- 7 weeks ago
Iconic drummer Carmine Appice has lived the kind of life most musicians only dream about. Sitting down with Joann Butler on J oann Butler In Studio With... , he shared stories spanning six decades of rock history--from his groundbreaking work with Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, and Beck, Bogert & Appice to co-writing Rod Stewart classics 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?' and 'Young Turks'--while crossing paths with everyone from Prince and Ozzy Osbourne to John Bonham and John Lennon. The conversation was packed with unforgettable moments. Appice spoke about Ozzy Osbourne, calling him 'a good guy,' and recalled the surreal experience of discovering Prince in his own home, laughing, 'Prince was in my bed,' while describing him as shy offstage, but magnetic onstage. There's also a classic story about his younger brother, Vinny Appice. After working around John Lennon as a teenager and joining Rick Derringer's band, Vinny ended up touring with Aerosmith at just 16 years old. When a teacher woke him up in class and asked why he was tired, Vinny's response was priceless: "Is anyone else in the class working with John Lennon?" From Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, to Rod Stewart and Prince, Appice's stories are a masterclass in rock-and-roll history. He also shared updates on his current work, including Cactus' recently released Temple of the Blues II , and a new music video featuring Dee Snider, proving that more than six decades into his career, he's still making new music. This is a LifeMinute with Carmine Appice.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I came home unannounced, and Prince was in my bed.
00:04I knew Ozzy from when they first started,
00:06Cactus Play with Sabbaths.
00:07I loved Ozzy. Ozzy was a good guy.
00:09What would your current self tell your younger self?
00:12Never released a second Vanilla Fudge album.
00:15How come?
00:15Because it was horrible.
00:17But I went on to write Do You Think I'm Sexy in Young Turks?
00:20Number one in top five records.
00:22What's he like?
00:23He's a nice guy. Did you read my book?
00:26Rod wrote the intro.
00:27In the book, he says, you know, all the great things about me and stuff.
00:30And then he said, I fired Carmine knows why.
00:34Led Zeppelin opened up Vanilla Fudge.
00:36I got John Bonham his drums.
00:37God, you have everybody.
00:39It's my life.
00:40And it's Carmine to Peace, and you're watching Life Minute.
00:45Congratulations. The new album, Temple of the Blues 2.
00:48It sounds awesome.
00:49It sounds great. Did you see the video?
00:51The Little Red Rooster video? Yes, I did. It's excellent.
00:55Who produced that?
00:56Well, me and the engineer guy that edited it and everything, we directed it and put it together.
01:01It was really good.
01:02And it was my idea to start in the old blues area, you know.
01:07And then he said, I got a good idea to put me in a card.
01:10We wanted to put the rooster on the emblem, you know, on the edge, but he couldn't do it.
01:14So he said, what do you think?
01:16I said, ah, that looks great.
01:17And then when we finished it all, you know, he had this whole thing with the rooster.
01:22He said, man, I want to change the rooster into a beautiful redhead.
01:26I said, but it's a male, you know.
01:29Yeah.
01:30You're going to change a male into a female.
01:31Maybe a gender change.
01:32I was going to put gender change.
01:34But then I thought it might be too much bullshit with the altitude.
01:37I probably should have done it.
01:38I probably could have got some press, you know.
01:41But so we changed it to a beauty makeover.
01:44And then when it went in, I said, when it comes out and everything turns to color.
01:48Yeah, it's so cool.
01:50Yeah.
01:50And then when it was done, I said, I got to send it to D.
01:55Because that D is AI.
01:57He didn't drive in the car.
01:58Oh, you're kidding me.
02:00No, he didn't drive in the car.
02:02Oh, my God.
02:03And we didn't play in the South.
02:05Everybody played in their own houses.
02:08Amazing.
02:08It's pretty amazing.
02:09It really is.
02:10That was one thing I was going to ask you.
02:12I was going to say, you know, what do you think of music today?
02:16And with, you know, with all the technology, but there you go.
02:18In this case, it helped you out.
02:20It works.
02:22It works.
02:22I mean, as long as you use it right.
02:24You know, we recorded that whole album.
02:28Nobody was in the same room.
02:30And same with the last album.
02:32The last album.
02:32The only thing that was in the same room was,
02:34Ron Hayes sang and played guitar in the same room.
02:37The same time.
02:38The rest of the album, everything.
02:40You know, that's what you got to do today.
02:42You can't get people and fly.
02:44I did that with my, I had an album called Guitarsers in the early 90s.
02:49The 90s, right?
02:50I had all these great guitar players on it.
02:53You know?
02:54And I used to fly with them for my 24 track.
02:58You know?
02:58Yep.
02:59And it was a b****.
03:00Then it turned into D88, the little things.
03:02You know?
03:03Yep.
03:03Yep.
03:03And now you don't even have to go to room.
03:05You just stay at home.
03:07I know.
03:07All the drums were recorded right there.
03:08See those drums?
03:09Those are Cactus bass drums from 1971.
03:12Oh, my God.
03:13Really?
03:14So cool.
03:15Yep.
03:15And those are gold records and platinum records that nobody gets anymore.
03:19Oh, my God.
03:20I know.
03:20This one over here.
03:21That one there is the double album from Young Turks.
03:25Oh, my God.
03:25You know?
03:25We did the Young Turks on there.
03:27Yeah.
03:27And I got a different combination of drums and cymbals.
03:29But they sound great.
03:31You know?
03:31I do it myself.
03:32I'm the engineer.
03:33And then I send it to my co-producer, Pat Regan, who's just amazing at mixing.
03:38Uh-huh.
03:38And then he mixes it all.
03:40I love it.
03:40I love doing it.
03:41I walk through my garage.
03:43It used to be once I recorded something, if I go to a studio, I get, you know, two hours
03:47getting the sounds.
03:48And then I could punch in and fix things.
03:50But if I take it home, I say, oh, man, I should have done that.
03:54I have to go to the studio and redo the whole thing over here because it never moves.
03:59Those drums stay there.
04:01They never move.
04:02The AC and the humidity is on exactly the same.
04:05Uh-huh.
04:06And I can record something today.
04:08Next week, come back in and go, yeah, I want to fix that fill and come in and fix it.
04:12And it's unbelievable.
04:13How did you-
04:14I always wanted to do that.
04:15That's awesome.
04:16I'll see.
04:17So it's working for you.
04:18The old drum, the old way of doing it, the drummer's always doing the track, all the
04:22drums first.
04:23Right.
04:24Right.
04:24And then, like, take 15, you still ain't gotta forget it.
04:27It's gone by then.
04:28You know?
04:29If you're not catching the first two or three takes, forget it.
04:32But then everybody else comes in, they do the guitar, they over the guitar, they over
04:36the bass, they over the vocal.
04:38Nobody but the drums had to do anything from the beginning to the end.
04:41So 1982, I was determined to figure this out.
04:45And I did.
04:46And I've been recording like that since 1982.
04:49You've influenced so many people.
04:51How did you know that you wanted to do something different?
04:54Like, you know, you created this kind of different sound.
04:57I just did it.
04:58Janella Fudge, we were just doing what they were doing in New York.
05:01And we got the hit to keep hanging on.
05:04It was one take mono.
05:06Seven Minutes had changed my life.
05:08Everybody sang and played at the same time.
05:10We made a demo.
05:12Put it on the radio.
05:13Everybody loved it.
05:15Put it on the radio, loved it, loved it.
05:16Atlantic heard it.
05:17They signed us.
05:18That was the single.
05:19And we did the rest of the album.
05:21The producer, all he did was produce what we did live on stage.
05:27We didn't do it anything like different.
05:29We might did some overdubs of vocals different, but it was all the same show.
05:34And you keep it hanging on.
05:35It was different.
05:36That was one take mono.
05:37And that one became the hit.
05:38That's why it's a mono.
05:39Right.
05:40It was a demo.
05:42And how did you get discovered?
05:44Well, I played all my life.
05:45All through my life.
05:47From teenagers.
05:48I mean, when I got out of high school, I didn't go to college.
05:51And I had it.
05:52My father and mother said, you've got to get a day gig in Brooklyn.
05:54You had to take the trainings.
05:55I went out and work.
05:56Come home.
05:58Those days, it was a buck and a quarter, an hour.
06:00And 45 bucks I'd make.
06:02I put in one hand, 45 bucks after tax.
06:05And I play on the weekend and make 20, 50 bucks.
06:08So I said to my father, so what should I do, Dad?
06:11This one or this one?
06:13He said, wow, you should make 250.
06:14I said, good.
06:15So I quit the job.
06:17But I was playing before that.
06:19I was doing weddings, bar mitzvahs, jazz gigs, bowling, alleys, anything in tech,
06:23where you play gigs.
06:2420 bucks, 30 bucks a night.
06:26I have a book, two books from those days with all my gigs in it.
06:33And someday it'll be worth some money.
06:35Oh, yeah.
06:36So, and then, and then like, I was playing clubs.
06:40And one night, these two guys walked in.
06:42And the name of Mark and Timmy, Mark Stein, Tim Bogut.
06:46They said, look, we need a drummer.
06:48You have everything we need.
06:49You sing.
06:50You got a great bass drum foot.
06:52You got good technique.
06:53You look good.
06:54You got everything we wanted.
06:55We'd like you to invite a group called the Pigeons.
06:58And I was making 250, 300 a week.
07:01You know, I was doing fine.
07:03And those days I met Jimmy Hendrix.
07:05I was playing with clubs and he was playing clubs too.
07:07So I said, yeah, I never played with a bass player.
07:11My band's always had left-hand bass on an organ.
07:14So I said, ah, let me go check them out.
07:17They offered this guy that owned a big club that I had played for before.
07:22And he was like a mafia guy.
07:24You know, Goodfellas was all these guys.
07:27Henry Hill used to come to my house and sell me stuff out of the trunk of his car.
07:31I just fell off a truck.
07:34You know, you're in New Jersey, right?
07:37And Italian.
07:37So I went out and played with them.
07:39And man, they were great.
07:40They had great vocals.
07:41Mark Stein was an amazing singer.
07:43They all played great.
07:44And it was 100 bucks a week guaranteed whether we worked or not.
07:48I said, you know what?
07:49That was like $1,000 a week now.
07:52You know?
07:52I said, yeah, I'll take a chance.
07:54So we went out and we started playing.
07:55And then we got a gig in Newport, Rhode Island.
07:58We spent four weeks there.
07:59And listening to the Beatles albums.
08:02You know, especially the Sgt.
08:05Pepper and all that area.
08:07You know?
08:07And we said, ah, let's make it rain.
08:10It was like this was the fad going in New York.
08:13Leslie West was in a group called The Vagrants.
08:16Billy Joel was in a group called The Hassles.
08:18And we all did these slow down versions of songs.
08:21Except we had the most talent in one band.
08:24You know?
08:24We had four voices.
08:25We had great musicianship.
08:26And we come up with the killer arranges.
08:28And that's how we made it.
08:30And we, so it was four weeks there.
08:32Really did it.
08:33And we noticed that when we did, you keep hanging on.
08:35Instead of people trying to dance.
08:36And we did take her to ride.
08:38And she's not there.
08:39And stuff like that.
08:40Off the first album.
08:42They stopped dancing.
08:43I said, no, as far as hanging on.
08:45And they would look at us.
08:46And watch the show.
08:48And so we made the show really outrageous.
08:51You know?
08:52And that's where it happened.
08:53And then we put it on the radio.
08:55And Atlantic signed us.
08:57I always tell them.
08:58I said, look at that.
08:59You're together two years.
09:01I joined the band.
09:02Nine months later, you made it.
09:03That's it.
09:04Nine months.
09:05It wasn't a long thing for me.
09:07It was harder to stay there.
09:09Than it was to make it.
09:11That's why Vanilla Fudge broke up.
09:13I started Cactus.
09:14Me and Tim.
09:16Cactus did well.
09:17I joined with Jeff Beck.
09:18I did well.
09:19What about Beck Bogart?
09:22That was after Cactus.
09:23That was after Cactus.
09:25That was supposed to be Cactus.
09:27With Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart.
09:29Rod didn't want to work with Jeff anymore.
09:31And Jeff was coming over with Peter Grant as manager.
09:33And he got in a car wreck.
09:35And he was out for 18 months.
09:37So we were saying, oh, what do we do now?
09:39So we decided to get other guys that were in big bands.
09:43Jim McCarty.
09:44He was in a buddy of Miles Express.
09:46And he was in Mitch Ryder and Detroit Wheels.
09:48Had a bunch of hit records.
09:49And then Rusty Day was in the Amboy Dukes with Ted Nugent.
09:54So we got those guys.
09:56And we did Cactus.
09:56And did well.
09:57All around the world, we drew 3,000, 4,000 people.
10:01And we did a festival in England.
10:03The 600,000 people at the festival.
10:07Yes.
10:08And people think that we had connected with Melanie then.
10:11But we didn't.
10:12Melanie got to me through Cleopatra, who was my label.
10:17The owner, I know him since he started the label.
10:20And we were like good friends.
10:21So I consider them my label.
10:23I do everything with them now.
10:24You know.
10:25And they gave me this vocal of Melanie doing Purple Haze.
10:30I said, do you think you're going to put Cactus to Purple Haze?
10:33I said, yeah.
10:34So we got the vocal.
10:36My engineer, Pat, did a click at the tempo we wanted.
10:39And he stretched the vocal out.
10:40And then I did the drums first.
10:42On the whole album, I did the drums first.
10:45I didn't play to anybody.
10:46I did it in my head.
10:47I put it down on tape.
10:48I sang it, whatever.
10:50And so I did that.
10:51And I said, oh, this is pretty cool.
10:54And I took it and I did an arrangement to it.
10:56And then where there's a guitar solo, we cut the vocal out,
11:00waited 16 bars and put it back in.
11:02And it was a real technical thing, you know.
11:05The whole album was real technical, you know, when it comes down to it.
11:08And just starting with the drums is usually not the way to do it.
11:12You usually have a click and a guitar and a vocal to play to it.
11:16You don't just start with drums.
11:18So it's pretty crazy.
11:19But it came out great.
11:21That track came out great.
11:22So people I'm doing interviews said, well, did you meet Melanie
11:25at that festival?
11:26It was the Isla Wise Festival.
11:28I said, she was on it.
11:30No, I never met her.
11:30Yeah.
11:31Yeah.
11:32It's funny.
11:33On the interviews, I say, well, this track is a long way from that
11:35roller skate song.
11:37Right.
11:38Right.
11:38You know?
11:39Yeah.
11:39It's beautiful though.
11:40It sounds beautiful.
11:42And right before she passed.
11:45Yeah.
11:45Her scream sounds like Janice Japlin.
11:47She was like, you know, I went, this is Melanie?
11:51Wow.
11:51And he said, yeah.
11:52I said, wow.
11:53And he got the rights to her vocals, you know, to her estate.
11:57So there's that one.
11:58And the way it all felt.
12:00Yeah.
12:00There's.
12:01I can't believe all the people that are on it.
12:05You know, Ted Nugent, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot D, Pat Travers, the guys from King's
12:10X that are so cool.
12:11Steve Morris.
12:12I love the guys from King's X.
12:13Steve Morris.
12:13Yeah.
12:14Joel and Turner, Derek Serenian.
12:17Yeah.
12:18I mean.
12:18I can't remember everybody.
12:19And the last one had more.
12:21Because I had a double album last time.
12:24Right.
12:24Yeah.
12:24Yeah.
12:24And my Katazers.
12:26I did that in the 90s.
12:27I did like Katazers one, Katazers two, Katazers Korea, Katazers Japan.
12:33And I just listened to all the music on the plane the other day, come from LA.
12:37I just saw my grandson for the first time.
12:39So I went from LA to Florida with my wife and it was like no internet.
12:47So I said, I'm going to listen down to the whole Katazers record.
12:51And I did.
12:52I couldn't believe the amount of work we did.
12:56The same thing, you know, except those days you had to go into the studio.
13:00Yeah.
13:00When I did Ted Nugent, I flew with the 24 track to where it was, Michigan at the time.
13:05You know, with Ingvay Mounston, a 24 track to Florida.
13:10You know, and then they came out with DADH.
13:13You know, they are.
13:14They're a little, little tape.
13:15I put it on there and then I recorded them on there.
13:18That was great.
13:19So I remember the engineer looked at the pile of my 24 tracks and said, I was going to Japan.
13:24So would you rather take those?
13:26Or would you rather take this?
13:29Right.
13:30So I think I'd rather take that.
13:32I went to Japan.
13:33I did it.
13:34And then anytime I needed a guitar player here in America, I would just send them to DADH.
13:39You know, I'd make a copy and they'd send it back.
13:42I mean, obviously, you know, all these guys, like, because you've worked with them all over the years.
13:48But how about the King's X guys?
13:49How did you how did you find them?
13:51Well, those guys were interesting because I was doing a tour with Blue Murder.
13:55My only tour with Blue Murder and King's X.
13:58And I can't remember who headlined that tour.
14:02Anyway, I'm always the kind of guy that, you know, the band under me, I like to meet them.
14:07Like when I toured with Ozzy, I hung out with Molly Crew and there were nothing.
14:10You know, I became friends with those guys.
14:12And so I said, which one's King's X Buzz?
14:17That one's I walked in there Buzz and they were playing Cactus.
14:19Cool.
14:20I said, wait a minute.
14:21You're playing that because I'm here.
14:23I said, no, we play that all the time.
14:24We love Cactus.
14:25Awesome.
14:26He said, we got so much inspiration and we work so much of your stuff into our stuff.
14:31It's unbelievable.
14:32And then they showed me a few things.
14:35I said, yeah, that does sound like us, you know.
14:37And they've been my friends ever since.
14:39Ah, it's so cool.
14:40They sang on the guitarist record, both of them.
14:43Yeah.
14:43I had them on Cactus Temple Boos one and two.
14:47Yeah.
14:47Yeah.
14:48I had Doug sang on the gig we did last week.
14:52You know, I tried to get a tie on, but he couldn't do it.
14:55He was busy doing something else.
14:57But he's awesome, man.
14:59I love it.
15:00And I found out he had what a rough childhood he had, man.
15:03Wow.
15:04Really?
15:05So really bad.
15:06And he had a really, really bad childhood.
15:08But he took it and look where he is.
15:11You know?
15:11And he never told anyone.
15:12I heard it.
15:13We were sitting at the table.
15:15Me, him, Billy Sheehan, and Eric Gales.
15:18And we were just all talking about childhood and all that stuff.
15:22And, you know, Eric, well, I don't think Eric knew me.
15:25I knew him for years ago when he did the Hendrix tour, but he never really heard me play and
15:30stuff.
15:30And he said to my singer from the Rod Show, I have a Rod Show called Rod The Show.
15:35Yes.
15:36It's endorsed by Rod.
15:38And he looks like Rod, sounds like Rod, and dresses like Rod.
15:42You know?
15:42And that's why Rod was, I showed him.
15:44He said, wow, I'm honored you're doing this.
15:46Because we're calling it the Rod The Show Celebrating the Museum Legacy of Rod Stewart.
15:50You know?
15:51So, eventually, when he does retire, we'll be the only ones doing that stuff.
15:55You know?
15:56That's so cool.
15:56If he does.
15:58What's he like?
15:59Rod is a nice guy.
16:01Did you read my book?
16:02No.
16:03Well, it's X-rated, but I don't know if you want to read it.
16:06Oh, yeah.
16:07It's pretty real.
16:08And Rod wrote the intro.
16:11Oh, cool.
16:11And they fired me.
16:12And he says in the book, he says, you know, all the great things about me and stuff.
16:16And he said, I fired Carmine's **** knows why.
16:20That really was it.
16:22I said, why?
16:23You know?
16:24But I know why now.
16:26There was somebody in his ear doing coke and **** telling him.
16:29You know?
16:29He was jealous of my popularity with the band.
16:32Right.
16:33Oh, my God.
16:34And he was Rod's good English.
16:35You know, they're English.
16:36They drink all the time.
16:37I don't drink.
16:38You know?
16:38I didn't do coke.
16:39You know?
16:40So, I wasn't in the clan, you know?
16:44Yes.
16:45But anyway.
16:45Smart.
16:46But he knows now.
16:47But he knows now.
16:48And he's a good guy.
16:49You know?
16:50Yeah.
16:50You're still friends.
16:51They gave you a table.
16:52Yeah.
16:53Yeah.
16:53I was friends through email.
16:54You know?
16:55I get it.
16:56He's so big and popular.
16:58You know?
16:58Probably gets a million emails a day.
17:00I mean, I get it a lot.
17:01You know?
17:01I don't answer a lot of them.
17:03But he does.
17:04You know?
17:04He gets back.
17:05A funny story.
17:06With AI.
17:08My wife put words into the AI about our dogs.
17:12She said, I want a 70s funk song.
17:14Oh.
17:14Twice.
17:15Two different songs.
17:16Fantastic songs.
17:17Jeez.
17:18Five minutes.
17:19Ah.
17:20Vocals.
17:21Horns.
17:21I know.
17:22Vocals.
17:23Jumping.
17:24Everything.
17:25And I said, you know what?
17:26To my brother, I said, you know, we should do another album together.
17:29Except we don't have to write songs.
17:31Because nobody cares anymore about writing songs.
17:34You know?
17:35That's true.
17:35Unless you're a huge artist.
17:37So, I said, why don't we take some of our songs that are famous.
17:41And we'll put it through the AI and see what it comes up with.
17:45If it's good, we'll copy it.
17:46So, we did that with Hot Legs.
17:48All right?
17:49It came out sounding just like Van Halen.
17:53All the guitar riffs.
17:55Even my drum fills.
17:57And then I sent it to Rod.
17:58And he said, oh, that's great.
18:00So, what is this?
18:01He said, what's something we just came up with?
18:03He goes, it sounds great.
18:05Good luck with it.
18:07And I said, texting back that it's AI.
18:09I never heard back from him.
18:13Oh, my God.
18:14But I'm still thinking about that.
18:17The heavy metal label is not really what heavy metal is to me and my brother.
18:23Heavy metal is like Metallica.
18:25Right.
18:26Right.
18:27That's heavy metal.
18:28Right.
18:28All the stuff before that's hard rock.
18:30Right.
18:30Van Halen's hard rock.
18:31Led Zeppelin's hard rock.
18:32Motley Crue's hard rock.
18:33King Cobra's hard rock.
18:34I agree.
18:36It's all hard rock.
18:37Heavy metal was started with Metallica.
18:40Right.
18:40So, I'm going to say two hot legs like Metallica.
18:45See what it comes up with.
18:47That's funny.
18:48And then we'll copy them.
18:49Can you do that?
18:50I don't even know how that works.
18:51Yeah.
18:52I can do that.
18:53We're not using their version.
18:55Right.
18:56Right.
18:56What they do.
18:58Make your own.
18:58I mean, we'll change it a little bit.
19:00We'll take the vibe of what it is.
19:01But I don't know if I have time to, you know.
19:05It takes a long time.
19:06It took six months to make this record.
19:08Wow.
19:09Same with Vinny.
19:10Vinny's got a studio.
19:11He built my studio.
19:12I got to ask you about that.
19:13Back and forth.
19:14You know, I interviewed Vinny, of course, your brother, another amazing drummer.
19:17How did that work?
19:19It worked that I have made it.
19:21I have made it.
19:22And he was only young when I made it.
19:24And we had seven drummers in my family.
19:27I started by my cousin Joey had drums.
19:30He played.
19:31I'd go to his house, Italians, you know, all the holidays.
19:34And I played his drums.
19:35Then I'd bang on pots and pans.
19:37My parents got me a drum.
19:38So eventually I started drumming.
19:40On this album I did with Pat Travis called The Balls Album.
19:44It's a song called Stand Up.
19:46It tells you the story of how it started with me playing drums and stuff.
19:50Anyway, so when I started making it, Vinny was like eight years old, nine years old.
19:56And he's seen me on TV.
19:58And, you know, you go into his little cubby hole in the basement.
20:01He had all the pictures of my bands on the wall, you know.
20:04And then I go home one day and my mother, and this is in the song.
20:07And I go in there and Vinny's playing drums.
20:11And I said to my mother, who taught him that?
20:13She said, he's in there all the time driving me crazy like you did, you know.
20:18So I put that in the song.
20:20I thought that was good, you know.
20:21Anyway, so then I saw the talents.
20:24I sent him to my drum teacher.
20:26He was like eight, nine years old.
20:28And my drum teacher made him really good.
20:30By the time he was 12, he was really good, you know.
20:33And then he was under my wing like that.
20:35And then he got a gig up in, you know, I made it.
20:39And then he got a gig up the record plant with his band from Brooklyn.
20:43And the owner of the record plant was managing them.
20:47So they used to practice there all the time.
20:49And Jimmy Iovine, who wasn't really big yet, comes upstairs.
20:52Hey, we need some hand claps on a song.
20:54Come on down.
20:55So the hand claps were whatever gets you through the night with John Lennon.
20:58So they meet John Lennon.
21:00They're hanging out with John Lennon and all that.
21:03Then Rick Derringer calls my mother, calls my mother's house and said, hey, Rick Derringer,
21:07I'd like to talk to Vinnie.
21:08Oh, no, you mean you want to talk to Carmine.
21:10No, you want to talk to Vinnie.
21:12So eventually they got together.
21:14He took Vinnie and the guitar player, Vinnie, was working with him.
21:16And they started Rick Derringer, just called Derringer.
21:20And they went out on tour in stadiums with Aaron Smith.
21:24And my brother was 16 years old.
21:26And he did the old John Lennon thing, 16 years old.
21:28He's like this in school.
21:32He hits him on the head.
21:33He goes, Vinnie, wake up.
21:34What are you doing?
21:34He goes, I'm tired.
21:36Excuse me.
21:36Is anyone else in the class work with John Lennon last night?
21:41That's so funny.
21:42He told me how he met your mom with the pan.
21:45He had a pan.
21:47That was the other story.
21:49It's hysterical.
21:50That's a great story.
21:50I do a thing called Carmine of Peace Diaries.
21:53You know, where I go in a place.
21:55We do like a venue, a 300-seat venue.
21:58And I have an intro.
22:00And the intro goes and it shows a diary floating and all the pictures going in there.
22:04And then it hits the ground and it comes up onto the screen.
22:08It has all the stories right in.
22:11You know, John Lennon, East Lasagna, Why is Prince in my bed?
22:14You know, Rod Stewart's back.
22:16All right.
22:16Well, tell me some of those.
22:17I love Lasagna.
22:18And then I have the audience pick the story.
22:21All right.
22:22And what story you want to hear?
22:23Why is Prince in your bed?
22:25When I was getting divorced one time, one of the times, I had my house that I was selling.
22:31So my friend who managed Prince before he was big, he was called Punk Funk.
22:36She said, I brought him to her house.
22:39She said, you can have that room.
22:40But once in a while, a new artist called Prince sleeps in the room when he's in town.
22:44He hates hotels.
22:45I already had a new girlfriend.
22:46I said, OK, I'll stay over there.
22:48So one time I came home unannounced and Prince was in my bed with vanity.
22:54And I woke in and I said, oh, I'm sorry.
22:57I said, I'm sorry.
22:58You know, he was very shy.
23:01Yes.
23:02That's what I heard.
23:02Very shy guy until he went on stage.
23:05So I was always coming home like he's playing some music.
23:08Hey, Prince, is that a new trap?
23:09Yeah.
23:11He played on it.
23:12I did.
23:15That's it.
23:16That's fun.
23:16Until I got to know him a little more.
23:17And then one time he asked, I had a Pantera.
23:19You know, one time he said, I need a ride to Hollywood.
23:22Can you give me a ride to Hollywood?
23:23I said, sure.
23:24Took him into Pantera and just stared the hell out of him.
23:26You know, going around the Hollywood Hills and stuff, you know.
23:29But then when he played, he started getting big.
23:32And he started, he played his first gig at the Universal Amphitheater.
23:356,000 people.
23:37And he invited me.
23:38I got him these things called synthetic drums and electronic drums.
23:42You know, I used, I gave him some.
23:44I don't know if he used any.
23:45I think he might have used them.
23:46I heard some on some of his records.
23:48And he invited me to the gig.
23:50I went there with my girlfriend at the time and the woman that owned the house.
23:54And I'm watching him on the stage.
23:56He comes on in women's underwear and he's laying down on a mattress, a hump in the mattress.
24:02I said to him, is this the same guy that lives in the house?
24:05Are you kidding me?
24:07And it blew me away.
24:09And then they did the movie.
24:10Yes.
24:11And he invited me to the premiere.
24:12And I sat in the premiere next to Sheila E.
24:14And I didn't know who she was.
24:15She didn't know who I was.
24:17Wow.
24:17And then we became friends, you know.
24:19Oh, yeah.
24:19But it was really a good relationship.
24:22And then he had a drummer named John, John Wright, I think his name was.
24:27And every time John would see me, he said, Prince said hi.
24:31Aw.
24:32And one time he played, he opened up for the Stones at the Coliseum in L.A.
24:38And they booed him off the stage.
24:40What?
24:41You're kidding.
24:41Yeah.
24:42He wasn't known yet.
24:43And they booed him off the stage.
24:44And he came home.
24:45And me, him, and this girl, Jamie, that was his manager.
24:49We sat around the table drinking some tea.
24:52And he was so bummed out about being booed up.
24:54I said, look, dude.
24:56That's the first time Vanilla Fudge went to Portland, Argonne,
24:59with the Mamas and the Papas.
25:01Totally mismatch.
25:03And we got booed off the stage also.
25:06But my singer said, look, we flew 3,000 miles to get here.
25:10You can boo us if you want, but we're going to play for you whether you like it or not.
25:15Yeah.
25:15By the time we finished, we had a standing ovation.
25:18Oh.
25:18He said, so it don't matter.
25:19Yeah.
25:20Just forget about that.
25:21And what?
25:22He turned it gigantic.
25:23Right?
25:23He did.
25:24Yeah.
25:25That's my story.
25:25I don't even think people realize how good he was until he died.
25:28You know, really.
25:29A lot of people didn't really.
25:30Well, even before that, he had a lot of hit right out of the movie.
25:32Oh, yeah.
25:33He had a movie.
25:34You're good enough to have a movie.
25:35Oh, I love him.
25:36But I just didn't think a lot of people really realized.
25:37You're big.
25:38You're big.
25:39Yeah.
25:39It's like Michael Jackson.
25:41Nobody realized him.
25:42Yeah.
25:42He did Thriller and then exploded.
25:45Yeah.
25:45Yeah.
25:46Yeah.
25:46And then he does.
25:47Yeah.
25:47But he did all his great stuff before he died, which is great.
25:50Yeah.
25:50Both of them.
25:51So who's that?
25:52I'm going to have a guitar album, too.
25:54God, you have everybody.
25:55Everybody.
25:56Who's saying it right, by the way?
26:00Because Vinny says apathy, you say a piece.
26:03Who's right?
26:03Yeah.
26:04I mean, it used to be apathy.
26:05There's Beck Bogan apathy.
26:07But everybody was screwed up.
26:09And they would say, Carmen apiece.
26:13And I'd have to correct him.
26:14No, it's apathy and it's Carmine.
26:16So when I joined Rod, he said, look, we're going to play in front of 20,000 people a night.
26:21You do your drum solo.
26:23He used my drum solo to go out and put on a new outfit.
26:26You know?
26:27So he said, so I want to come up and say, that's on drums.
26:32So what should I say?
26:33He says, you're apathy, you're peachy, you're pice, you're this.
26:37He said, what do most people call you?
26:39I said, most people call me Carmen apiece.
26:44So Carmine apiece would be great.
26:46He said, okay, that's what we'll call you.
26:48So in front of 20,000 people a night, I was Carmine apiece all over the world.
26:53And then there was an ad I have over there from Ludwig Drum Company.
26:57All over the world, they put this in a magazine.
27:00Everyone wants a piece of apiece.
27:02Oh.
27:03Oh, wow.
27:04And it's a good ad.
27:05It's told by history and big picture of me and Carmine apiece on the bottom.
27:09There's every rock magazine in the world, everywhere.
27:12That's it.
27:13So I was Carmine apiece.
27:14That was great.
27:15Wow.
27:15And Vinnie came out with Black Sabbath in the apathy.
27:20It's still going on.
27:22That's so funny.
27:23It's funny.
27:23When they say apathy to me, I say, you're saying it wrong.
27:26So, you know, but they say Carmen too.
27:29I just said, come on, how do you get M-E-N out of M-I-N-E?
27:33I know.
27:34I know.
27:34I know.
27:35Don't worry.
27:36I don't do that.
27:36You used to play with Ozzy too, right?
27:40So, and of course, Vinnie played with Sabbath.
27:42So what was that like?
27:44And how come?
27:45Well, I mean, I knew Ozzy from when they first started.
27:48Cactus played with Sabbath.
27:51You know?
27:51So when they called, they called me to join the band.
27:53I didn't call them.
27:54And I got fired from her because my name was too big.
27:57After she said, you should have thought about that before you got me.
28:00You know?
28:01And I was doing master classes in every market.
28:05And she didn't like that.
28:06And I was getting, I gave money from that to charities.
28:09I got free press.
28:11And she didn't like it.
28:12But anyway.
28:12You mean Sharon?
28:14Sharon, yeah.
28:15So Vinnie told me a story about when he was playing with Ozzy.
28:19And he did a drum solo.
28:20He goes, what should I, what do I say?
28:23Is it a piece?
28:25Or is it apathy?
28:27You know?
28:27And he said, well, it's apathy.
28:28So when the first slide they played, he went, Vinnie!
28:32Ah!
28:33Ah!
28:34Ah!
28:35A piece!
28:36He didn't know what to say on stage.
28:38It was funny.
28:39I loved Ozzy.
28:40Ozzy was a good guy.
28:42Yeah.
28:42His wife was the one that did all the dirty work.
28:45After they fired me, she said, you got to start your own band.
28:48So I started King Cobra.
28:50I don't know if you ever heard of King Cobra.
28:51Of course.
28:52Yeah.
28:52Yeah.
28:53So we were rehearsing at this place.
28:54And I also bought, with the money I got from the deals, I bought a mobile home, a truck,
28:59and a van.
29:00I wanted everything to be white.
29:02So we had to paint the mobile home.
29:04This guy who worked for me was, you know, he worked on cars.
29:07He knew how to paint it.
29:08So Ozzy was in rehearsing drummers.
29:13And I said, hey Oz, what are you doing here?
29:15He goes, I'm a distant drummer.
29:16That was funny, right?
29:18So he said, what are you doing?
29:19I said, I'm painting this.
29:21I was just up on a little scaffold, putting brown paper on the windows.
29:26The first thing he says was, I know you and my missus don't get along.
29:30I know you and me could still be friends.
29:32I said, yeah Ozzy, I know what I'm doing.
29:34So then he said, what are you doing?
29:35I said, I'm doing it.
29:36He said, you need any help?
29:37I said, sure.
29:37So I put him up on a scaffold.
29:39Me and him are putting brown paper over the glass.
29:42You know, I think that was funny.
29:44He's a nice guy.
29:45I always got, whenever I saw him, he stopped and talked to me.
29:48But his wife would always pull him away, you know.
29:50I was sitting at the Rainbow one time with him.
29:52And I'm talking to him.
29:54And he had a bowl of spaghetti and we're talking.
29:56And some fans came over for an autograph.
29:58And I turned around, Ozzy's head was in the bowl of spaghetti.
30:01What do you think it is?
30:03Why do rock stars get into that?
30:05It must be due to the drugs they did when they were younger.
30:08I would think.
30:09So why?
30:10Why did they get into it?
30:11Like why do, why do such talented people get into bad stuff?
30:16Because that was the deal back then.
30:18Nobody knew it was really bad.
30:20So you smoke pot, you know, and you get arrested for it.
30:24Cat just got arrested for it one time, even though it wasn't pot.
30:27It was a catnip.
30:30All right.
30:30We gave it to one of our roadies as a goof.
30:32And he asked to steward us on a plane to smoke it.
30:35Next thing we know, we land and everyone, you eating cactus?
30:38Yeah, we thought, hey, great.
30:39You're eating cactus.
30:39Yeah, get over there.
30:40We got arrested.
30:41You know.
30:42On the third hour, we had a song called Blues called Mean Night in Cleveland.
30:47And that was a mean night in jail.
30:49And a lawyer got us out.
30:50Hey, we made the news run.
30:52Eyewitness news all over the country.
30:53I had to call my mother, tell her we're okay.
30:56Yeah.
30:56Just catnip.
30:57But yeah, it was just the thing.
30:59Everybody smoked pot, you know.
31:00Even before, you know, all that time.
31:02Jimi Hendrix, when I met him, you know, we were in clubs smoking pot, you know.
31:07But now it's all legal.
31:09Yeah.
31:09You walk around New York City, we got rid of our apartment last week.
31:13Yeah.
31:13You open the window to get some fresh air.
31:15Oh, I know.
31:15A pot smell comes in.
31:17I know.
31:17I mean, you had legal booze.
31:18You didn't even walk around drinking booze everybody, did they?
31:21Yeah.
31:21Right.
31:21That's stupid, man.
31:22I couldn't believe it.
31:23I said, man, shut the window.
31:25I know.
31:25I don't smoke anymore.
31:27Yeah.
31:28I had my fill of it.
31:29You know, that's why I'm still doing it.
31:31I love playing.
31:32I love recording.
31:33I don't like doing big tours anymore unless I'm on my private plane with your own doctor
31:38like Rod does.
31:40You know?
31:41Yeah.
31:41We travel in splinter vans.
31:42You know, we do like we're doing a tour I just told you.
31:46You know, it's mostly a splinter van.
31:47It's like, you know, you got a four hour drive.
31:50You drive two hours and then you go to a hotel and wake up and drive two more hours.
31:56You know?
31:56Yeah.
31:56Yeah.
31:57You don't drive all the straight through.
31:59It's like, it's too hard.
32:00Even in a bus.
32:01You don't sleep in a bus.
32:03Yeah, I bet.
32:04You sleep in a bed.
32:05Yeah.
32:05Good.
32:06I never took a bus until Ozzy.
32:09Really?
32:09Yeah.
32:10Yeah.
32:11My whole career up until 1983 from 67.
32:13Never took a bus.
32:14I was flying.
32:16You know?
32:17And flying was a lot easier back then.
32:19I mean, we did a tour with Hendrix and Fudge and two other bands.
32:24We'd get all our gear in a truck and they'd pull it right up to the belly of the plane
32:28that we're on.
32:30No security.
32:32Yeah.
32:32Get on the plane.
32:33There's like 30 of us.
32:34We go to the next.
32:35The truck pulls out and gets all the gear off right to the gate.
32:38Yeah.
32:39You know?
32:40A limo to the geeks.
32:41Yeah.
32:42All that stuff's in my book except, you know, I left a lot of the crazy sex shit in the
32:48book.
32:50I won't tell you about them.
32:52We'll have to read it.
32:53Frank Zappa made a song out of one of them.
32:56He did?
32:56It was called Mutt Shock.
32:57It was called Mutt Shock.
32:58Pull that up and listen to Mutt Shock.
33:00Oh my God.
33:01It's awesome.
33:02It's crazy.
33:04Anyway.
33:04How'd you come up with the name Cactus?
33:06Cactus.
33:07Funny enough, we were in Arizona.
33:09And on top of this drive-in theater, giant words just said cactus.
33:14I was with Tim.
33:15We were with Vanilla Fudge.
33:16I said, Tim, that's the name of the group.
33:20Cactus.
33:21He said, yeah, I like that.
33:22And it looked huge.
33:23It looked strong.
33:24You know?
33:25And you think of a cactus.
33:26It's a strong plant.
33:27Yeah.
33:28It never dies.
33:30No, it never dies.
33:31It just keeps going.
33:32And now it keeps going.
33:33It's just amazing.
33:34It's keeping it going.
33:35It's so awesome.
33:36I never thought it was going to keep going.
33:38When McCarty said, you take it.
33:39I don't want to do it no more.
33:40You take it.
33:41We did European gigs.
33:43We went to South America.
33:45We did a lot of stuff.
33:46We had big crowds as well.
33:48And then he couldn't travel.
33:50He could not travel.
33:52Worse than me.
33:53I mean, he would sleep like this during the day drive to the next gig.
33:58And he said, I can't do this.
34:01You know?
34:02Yeah.
34:02So he said, you take it if you want to do it.
34:05And, you know, keep building it.
34:08You know?
34:09I said, okay.
34:10Yeah.
34:11So I did a bunch.
34:12I did a bunch of deals with the first gig we ever did.
34:16A couple of other gigs we did.
34:18And so he's making money on it.
34:20You know?
34:20Not a lot of money.
34:21He was making money.
34:21And then Billy Patrick Records, the owner, came up with the idea of doing this.
34:27It wasn't called Temple of Blues.
34:29He wanted me to do an album that would put the influences that Cactus had on musicians.
34:37Uh-huh.
34:38So it was called Cactus Influences.
34:39I said, what about Friends?
34:41So Influences and Friends.
34:42I said, yeah, that's cool.
34:44He liked that.
34:44And then I was looking at the Billboard charts, the blues charts.
34:47And he had, who's on the blues chart?
34:51Foghat, Robin Trower, Slash, all doing blues stuff.
34:54I said, we should market this as a blues record.
34:57He said, yeah, let's call it Temple of Blues.
35:00I said, great.
35:01And we got everybody on the first album.
35:03Everybody, like Sergeant Pepper, everyone who played on the album is on the cover.
35:07And it looks like a temple.
35:09And then we released it and it did well.
35:11And then he said, let's do the second one.
35:13I said, okay.
35:14But he said, don't do 14 tracks.
35:18Do 10 tracks for the LP and one track extra for the CD because it doesn't pay to do the
35:24two LPs, you know, financially.
35:27I said, okay.
35:29So I figured 10 tracks for the album, one track for the CD extra one.
35:34So that's what I worked on.
35:36Awesome.
35:37So I had three Cactus tracks.
35:38I had the track for Melanie sorted out.
35:41Then I need seven more tracks.
35:43I said, so what should I do?
35:45I want to call it Temple of Blues.
35:47I wanted to get a nomination for blues, combination blues album, you know, from Grammys.
35:53And what they do, they put us in with Temple.
35:56What's her name?
35:58Who's big, the number one woman actor, female actor?
36:01Taylor Swift.
36:03That's the one.
36:04Okay.
36:05Exactly.
36:06So they put our album in with her album.
36:08I said, well, we're not a rock album.
36:10So this time I said, I want to do blues.
36:11So I knew an album that we got Cactus Evil off of, which has been in a couple of things
36:17on Netflix and Apple music and stuff like that.
36:21Apple TV had a couple of our tracks in the movies.
36:25Howlin' World's Electric Alley.
36:27I got Evil off that.
36:29Jeff Beck gave me that album.
36:30Jimmy Page gave him that album.
36:32If you could hear that album, you'll hear Led Zeppelin, you'll hear some Jeff Beck, and you'll hear Cactus.
36:38So I took the other seven songs that we didn't do, and we did that on this album.
36:45Little Red Rooster, that was a Howlin' World album.
36:47Backdoor Man with me, Billy Sheehan, and Eric Gale's Phenomenal.
36:53Yes.
36:53When we just did the tour, we had that in the middle of the show.
36:57And my singer from Broadside, because D was supposed to be there, as you know, he retired.
37:02So I had to get somebody with that growly voice.
37:04So my singer did it.
37:05And when we were rehearsing, we did Backdoor Man.
37:09Then we did Little Red Rooster.
37:10And I felt it.
37:12He felt it.
37:12He said, you can't follow that.
37:15You can't follow Backdoor Man.
37:16It's so amazing.
37:18You can't follow it.
37:20Live, especially.
37:21I said, you're right.
37:23So I moved it to the end of the show.
37:25The only thing that can follow that was the cactus boogie, energy-wise.
37:30You know?
37:30Yep.
37:31And that's what we did.
37:32Cool.
37:32Unbelievable reaction.
37:34Unbelievable reaction from the audience.
37:36Awesome.
37:36So we're doing all these great boogie and bluesy kind of songs with tremendous great
37:42drum tracks.
37:43And the guy did, Morris Levy did fantastic, fantastic drumming.
37:48So I took what he did on Evil.
37:50I did it my way.
37:51I did the same thing on all this stuff.
37:53Awesome.
37:54You know?
37:54Because some of it is good.
37:55They're not just boom.
37:56Boom.
37:57Boom.
37:58Boom.
37:59Boom.
38:00Boom.
38:00Boom.
38:01Boom.
38:01Boom.
38:02Boom.
38:04Boom.
38:18Two years ago.
38:18One of the many different people played like that, and then the seemed like
38:19a lot of the sorts of people played, except she had Purple Haze, which is a blues, anyway.
38:22Yeah.
38:23When you go on tour, who's going to pop up with you?
38:27In your next few shows?
38:28Well, we're going to do Cactus Allstars.
38:30I think Billy Sheehan or Eric Gales and Bumblefoot or Pat Travis.
38:35And then the regular Captain's Band.
38:37We're going to try and book some stuff in July.
38:40Maybe the end of July.
38:41So I'll give us three months of it.
38:44And then there's a Plan for here.
38:47like i didn't ask you that and why did that band it was a lot it was a lot like
38:51twins
38:53introvertible he got to know him he's good but you know there's a few things i'd done with him
38:57that didn't work out things i did do with him like people get ready started in my house as i
39:03was getting divorced so i'm a second one and he came over my house he's he had his girlfriend he
39:10broke up where they come to my house in la hung out we just had a ball together and then
39:15i said
39:15let's do some music we went to duane hitching's house he wrote co-wrote do you think i'm sexy
39:20and young turks with me at a little studio and we started putting all this stuff together they're
39:25licking that was jeff that was duane's lick not jeff beck's lick and then we started putting it all
39:32together and then jeff said that sounds like people get ready i said yeah it does so i sang that
39:37in
39:37vanilla fudge i started singing along with i said yeah there's people get ready so he said you think
39:42we can get rod because he wasn't on a good step you know good steps with rod you know and
39:48uh so we
39:49called rod and we met him in an italian restaurant we met him we uh played him the cassette right
39:55in
39:55the car how old is that right and then he he loved it a week later in the studio and
40:02record playing with
40:02my friend ricky delena that grew up with my brother vinnie same block you know and i had jeff there
40:09rod there earphones on we played the track it pointed to jeff where to sing and we put it out
40:14and we got no we have no credit at all but he was a nice guy i don't know if
40:19that came from the
40:20manager or what you know a lot of stuff comes from the management yeah you know we always got along
40:25together we always had fun you know tim punched him in the face when he was really sick that was
40:31the
40:31last gig we ever did wow and it's out on a box set now it's called the bba box set
40:38there's two live
40:40shows the last show and london rainbow and i sang most of the songs so you should check that out
40:46it's
40:46pretty good too well i will uh what would your current self tell your younger self never released
40:52the second vanilla fudge album how come because it was horrible it was horrible it wasn't it wasn't
41:00music it was it was kind of a statement but it was too early in the career you know it's
41:06called the
41:06beat goes on taking music from the beginning you know mozart and all that going all the way up to
41:12the
41:12beatles to you know at the time the beatles and then talk about you know like how music through wars
41:18and everything black power and you know sieg heil black power nothing to do with music right the
41:24only song on it was fleur-de-lis and a piece of the classical piece that was it couldn't even
41:29play
41:29that on the radio and on the string to the first album was number four on the on the charge
41:34that came
41:34out and every that all these radio station fm place players they they played it the whole record
41:40you know and everybody started calling in they were on s lsd and and stoned down and calling
41:46and telling them to take it off it was depressing him oh wow ruined our career everyone around us
41:51jimi hendrix the queen the doors jeffson airplane everybody around us that was on the charts
41:57in the top 10 at the same time went on to be giants right vanilla fudge went the other way
42:05all we had to do is the same thing we did on the first album right but we didn't but
42:10we knew we
42:10know any better right this was ahmed erdogan he owned the label and shadow morton the producer
42:16it was their idea you know their idea to ruin a band so that's what i would do wow luckily
42:24i went on
42:25to be successful but who knows where vanilla fudge would ended up being could ended up being you know
42:31madison square garden two nights yeah you know we did play the garden once and they fell for him
42:36it was 5 000 people it's big difference so that's what i would definitely tell myself do don't do
42:41this you know if you have i was questionable anyway when i was listening to him so what are we
42:47doing
42:47you know and mark and vinnie were like they were the heads of the band you know yeah wow this
42:53is cool
42:53man you know when me and the manager and tim bogut heard him he said oh my god what a
42:57bunch of crap
42:59you know and there's it's proved that way but i went on to write do you think i'm sexy in
43:06young
43:06turks number one and top five records so yeah tell us about that that was way after way i was
43:13after bba
43:13okay i had a band with mike bloomfield called kgb that really didn't do anything and then uh i was
43:20asked to join rock and i did like i said rob it's cool i want a song like missing you
43:27by the stones and i went home on the keyboard and then i went to dwayne's house
43:31at the studio made it sound good he had a bridge i gave it to him he loved it simple
43:38as that right
43:39took about two or three days and then we're down in australia we had you know we had a 30
43:4640
43:46person crew and rock comes up and he said look song's number one in america number one here number
43:52one there you're gonna make a lot of money let's buy the crew dinner you know all i had was
43:58a credit
43:58card he's the one with a lot of money but i did i bought it you know it's all good
44:04and then he
44:06won another song like a more punky kind of song and we did young turks two amazing songs yeah two
44:13amazing songs and those aren't that drummy they're not like heavy drums on those two songs
44:17no no no there was heavy drums before tom down when it was one 24 track it sounded really heavy
44:25and really guitar heavy but then he put all these orchestras and vocals and all of a sudden
44:30that went 24 on 48 tracks and everything shrinks and we were all bummed out a bit about that
44:36but then it came out went to number one in 15 countries we said yeah okay we're good and the
44:43other one was the drum machine that i was using i was experimenting with it and we were probably the
44:48first band to ever put a real drum machine to sound like drums on a on a record and i
44:56i did hi-hat
44:56and cymbals they sound like and it went to number four all around the world you know so so it
45:04was good
45:04there's two experiments really yeah it's cool and then you know when i got fired from ozzy i was a
45:09little
45:09pissed off because i really wanted to work with oz and help write songs and get the killer drum
45:14sounds because he always had drum sounds these records you know until my friend did it the guy
45:20that helped me get the drum sound that i worked with to show him how to get the andy john's
45:24drum
45:24sound that i did with rod and pasha studios the first record they released was quiet riot
45:31that big huge record that was my drum sound yes that i worked out with him every time frankie
45:37benelli the original drummer that was on i came over and saw me gave me a kiss italian give me
45:42a kiss
45:42on the cheese and thank you so much for that drum sound you know oh my god you've been killing
45:47so
45:47many people who yeah but you know it wasn't like an influence you know it was like something needed to
45:53be done you know pasha i did the record with ted there and it was horrible drum sound so so
46:00the producer
46:01said well what would you do different i said i would do this i'd do this i did this i
46:05did all that with
46:06the engineer the younger engineer and he helped you know i showed him how to do it and he engineered
46:12he worked the board i didn't know how to do that and then we came up with this great drum
46:16sound
46:16and then all the stuff i did there had that drum sound you know i did a record rich aringer
46:22there
46:22that have another fudge mystery record there i did king cobra there you know and i carried that
46:27drum sound everywhere even in my studio here i got a mic down the hallway you know two mics here
46:34there's one mic here one here my room mice all close micing there and the way the overheads did
46:41i learned that from mandy john last in peace he was the best who are your favorite favorite drummers
46:48body rich billy cobbin tony williams max roach joe morello you know and out of all the drummers i
46:58liked from my era keith moon is gone uh mitch mitch mitchell gone dino dinelli is gone
47:06and who else i'm missing somebody bonham no john bonham came after me well he you and i got john
47:13bonham his drums this is a long story tell me that too tell me that too yeah well led zeppelin
47:19opened up vanilla fudge we heard the album before i heard him do that triplet thing on on good times
47:25bad times i loved it they opened up for him a little drum set i had a big drum set
47:29you know i
47:31got a picture of me and him i he said you think you can get me drum set like that
47:35i said yeah i was
47:37big big heavy duty guy in ludric drums i called him up and i said look this is band they
47:42call
47:42led zeppelin this drum is really great i think he you know i think he'll be really great for ludric
47:48he wants a kid just like mine what do you think probably the understatement of seven decades right
47:55okay so they got it for him they did it they worked with me and i got him his drum
47:59set they
48:00opened up for us and then the later it was uh they opened up for us we opened up for
48:05them because six
48:06months later they had a gold record already you know and we were just good friends you know i was
48:10good friends and i said i love that trip thing you do i said yeah he goes i got it
48:17from you i don't do
48:19that and he pointed out on one of my records where he would do like dip boom boom constant i
48:27would go
48:27bump but it'll bump but it'll bump but it'll bump so he took that but it'll bump and developed on
48:32it
48:32and he showed me on my record i said yeah i did do that he goes on some other things
48:36that he's done
48:37all my fills like you heard the fills in that video that came from me he did it on a
48:44lot of records
48:45a lot of records so we were good friends you know we were good friends we we go on the
48:50next tours and
48:51he got off the stage with john paul jones and then they're supposed to go back on and he said
48:56hey why
48:57don't you and tim go instead so we did you know it's so different back then it wasn't a business
49:03yeah
49:03it wasn't a business yet you know it was just a lot of fun everybody made records everybody went out
49:09and had fun yeah you know basically got a salary every month every week come back we got two
49:15grand wow we got two thousand dollars i mean in 1968 that's worth like what 20 grand you know yeah
49:23and we had fun what does music do for people what does music i think it makes them feel good
49:29that if they have problems they're depressed sometimes a song will hit them that's me
49:34you know sometimes you just go out to have a good time you know and cactus was a good time
49:40band
49:40you know vanilla fudge is more of a serious kind of dynamic band with lots of classical stuff in it
49:48and voices and all that cactus was just a good ass you don't have a good time yeah those days
49:54go do
49:55some draws and come see cactus yeah not now we'll have some uh not nice tea and and see cactus
50:03yeah that's awesome thank you lovely to talk to you well good luck with the tour and everything
50:10you're a legend my life thank you bye-bye thanks carmine bye
50:14bye
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