) and former Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Michael Schenker Group vocalist Kelly Keeling.
The albums saw only limited release in North America at the time, and also suffered from the bad luck and bad timing that often hits worthy projects throughout the history of the music industry. Fate seemed to have turned its fickle face away from Appice at this time, but the potential for success of the project never really left Appice’s mind.
So that’s why, on Jan. 18, a new, re-mastered version of Guitar Zeus, featuring remastered versions of both albums, as well as five previously unreleased tracks, was released to more appropriate fanfare worldwide on Jan. 18 on both digital platforms and CD. A vinyl release will in the near future.
The main reason why Appice believes 2019 is a good time for this music to see the light of day again is that not only does classic rock seemed to be making a bit of a comeback, but many of the guitarists who performed a quarter of a century ago for the project have rediscovered their former glory or have blossomed into global superstars.
“I was looking at the album recently and listening to them and saying to myself, ‘look at all these guys who are on this album.’ Everybody who was on there in the 1990s, we were all seen as has beens at the time because grunge was in. Grunge was the big deal and we were all seen as dinosaurs, you know. Well, Neal Schon is back with Journey and is big again, Brian May is back with Queen and touring the world and they just had that big movie and everything else. I just went down the line: Slash is back with Guns ‘n Roses, and I also got Bumblefoot from Guns ‘n Roses. And then there’s Zakk Wylde who is back with Ozzy but since the 1990s has become a big artist in his own right. So, I just felt I should re-release it over here in North America and put it out and give it a big push,” said Appice from Los Angeles, where he’s lived since the mid-1970s.
He added that the albums were released and did well in Japan, and that he also recorded Guitar Zeus albums for the Japanese market with Japanese artists on it, and also did one for Korean artists, but getting the America versions any sort of traction always met with some sort of disaster or mismanagement.
“Every time I tried to release it here and get a decent push for it, something happened. The first time it was a single CD and it was called The Ultimate Guitar Zeus Project, and as soon as it came out the label went out of business. It was a European label and they just went out of business, so nothing happened, other than some people put up parts of it on YouTube,” Appice said.
“And it was like, okay what do we do now, but nothing happened for a long time. So, then I released it on Fuel Records a few years ago as a double album, and they didn’t do any promotion either. The released it, but they didn’t really do anything for it. This time I am putting it out on my own label, Rocker Records, because it never really had a proper push and because the songs are so great and the fact that there are so many guitar players on one record is amazing. I don’t think a record has ever been done like this where you have all these guitar players performing on original songs, not their own or other cover songs.
“These are all brand new songs, that are all really good songs as well. I have never written or been involved with so many great songs. Every band that I ever played in always had filler tracks. For this album, every song is unique and different. And each guitar player on it and the rhythm section and the musicality of it, the lyrics with really good messages, are just pure ear candy. And for me being a drummer, I think it’s some of the best drumming I ever did on an album; it’s pretty progressive, with time signatures all over the place. When we were recording it, the engineer said to me, ‘man I need a calculator for this.’”
Back in the day, the idea for what would become Guitar Zeus was bouncing around Appice’s head for a while and he would bring it up in conversation with his many musician pals. At one point, he talked about it to both Brian May of Queen and the Motor City Madman Ted Nugent at the same time, and both said they were on board. Having their endorsement and commitment to be involved helped not only land a record deal for the project, but also helped attract many of the other guitar players.
“I had Brian May and Ted Nugent and then I had the guys from King’s X [vocalist Dug Pinnick and guitarist Ty Tabor], who were pretty happening back in the 1990s. I felt if I used them for bait, I could bring in other guys. And that’s what I did. I know one of the very first people that we recorded was Yngwie Malmsteen. He heard who was going on the album from Kelly Keeling who was going to be the singer and was working with Yngwie on something. So Yngwie said he wanted in and I flew down to Florida and I got his solo. Then I gave Brian a choice of songs and the same with Ted. Once I got all three of those locked in, all the other guitar players that I called were like, ‘who else have you got on it,’ And I said, ‘well, I’ve for Brian and Ted and Yngwie.’ And they would say, ‘oh well, okay, I’d love to do it.’ It’s sort of like a domino effect,” Appice explained, adding that in many instances, like that with Malmsteen he would go to the guitarist’s favourite studio to record their parts, or in some cases drop off early generation digital recordings (in the days before internet file sharing).
The entire roster of guitar players and other guests featured on the new two-LP, two-CD version of Carmine Appice’s Guitar Zeus is as follows: Bumblefoot, Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), Brian May, Slash, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum (Europe), Vivian Campbell (Dio, Whitesnake, Def Leppard), Mick Mars, Edgar Winter, Zakk Wylde, Ted Nugent, Pat Travers, Char (Japanese guitarist), Jennifer Batten (guitarist for Michael Jackson), Dweezil Zappa, Ty Tabor, Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big), Stevie Salas, Warren DeMartini (Ratt), Doug Aldrich (Dio, Whitesnake, Dead Daisies), Kenji Kitajima (Japanese guitar whiz), Elliott Easton (The Cars), Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne), Seymour Duncan, Steven Seagal (actor/musician), Denny Laine (The Moody Blues, Wings), Leslie West (Mountain), RaiZi (Japanese guitar player) and Bruce Kulick (Kiss, Grand Funk Railroad).
One of the attractions of the album for even folks who are not aficionados of the six string are just simply great songs and great performances, and in some cases, one-of-a-kind performances from some of the guitar legends.
“Listen, drummers are going to love this album, bass players are going to love this album with Tony Franklin on it, and people who just want to hear good songs and good rock and roll singing, they are going to love this record because it’s got all those elements. And then you have some really interesting stuff, like Mick Mars for instance. When I approached Mick to see if he wanted to do it, I asked if he could play slide guitar and he said yes, and I suggested he play slide on the track. He wanted to be on a track with Edgar Winter because he loved Edgar and I said no problem.” Appice explained.
“I told him I thought it would be pretty special if he did a slide solo, because he was not known for doing slide work in Motley Crue. And he said he thought it was a great idea and that’s what we did. So, Mick’s solo is on the track Under the Moon and Sun, which was a real spiritual track. To have the combination of Edgar Winter and Mick Mars is a pretty weird but awesome combination right there.”
“And the same thing with Brian May. He gave me two solos for the song we chose. One was a regular Brian May solo and the second was Brian May playing with a wah-wah pedal, which I don’t ever remember hearing on any Queen songs. I thought it would be more unique to have a wah-wah solo from Brian May on this track instead of a regular guitar solo. And it turned out to be a great solo.”
As well as new packaging and a thorough remastering of the tracks from the two existing Guitar Zeus albums, five new songs were added to the package, with new parts added. Three songs from the Japanese-only version were added, while there is also a bluesy, gritty, slowed-down version of the Rod Stewart hit Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, which Appice co-wrote and played on, which Appice did vocals for with guitar work from Travers.
“There’s one called Nothing with John Norum that was only released in Japan and nowhere else. And then there’s a brand new one called Mothers Space. Because I am getting ready to move, I am going through stuff and found this 24-track here in my house and didn’t know what it was at first. It said Mothers Space and I kind of remembered the title and I remembered it being a cool song,” Appice said.
“I took it into a place and had it converted to ProTools and then they made me an Mp3 so I could hear what it was and it’s a cool song. I decided to finish the track because basically we had the vocals and the rhythm track, we didn’t have any solos. So, I asked Bumblefoot if he would play on it and he said he’d love to. I sent it to him, and he did his solo and some added rhythm parts. When I got it back, I needed more and he was really busy with Sons of Apollo, so I got my mixer, a guy we call Stevie D [Steven DeAcutis, who mixed and remastered all the music for the project] and asked him to put in some riffs and fills at the end of the song. What we did was we put him right and left in the stereo mix and then when Bumblefoot’s part comes in again, it comes right down the middle.”
Besides doing promo for the release of the Guitar Zeus album, Appice continues to tour with a couple of the bands he helped popularize during his formative years as a musician: Vanilla Fudge and Cactus. The former has been playing gigs and recording sporadically for the last 20 years, with its most recent album Spirit of ’67 coming out in 2015. Cactus formed after Vanilla Fudge broke up in 1969 and lasted for a few years until band members Appice and Tim Bogert left to join up with Jeff Beck for the Beck, Bogert and Appice project in 1973. The band reformed in 2006 and put out the album Black Dawn in 2016.
Appice has also played some shows with a version of his 1980s creation, King Kobra, and a dozen or shows a year with another 1960s heritage act, The Rascals. Another of his popular 1980s bands, Blue Murder (which also featured Tony Franklin and former Whitesnake guitarist John Sykes) was rumoured to be getting back together at times over the last 20 years, but never did.
“I have been trying to put Blue Murder back together since the year 2000. I had big money offers and John never wanted to do it when he was in Thin Lizzy and then he quit Thin Lizzy about 10 years ago and we still can’t get it going. We had a manager and everything, and we were starting to book gigs and it was the same manager that Thin Lizzy had, and then John had a falling out with the manager, so that was the end of that. We could never get it up and going again,” Appice said, the frustration evident in his voice.
“The last time we talked, we thought we were going to get it together and then John threw something into it that me and Tony didn’t agree with so, I said well, if we’re going to do it that way, then I don’t want to do it. It never went any further.”
Appice said he also is working on developing a public motivational speaking show where he can talk about the lessons he has learned after more than five decades in the music industry, along with an audio-visual component where he might also play a bit of drums.
What is evident is that even though he turned 72 in December, Appice has not lost any of his passion for life, for music and continues to play, write and record, to the acclaim of generations of fans worldwide.
For more information on all of Appice’s various projects, visit www.CarmineAppice.net.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
SHARE THIS POST:
