TWENTY QUESTIONS WITH LEGENDARY DRUMMER CARMINE APPICE Sex, drugs and rock and roll? Appice covers all bases and then some in this hearty Metal Sludge exclusive

 

TWENTY QUESTIONS WITH LEGENDARY DRUMMER CARMINE APPICE
Sex, drugs and rock and roll? Appice covers all bases and then some in this hearty Metal Sludge exclusive
By Gerry Gittelson
Metal Sludge Editor at Large

 

LOS ANGELES — There is something to be said for being one of the forefathers of rock.

At 67, legendary drummer Carmine Appice can speak his mind and does not have to worry about a damn thing. A founding member of innovative psychedelic-rock pioneers Vanilla Fudge, Appice parlayed his early success into an amazing career that has included stints with Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, Ozzy Osbourne, Rick Derringer, Paul Stanley, Ted Nugent, Edgar Winter, Blue Murder, Pat Travers, Sly Stone, Pink Floyd and others.

Appice has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, so he is about as big as you can be if you happen to be a drummer. Nevertheless, the mustachioed New Yorker was more than willing to make time for this Metal Sludge exclusive. In fact, it seems Appice rather enjoys himself with our old-school, 20-questions-style query, and he certainly pulls no punches.

 

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Carmine and brother Vinny Appice

 

METAL SLUDGE: I guess we should start at the beginning. Your first band, Vanilla Fudge, that was such a great name. Did you realize at first how good a name that was?

CARMINE APPICE: It was actually sometimes called Vanilla Sludge, which is funny ‘cause that should ring a bell with you guys.

SLUDGE: Seriously?

Yeah, it’s true because we always did the slow-down thing, very sludgy, so sometimes they call it Vanilla Sludge.

SLUDGE: Did your mom, did she keep on telling you to get a real job?

Yup. They wanted me to have a second job as an electrician. This is when I was going to high school in Brooklyn, but I didn’t like it, so I switched to music school.  But I always made money. When I was 17, I bought myself a ’64 Chevy from the money I made from playing drums.

SLUDGE: You were always into cars. A long time, do you remember doing a story for Kit Car magazine? We took pictures of your car at Northridge Park. That was me.

Oh yeah, I do remember that. That was you? Wow. I remember that.

SLUDGE: You’ve got a new project now, a new album called “Drum Wars,” right? On Cleopatra?

Yeah, it’s on my own label, Rocker Records, distributed by Cleopatra with my brother Vinny, who played with Black Sabbath and has kind of followed in my footsteps. In ’88, we did a clinic tour, kind of drum battle, and it was great. Then, eventually we did some videos and some CDs, added some stuff, did some shows, and the whole thing kind of developed with a little comedy thrown in, a 90-minute show. And that’s what this is in 2014, from two shows we recorded.

SLUDGE: Going back, I’ve got to ask you about Rod Stewart. You were the drummer when he was really breaking out, really huge. You were playing arena shows, and nearly the whole crowd was young girls. Was there a spillover effect with the groupies? Did the rhythm section, the drummer and the bass player, did you guys get your share?

Oh yeah, of course. It was a lot of fun. We used to have contests to see who could do the most girls. It was amazing. I mean, there’s nothing like doing a show for 20,000 people, and looking out and it’s 90 percent women, doing six nights at the Forum like that.

SLUDGE: Why did you leave when the band was its height? You were replaced by Tony Brock from The Babys.

It was just time.

SLUDGE: Did you leave voluntarily or were you dismissed?

It was kind of mutual. Rod Stewart was a doing a bunch of cocaine back then, he and the other band members, and I was never into that. I never got into cocaine and pub drinking.

SLUDGE: Tony Brock does enjoy drinking.

Of course he does. He’s English. They all love to drink. What actually happened was, there was a rumor going around while I was with Rod Stewart that I was going to join Led Zeppelin, and Rod brought that up. He was like, “Why don’t you go ahead and join them because we’re going to get Tony Brock,” and plus the music was getting kind of wimpy, and plus he blew me out as co-producer of the album “Young Turks” was on, which I co-wrote, and he ended up doing a drum machine on there, really wimpy.

SLUDGE: Well, the band was still really big. With Tony Brock, they did three nights at the Forum.

Yeah, but not as big as when I was in it ‘cause like I said, we did six nights.

We were working I remember on that album “Passion,” and Ted Nugent bumped into me and said, “When are you going to be done playing that wimpy stuff and give me a call and play some real man’s rock and roll?” That stuck in my head a little bit, and I eventually joined Ted Nugent for an album and a tour, and it was really fun.

SLUDGE: OK, are you ready for some Sludge-type questions?

Yeah, go ahead.

SLUDGE: What was the biggest music-related check you ever received, and what did you do with the money?

Well, probably a quarter-million dollars, like $250,000. I spend it on cars, bought a house – not all of it on the house – and bought a truck to haul my drums around. I just used the money to pay roadies and for people to go on the road, so that way, I never had to worry about money. I could just go out and play, especially when I got a bunch of checks like that, not just one. I was also a spokesperson for Mattel and got a big check similar to that same amount.

SLUDGE: Of all the bands and artists you worked with, who treated you the best, and who treated you like shit?

Well, the best was definitely Rod Stewart, actually.  He was just a really cool guy. We were a real band, and we all got a percentage of the tours. Whenever we did records, all our pictures were on the records, and we were treated as a group. He would go out with all of us.

The worst was Sharon Osbourne. She fired me off a tour. Said my name was too big. I was doing a lot of my own press, but that was in my contract with them. After a great show in Houston one night, she called me in and said: “You’re leaving, and we’re bringing in Tommy Aldridge. You’re too big. You should start your own band.” That was definitely the worst treatment.

SLUDGE: Gene Simmons from KISS says rock and roll is dead. What do you think?

Well, I sort of agree, what he was saying was, new rock is dead, and that’s true because it’s really hard to break a new rock band today. But AC/DC is certainly not dead. They’re dead in album sales compared to what they used to be, from selling five to ten million to maybe selling a million now. KISS? They’re lucky to sell a half-million, just like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi. Whitesnake sold like 20 million of that one album in 1987, and now they sold like 150,000. So it’s been documented, the difference. Today, if you want to sell records, you have to have a girl up there in Victoria Secret lingerie, and that way, you have a good chance of making it.

SLUDGE: It used to work for Rod Stewart.

(laughs). Yeah, it’s just gotten crazy. There’s just no way to expose new rock music like there used to be, and that’s what I think Gene Simmons was talking about. We did this project called Rated X, and if it was in the 80s, it would have been all over rock radio stations.  But there are no more radio stations, and the internet, it’s so unfocused. Radio still rules, but even Paul McCartney, he can put out a record, and nobody hears it, so what does that tell you? The rock stations, they play the same 300 songs on classic rock, and nothing new. Then there is alternative radio, and I don’t even know what that is. There are a million stations, but it’s pop and rap. So yeah, I understand what Gene was saying. In a way, rock IS dead.

 

SLUDGE: OK, I’m going to name some cities, and you give me a little comment or special memory about each city, OK?

Yeah, OK.

SLUDGE: Las Vegas

We recorded two albums with King Kobra in Las Vegas. I remember going backstage one time to hang out with Carrot Top, and he ended up eventually jumping on stage and playing with us in a video. He’s a drummer, too.

SLUDGE: London.

I remember meeting Paul McCartney backstage after a Rod Stewart show. I had always heard this rumor that George Harrison used to take our Vanilla Fudge album to parties all over London. Paul actually confirmed it for me.

SLUDGE: New York City.

That’s where I mostly hang out now. I remember in 2003 meeting my girlfriend, Leslie Gold, on a radio show. She was considered the female Howard Stern, and I had kept on asking her to be on the show, but she kept saying my name wasn’t big enough. I was like, “Hey, I’m a rock star.” Finally, she put me on at 7 a.m., and it was a big success, and then we started becoming an item.

SLUDGE: Los Angeles.

Oh, forget about it. I remember going to a party with Rod Stewart and his wife, Alana, and we met Gregory Peck and said hello. He said that Fred Astaire had seen my drum solo and had said I was the best thing since Gene Krupa, who was this big drummer in the 30s.

SLUDGE: San Francisco.

When I was with Vanilla Fudge, our manager was connected to the New York mafia, like the one with Henry Hill in “Good Fellas,” put you in the trunk of a car. We wanted to use our own lights, and our manager and Bill Graham almost got into a fist fight over these lights.

SLUDGE: Detroit.

I slept in Ted Nugent’s guest room one night, and it was like his trophy room with all these dead animals. I woke up at 3 a.m., and it scared the hell out of me, the shadows. I was like, “Where am I?” It was scary as hell. When we woke up the next morning, we went out to his backyard with this big dirt hill, and we shot machine guns. It was fun.

SLUDGE: OK, rate the following drummers, one through ten. One for a total hack, and ten for a drum god.

OK.

SLUDGE: John Bonham.

He’s definitely a ten. Great drum sound a la Jimmy Page productions.

SLUDGE: Keith Moon.

I’d say about a nine. Very unique.  A great drummer, but not really studied. Very unorthodox.

SLUDGE: Alex Van Halen.

I’d give him about an eight. Very good drummer, good sound, but again, unschooled technically. He had a great feel and a great drum sound.

SLUDGE: Neil Peart.

I’d have to give him a nine. Technically, he’s a really good drummer in my eyes, but I wish he would be a little more soulful. John Bonham was more soulful. But Neil, he has speed, and the great thing about him is he can play the same thing, note for note, the same way every night. I can’t do that.

SLUDGE: Krigger.

Krigger about a four. He is not a very technical drummer. He is just OK. Nice guy, though. But Krigger, he did play with my brother, Vinny, with Hollywood Allstarz, so you know what? Let’s give him a five, but he’s definitely not quite a drum god.

SLUDGE: Rikki Rockett.

Normally, I would give him a two, but actually he has improved a hell of a lot, so I guess now I would give him a five.

SLUDGE: Tommy Lee

I give Tommy Lee like an eight. He is a tremendous showman, not very technical but definitely a drum god. He has a good sound and a great groove.

SLUDGE: What’s the biggest crowd you ever played in front of?

It was 600,000 people in 1971, the Isle of Wight festival in the UK with Hendrix and the Who and all the big acts of the day. I remember we hung out an extra day to see Hendrix and to hang out with him.

SLUDGE: Yeah? What was Jimi like? Did you enjoy his company?

He was very introverted, kind of a shy kind of guy.

SLUDGE: I know you’ve been in a lot of big bands, and you’ve been around a long time, but have you had your struggles just like a lot of other musicians?

Oh, always. In the 90s, it felt like I was starting all over again. Before that, when Vanilla Fudge broke up, I had to start from scratch. When I left Jeff Beck, I had to start from scratch. Same thing with Rod Stewart, Ted Nugent, Ozzy. With Blue Murder, I started from scratch. I mean, my hard times might not be like other peoples’ hard times, but there were times when there weren’t a lot of gigs, so I had to think of other ways to make money. At one point, I had to sell some of my publishing rights to pay bills. When I joined Edgar Winter’s band, I was getting a lot less money than what I was used to.

I have an accountant, and one day he called and said: “Hey, you ran out of money. What are you going to do?” So I borrowed $8,000 from a company I own with my sister and older brother to pay bills, and I put out some instructional videos with my brother. It’s never easy, but I always had assets. I could have sold some of my cars. I had a piece of property in Vegas, stuff like that. I’ve always been business-minded. My gangster manager from New York, he always gave me good advice. He said to buy real estate and to use the bank’s money whenever I could.

SLUDGE: What did you think of this crazy news about Phil Rudd?

It was shocking, especially the attempted murder part.

SLUDGE: Contract murder.

Yeah, how crazy is that? Did he really do that? That blew me away, but who knows? Maybe there will be a job opening in AC/DC for me.

SLUDGE: What are your thoughts on what’s been going in Ferguson, Mo., and now in New York City?

I don’t have any problems with the police like that. Obviously people have problems with them, but a lot of them have (criminal) records already or are prone to having problems with the police. The guy in New York City, he shouldn’t have used that chokehold, but if the guy didn’t resist, the cop wouldn’t have had to use the chokehold. The black community, they’ve started revolting and destroying their own neighborhoods, and that’s ridiculous. Even the black leaders say so. They shouldn’t be going into their own neighborhoods and burning and looting their own peoples’ stores. That’s so ridiculous. They’re not going to get anything done by doing that. It’s crazy. I mean, that’s the way the ball bounces. Sometimes accidents happen.

SLUDGE: Your brother was the last drummer to play with John Lennon, the last concert Lennon ever played before he died.

Yeah, wasn’t that crazy? He played the last gig with Ronnie James Dio before he died, too.

SLUDGE: Who was your favorite Beatle?

I’ve met all of them of them. My favorite is probably Paul. He’s still doing great stuff, playing in front of 70,000 at Shea Stadium, doing Beatles songs and the crowd is just going berserk. That’s what he does. He’s amazing. I thought John Lennon was pretty amazing, too, but it’s been a long time since he’s been gone. He was very political, and I’m not that politically oriented. Yoko kind of ran his life at the end, and that was a little much. Now, whenever a wife or girlfriend gets too involved, it’s called the Yoko syndrome.

SLUDGE: Did you like Guns N’ Roses?

I liked the original band. I really liked that first album. I loved it. Now, Guns N’ Roses is just Axl’s trip. I don’t understand how he ended up with the name.

SLUDGE: OK, who is the last celebrity you should hands with?

I don’t know I’d have to think about it. I guess it was AC/DC. Brian Johnson and Angus.

SLUDGE: Last fast food you ate?

In China, I went to Fatburger. That was about a month ago. I’m kind of vegetarian except that I eat hamburgers, but I don’t eat chicken or fish or any of that stuff.

SLUDGE: Are you on a health kick?

No, I’m just Italian. Lot of veggies, pasta, eggplant parmesan. That kind of stuff.

SLUDGE: Last concert you paid to see?

I guess it was a Broadway show, this Motown show.

SLUDGE: When is the last time you carried and set up your own drums?

Well, last Saturday in Long Island I did a clinic and sort of set them up. They were set up for me, but not quite the way I like it. You do that at clinics — but I don’t carry drum sets.

SLUDGE: When is the last time you did drugs on a private jet?

OK, that would be in 1982 in upstate California with some of the guys from Vanilla Fudge. They paid us for a show with a big bag of Humboldt County purple weed, and we flew back in a Lear jet.

SLUDGE: When is the last time a really hot chick flashed her tits?

2011 in the UK.

SLUDGE: When is the last time you signed an autograph?

Oh god, a couple of days ago.

SLUDGE: Last time you drank so much that you regretted it?

That’s been a long time. With Edgar Winter one night, I drank so much Jagermeister that I had a hangover for two days. I said, “You know what? I’m never doing this again.” And I haven’t.

SLUDGE: Last time you stole hotel towels?

It’s been a while.

SLUDGE: Last time you wore leopard skin tights like Rod Stewart?

(laughs) I haven’t worn leopard skin in a while, but I do have these tight, elastic jeans that are funky looking.

SLUDGE: Last time you drove 100 mph?

That was two weeks ago in my Jaguar XKR. It’s super-charged, and when I did that, I sucked the gaskets into the manifold, which were a little dry. It’s an older model, 2000, and when I did that, the intake manifold, it was running like crap, so I had to get the car fixed.

SLUDGE: Last question. What about the last time you shaved your moustache?

That would be 2001. I had nose surgery, so I had to shave it. I was like, oh my god, I look just like Vinny, so I grew it back quick.

Gerry Gittelson can be reached at gspot@metalsludge.tv

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