By Jim Barber
Already a legend within the annals of rock music, with lots of of album credit, tens of millions upon tens of millions of information offered and legendary performances alongside the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, and an affect on succeeding generations of percussionists, Carmine Appice reveals no indicators of slowing down, whilst he enjoys his eighth decade on the planet.
A co-founder of two of crucial, creatively distinctive and influential rock bands of the late Sixties and early Eighties, Vanilla Fudge and Cactus, Appice solid his mark in stone on the music panorama together with his innovation, his energy, his dynamism and his can’t miss efficiency stagecraft. For greater than 50 years, he has been name-checked alongside fellow drummers with the final names of Moon, Bonham, Baker and Starr as probably the most vital and gifted to ever sit behind a equipment and bash away.
With an unabashed affinity for collaboration, and a want to strive new kinds, new sounds, new approaches, Appice has been a continuing presence within the pop, rock and metallic neighborhood, by means of his time serving to craft the legendary disco hit, ‘Do Ya Suppose I’m Horny’ for Rod the Mod, to swapping chops with Tim Bogert and Jeff Beck in Beck, Bogert & Appice, his iconic however very quick run with Ozzy in the course of the Bark on the Moon period, to forming the grossly underrated Eighties hair metallic band King Kobra, to his partnership with Tony Franklin and the late nice former Skinny Lizzy and Whitesnake guitarist/songwriter John Sykes within the sensible and bombastic Blue Homicide within the late Eighties, and on to his self-produced Guitar Zeus undertaking [see article here**], there may be undoubtedly no off swap. Whew! That’s a heckuva listing!
Within the early years of this new millennium, understanding that there was not solely nonetheless an viewers for his early work, however a complete new crop of followers looking for some soulfulness, some prodigiousness, some impressed musical wizardry on their ‘playlists,’ Appice revived each Vanilla Fudge and Cactus, every releasing new music in addition to re-releasing earlier recordings.
Since signing with Cleopatra Information across the time of the pandemic, Cactus has launched two new studio albums, Tightrope in 2021, and Temple Of Blues: Influences and Buddies. Now, the band, has launched Temple of Blues II, following on an identical components, and with equally compelling impact.
The thought to observe up the primary Temple of Blues report, using the present lineup of Cactus – Appice, vocalist Ed Terry, guitarist Artie Dillon and bassist James Caputo – joined by a pantheon of traditional rock icons, got here from Cleopatra Information proprietor Brian Perera.
“It was his thought to do these information within the first place. After we had been speaking about different stuff he advised possibly we do one other Cactus Temple of Blues report and I mentioned yeah, let’s do it. At first I didn’t know what we might do, so I began wanting by means of the Cactus catalogue and I discovered three songs that I believed worthy of re-recording and being on it, and for the remainder of them, as a result of I actually wished it to be famous as a blues album, I intentionally picked some actual old style blues [most of them composed by Willie Dixon]. So the album that ‘Evil’ got here off, from the primary Temple of Blues album, was [the 1969 compilation] The Howlin’ Wolf Album, and I cherished that album so I mentioned, ‘ what’ let me take a look at that album. So I did, and located eight songs from that album, they usually’re all actual blues – Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon – and I mentioned let’s simply modernize them and do what we did with ‘Evil’ with these different songs. And that’s what we did, as a result of that album has so many cool songs and funky variations of the older recordings and such good drum grooves that aren’t an unusual drum groove. This man Morris Jennings was sensible and I don’t know in the event that they advised him to play the drums like that, however he simply got here up with the groove on “Evil’ which is nice, and he got here up with all these totally different sorts of grooves on the album. I took the identical fundamental factor that he was doing and modernized the sound and made the groove sound a bit extra like proper now, after which I matched the gamers to the music who I believed would match the groove,” Appice defined, noting that not solely was he deciding on the songs and enjoying drums, however he was additionally the arranger and producer of the Temple of Blues albums.
“I produced this one and the final one and I did it like I did with the Guitar Zeus albums again within the day, I produced that as properly. I’m probably not often called a producer, , however I can produce clearly. For this undertaking it’s a little bit of a nightmare, nevertheless it’s a pleasant nightmare to have so many individuals and so many transferring elements. It’s plenty of spreadsheets, with plenty of entries of the names of the blokes you’re gonna name. Then you definately’ve obtained the following spreadsheet of the blokes who can’t make it, you then obtained the blokes and the songs they go along with. With our model of ‘Spoonful,’ [most recognizable of which was recorded by Cream in 1967] I considered matching Bob Daisley [former Ozzy bassist] and Ted Nugent and thought that will work. First I’d do Ted’s half after which I’d ship it to Bob as a result of I do know Bob can play together with something, and Ted all the time adjustments stuff a bit. Like, he did a extremely good, and completely Ted groove on the music which wasn’t there earlier than. That’s the cool stuff that surprises me and makes the method a lot enjoyable.
The second single from Temple of Blues II is a raunchy cowl of the traditional Willie Dixon penned blues tune ‘The Little Pink Rooster,’ recorded first by Howlin’ Wolf and later to standard acclaim by The Rolling Stones. It, like the opposite tracks on the album, options some noteworthy visitor artists, together with what may probably be the final ever vocal efficiency of the now-retired former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, together with the caustically uncooked guitar work of L.A. Weapons founder, Tracii Weapons.
“Cactus! The identify conjures such wonderful recollections for me. An inspiration for the rock I’d play within the years to return. Are you able to think about what it was prefer to ‘get the decision’ that your heroes need you to rock with them? Thoughts blowing! And now to be requested for a second time!? What a deal with to dig right into a blues traditional like ‘The Little Pink Rooster’ with Cactus! Hell yeah!” Snider, who guested on the primary Temple of Blues album two years in the past, mentioned in a press launch to announce the only and video.
The primary single from the album was an incendiary cowl of one other iconic Dixon composition, ‘Again Door Man,’ which featured Cactus vocalist Ed Terry singing his coronary heart out, accompanied by his bandmates in addition to company Billy Sheehan on bass and the guitar virtuosity of Eric Gales.
The observe up single to ‘The Little Pink Rooster’ got here in April with the discharge of a powerhouse model of ‘Dangerous Stuff,’ initially from the 1972 Cactus launch Ot and Sweaty. It incorporates a veritable all-star band roster, headlined by former Deep Purple and Rainbow frontman Joe Lynn Turner, alongside former Dixie Dregs, Kansas and Deep Purple axe slinger, Steve Morse, in addition to prog-rock keyboard legend Derek Sherinian. Holding down the rhythmic fort is Appice himself and longtime collaborator and pal Tony Franklin on bass (The Agency, Blue Homicide).
“When Carmine requested me to contribute a vocal to the brand new Cactus album the primary query was ‘what music?’ He mentioned a bluesy rock music referred to as ‘Dangerous Stuff’ that will be good for me. And after I heard concerning the wonderful lineup of Steve Morse, Tony Franklin, Derek Sherinian, and, in fact, Carmine, I used to be utterly offered! The result’s a low-down soiled blues monitor that strikes and grooves with an attractive voodoo swagger. I’m very proud to play an element on this killer album,” Turner mentioned in a press launch.
Franklin, in fact, whose nickname is ‘The Fretless Monster’ was one of many members of the triumvirate that comprised Blue Homicide, alongside Sykes. It was a legendary conglomeration of expertise that by no means hit its stride. One of many nice ‘what if’ questions amongst followers of traditional rock of a sure age, those that had been impacted by the laborious rock and metallic of the Eighties and into the early Nineties, has been whether or not this former supergroup would ever be reconstituted in its most profitable and musically impactful type. The band’s 1989 self-titled debut album was a bona fide hit, with the singles/movies for the songs ‘Jelly Roll’ and “Valley of the King’ receiving boatloads of airplay.
For numerous causes, a follow-up album was not issued till 1993, and by that point Appice and Franklin had departed the undertaking, and the album was not commercially viable, due largely to the onset of Grunge and various rock, as practiced by the likes of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana.
Sykes, who spent 15 years as a part of a reconfigured model of Skinny Lizzy from 1994 to 2009, sadly died just a few days earlier than Christmas in 2024, would by no means decide to a reunion, despite the fact that discussions had been had on quite a few events. Based on Appice, a lot of the hesitation got here from the way in which Sykes wished the band to be structured and marketed.
“We rehearsed at John’s home and we had been going to do it, and we had dates booked. John was with Lizzy and the supervisor that they had, he left to do the brand new Blue Homicide factor and he booked some dates after which him and John had a battle or one thing so the dates had been blown out, and that was the tip of it for some time and I went off and did different issues. We had been nonetheless jamming over at his place, and one of many final issues I keep in mind in my conversations with John at the moment was he wished it to be John Sykes and Blue Homicide, and I wished us to simply do it as Blue Homicide. I mentioned, ‘let’s simply name in Blue Homicide and exit and do Blue Homicide.’ I advised him he may do his John Sykes stuff any time. He wished to exit beneath his identify, as a result of he had the reference to Whitesnake and Skinny Lizzy. I advised him, ‘man I obtained simply as large bands as you’ve gotten in your background, possibly larger, and Tony has too.’ Let’s simply do Blue Homicide. Then we sort of let it lie, and the following time I noticed him was on the NAMM present in 2020 simply earlier than Covid, and he was there and launched me to this little German drummer child who was all gaga at assembly me, and John mentioned, ‘yeah, we’re going to exit and do some tour like I wished after which after that we’ll do Blue Homicide.’ I mentioned okay, which was superb as a result of I used to be doing stuff with Vanilla Fudge and Cactus. However that was the final time I bodily noticed him, though we’d speak on the cellphone every so often. Within the final yr of his life it was laborious to get by means of to him and I lastly despatched him a textual content and I mentioned, ‘dude, are you okay? You’re not answering the cellphone.’ Then he lastly texted me again and mentioned he was superb, after which the following factor I do know, he’s gone,” Appice mentioned, as he talked extra concerning the legacy of Blue Homicide and the way curiosity within the band hasn’t appear to waver over the past 37 years, despite the fact that the traditional three-piece lineup solely did the one report.
“We performed with Bon Jovi for eight reveals and we had been jamming after which all of the little ladies, they cherished it. We had been a reasonably good wanting band and had nice music. Initially John mentioned he wasn’t meant to sing, however we couldn’t discover a singer [the very first lineup of Blue Murder featured another legend behind the drum kit, Cozy Powell, with the late Ray Gillen on vocals. Gillen was briefly in Black Sabbath and would come to the fore a couple years later fronting another supergroup, Badlands, with former Ozzy axeman Jake E. Lee and future Kiss drummer Eric Singer.] Me and Tony mentioned, ‘hey, look, you bought the report deal on the energy of your personal voice on the demos, simply sing it and we’ll be like Cream, a 3 piece,’ though we additionally had a keyboard participant [Nik Green] out on the highway. But it surely all got here collectively, and that album was nice, actually nice. I’d have wager you my home that was going to go platinum or double platinum, and the following information would have been even higher. I believe we had one thing, however then one thing on the enterprise aspect, and different stuff occurred, so finally me and Tony give up and John finally did a second Blue Homicide report.
“He was attempting to do it with different folks, nevertheless it didn’t work, so John referred to as me and Tony and we went again to it as session guys and did many of the second Blue Homicide report [Nothin’ But Trouble]. He had a few tracks on bass by Marco Mendoza, and there was one other drummer on a few songs too [Tommy O’Steen], however the tracks that me and Tony did had been like magic as quickly as all of us performed collectively. There’s undoubtedly magic there. It was magic from the beginning. I keep in mind after Ray Gillen and Cozy left, I went to England when my brother was enjoying with Dio and I discovered the place John and Tony had been and I went and performed with them, and it simply clicked. Now, I used to be speaking with my label not too long ago and I mentioned, ‘have you learnt what? I haven’t talked to Tony about this, however we should always do what we do with Cactus with Blue Homicide, proper?’ As a result of, yeah, all people loves Blue Homicide. I nonetheless signal Blue Homicide information everywhere. I believe it might be potential. It will be a tribute to Blue Homicide, we simply want to seek out somebody to do the guitars and vocals. So, we’ll see.”
One other considered one of his former collaborators additionally handed away in current months, the legendary Black Sabbath frontman, and heavy metallic stalwart, Ozzy Osbourne. Whereas Ozzy’s then drummer Tommy Aldridge, who performed on the primary two studio albums alongside the late Randy Rhoads, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, recorded elements for the songs on Bark on the Moon (launched in 1983, and that includes Rhoads’ alternative, Jake E. Lee), he was changed by Appice for a short while, together with for the capturing of the now iconic video for the title monitor (the one the place Ozzy transforms right into a werewolf), however Aldridge then got here again mid-tour throughout some acrimony between Appice and Ozzy’s spouse/supervisor, Sharon.
The rationale why Appice was chosen within the first place was as a result of there had been earlier interactions between he and Ozzy going again to the early Nineteen Seventies.
“My relationship with Ozzy goes manner again, manner earlier than I performed with him. Consider it or not, Black Sabbath performed their first tour in America with Cactus and the opening act for a present we did in New Jersey [in November 1970] was referred to as Metal Mill and that was Bruce Springsteen’s band. We obtained alongside nice at the moment, they usually referred to as me, I didn’t name them. They referred to as me to return be a part of Ozzy’s band and though Tommy did the drums on the report, they requested me to return in and get a greater drum sound and end the album. I do keep in mind Sharon sort of left Ozzy in my care for 3 weeks in New York Metropolis, and it was fairly wild as a result of it wasn’t all the time secure there at the moment, and he was strolling round with large diamond rings on and all the pieces. We’d stroll to the studio [The Power Station, where the mixing of Bark at the Moon was happening] which was near the resort, and Tony Bongiovi [cousin of Jon Bon Jovi] was the engineer, and I labored with him with Vanilla Fudge, so I knew him and we form of revamped the drums there and I additionally helped rework all of the vocals with Ozzy and Tony and was imagined to have an affiliate producer credit score on the report and get a bonus each time the report went gold, however that by no means occurred,” Appice mentioned.
“So Tony and I fastened all of the drums after which me and Ozzy flew the Concorde to England to do the video for ‘Bark on the Moon,’ and we obtained alongside nice the entire time. After we toured America for the album, I did a drum grasp class in each market we performed. I had my very own t-shirts for that too, however Sharon saved attempting to screw up various things for some motive, not letting me promote the shirts and never letting me speak to the press. However, , it’s a protracted, lengthy, very long time in the past, so it’s cool. However she fired me and mentioned, ‘it is advisable begin your personal band.’ So I began King Kobra and I obtained large report offers after which later did Blue Homicide. I haven’t talked to her since that 1984 day.”
It was additionally famous within the dialog that in addition to Sykes and Osbourne, former King Kobra frontperson Mark (later Marcee) Free had additionally died not too long ago (October, 2025) as had one other collaborator, Rick Derringer, who died in Might, 2025, with Appice saying he actually talked to the well-respected and beloved guitarist/songwriter [The McCoys, Edgar Winter Band] the night time earlier than his passing, whereas he was recovering from a medical episode introduced on by earlier bypass surgical procedure.
The truth that so lots of his mates, former musical compadres and contemporaries are leaving this mortal coil isn’t misplaced on the drummer. Appice is satisfied that staying as busy as potential, particularly busy doing one thing you’re keen on, is the important thing to a protracted life. And he is aware of of what he speaks, as on Dec. 15 he’ll flip 80.
“My spouse [Leslie Gold, aka The Radio Chick] was an enormous radio speak present host in New York Metropolis for a few years and he or she did a daily bit referred to as ‘Life Story’ and he or she talked to people who find themselves like 104, 100, 101 and what all of them form of mentioned that the key to life was function. So I consider function has so much to do with it. We reside in Florida more often than not and individuals are all the time asking if I play golf. I play drums, proper, and I like doing it and I’m going to play till I can’t do it no extra, and I suppose that’s the rationale why. And it’s additionally necessary doing new issues, and being inventive,” he mentioned.
“My father advised me when he was, like, 77 yr outdated, he mentioned, ‘, my mind appears like I’m 18, however my physique don’t.’ I do know I’m not as quick as I was. I imply, I used to be actually a freaking animal on the equipment after I was in my 20s, 30s and 40s, proper up till possibly the final 5 years after I slowed down my pace on the drums so much, however I realized to do different issues to make up for it.”
For extra info on Appice, Cactus and all his numerous actions, go to https://carmineappice.internet, or https://cactusrocks.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and writer based mostly in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. In addition to his journalistic endeavours, he works as a communications and advertising specialist and is an avid volunteer in his neighborhood. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
