The Metal Guys of The Metal Voice along with Todd LaTorre debate the Top 10 albums of 1988. Will Queensryche ‘Operation Mindcrime’ make the list? And what does Todd think of the album?
In case you missed, watch Richie Kotzen Interview-Writing & Recording w/ Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith, Smith/Kotzen & Live Set, here.
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Richie Kotzen (Mr. Big, Poison, The Winery Dogs), who is promoting the debut album from his collaborative project with IRON MAIDEN’s Adrian Smith. Smith/Kotzen, will release their self-titled debut album on March 26 2021 via BMG.
Excepts from the interview
When asked how the two met and whose idea it was to work together.
“I met Natalie his wife first and that’s how I met Adrian. We were out one night meeting a friend and my friend’s talking to her and said I play guitar and then she said her husband played the guitar in a band. Then she (Natalie) said he was Adrian Smith in Iron Maiden and I got all excited cause I’m a huge Maiden fan. That was one of my first concerts when I was a kid. I saw them in Pennsylvania on the Piece of Mind tour. “Natalie and Adrian would have these holiday parties in L.A. not too far from where I live and we would have these get-togethers and there was a room where guitars were and the amps and it would turn into a jam session. In one of the most recent times Natalie said you and Adrian should try and write something together. We got together, one thing led to another and we thought let’s go make a record.”
When asked about the musical direction of the album
“It reminds me of one of those classic rock albums I would have had back in the day. I would be playing my Ozzy record and my Scorpions record then pop this on. It kind of brings me back to an era when people made records and actually played real instruments and guitar driven rock albums. Classic rock but a little on the heavier side and blues driven. “
When asked if Smith/Kotzen plays live will it include any Iron Maiden songs in the set list, since you have only one album
“That’s a good question and something we have to think about cause we only have 9 songs on the album. I would imagine we would play the entire album, maybe add in one or two covers. Then maybe we do one of Adrian’s songs from Maiden, maybe pick one of my songs from one of my records? It is something we got to think about. “
Smith/Kotzen Recorded on the Turks & Caicos Islands in February 2020, produced by Richie and Adrian and mixed by Kevin “Caveman” Shirley, this nine-track opus is a consummate collaboration between these two highly respected musicians who co-wrote all the songs and also share lead vocals and trade off on guitar and bass duties throughout the record.
Queensryche Singer Todd LaTorre joins The Metal Voice live on Youtube March 10 2021 as they debated the ‘Top 10 albums of 1987‘. The Metal Guys based their decisions on the following criteria, sales, genre defining, critical acclaim, seminal albums and critics choice.
1 Whitesnake- 1987
2 Guns n’ Roses-Appetite for Destruction
2 Helloween- Keeper pt1
4 King Diamond- Abigail
5 Anthrax- Among the living
6 Def Leppard- Hysteria
7 Savatage- Hall of the Mountain King
8 White Lion- Pride
9 Manowar- Fighting the world & Dokken Back for the Attack (draw)
10 Anvil- Strength of Steel
Former Accept singer Udo Dirkschneider appeared on Canada’s The Metal Voice live on March 1 2021 to discuss his new live album ‘Live in Bulgaria 2020’ on AFM Records.
Udo also talked about working on a new U.D.O. studio album, playing Accept songs live again and working with former Accept bassist Peter Baltes.
Tell us about the making of the new live album
” We had to rehearse before the show as everyone lived in another country. So we came together in Germany and started. We also did a photo session for the upcoming U.D.O. studio album so just in case to make sure we have everything. Then we flew to Bulgaria. Everything was well prepared, hotels were clean, restaurants were clean and everything was perfect. The only thing we were not allowed to do during the show was to have fans in the front of the stage. When we went on stage the fans were singing and shouting so loud, there were over 2500 people there. There was so much emotion for us and the fans. This show will remain a long time in our minds as something special. I think when you hear it on the CD and watch the DVD you will know what I mean. What is also important for me is that there are no overdubs, this was live, we did nothing in the studio afterwards. We had a great sound engineer and Stefan Kaufmann did a great job on the DVD. “
Tell if you will be playing Accept songs in the future live
“In the beginning I said with U.D.O. I won’t play any Accept songs but for this concert (Bulgaria) the promoter was really begging. He said is it possible to play Accept songs? I said ok in the end we did five songs, we did the classic stuff. It’s the same with the tour in America. The promoter in America said I heard you don’t play any Accept songs with U.D.O. He said you can’t do a tour of America and Canada without Ball to the Wall. People want to hear that. I said I have no problem playing Balls to the Wall and two other Accept songs. I can now definitely say on our upcoming US and Canadian tour (2022) we will definitely be playing some Accept songs.”
Tell us about the New U.D.O. Studio album
‘It’s already done, it’s completely done just little things left. In the end I can say on the special edition there will be 16 songs with straightforward metal songs. My son got more involved in the songwriting and the new two guys were also very much involved in writing. End of summer it is coming out. There is also a lot of stuff we learned from making the orchestra album harmony wise, vocal wise that we put into this album but it’s still heavy.”
Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon of The Metal Voice spoke to former Black Sabbath and Dio drummer Vinny Appice about the new Black Sabbath reissues of the classic albums Heaven and Hell and The Mob Rules out on March 4 2021.
Vinny Appice also spoke about his time recording with Dio on Holy Diver.
When did you first join Black Sabbath
“Before the Sabbath thing (1980) I got a call from Sharon Osbourne saying she is putting a new band together for Ozzy and they wanted me to fly to England and hang out with Ozzy and see how we would get along and possibly be in the band. I thought I would ask my brother Carmine about Ozzy and I decided not to do it. So I actually turned that gig down and then about two months later I get a call from Sabbath saying they are in town looking for a drummer. Bill Ward left the tour and they heard about me and would you like to come down and meet Tony Iommi at the hotel in LA. So I said yeah, so next day I went to meet Tony and he had an album under his arm that I did with a band called Axis and there was a really good drum sound on it. Tony like the album and we got along great. Tony then invited me to rehearse the next day with Black Sabbath that is when I met Ronnie, Geezer Butler and Geoff Nicolls who was the keyboardist and the first song we ever played was Neon Knights cause I heard it on the radio a couple of weeks before. I thought wow that new singer for Sabbath sounds great cause at the time I didn’t really follow Dio. The rehearsal went really well so they asked me to join the band until Bill comes back. That was the premise. We only had four days of rehearsal before the next show.”
Did you get along with Ronnie James Dio right away
“Ronnie and I were both Italian even though he was 14-15 years older than me we got along like brothers. We were both from New York, we liked the same kind of food so we hit it off right away. I never really been around British people at that time and that Birmingham accent was really heavy and sometimes they talked and I didn’t know what they were saying. And I would say hey Ronnie what are they saying but I got used to it over time “
What was the feeling going into the writing and recording of Mob Rules
“On the Heaven and Hell album tour we did the song Mob Rules for the movie ‘Heavy Metal’. So we went to John Lennon’s house (Ringo Owned it) to record and we put together the ideas and wrote the whole song there. We did the song in two days and it was mixed, finished and kicking ass. So the band was excited that something that came out so good with a new drummer. Everybody loved it. and it was easier when we finally got around to writing all of Mob Rules record. For the record we would just went in everyday and jammed nobody ever came in with songs written. The Mob Rules was just us sitting together in a room jamming. We would record the music play it back and go that sounds good let’s work on that, that’s the way the album was put together.”
Tell us about working with late Martin Birch as a producer on the Mob Rules
“I just remember he was such a really nice guy, sweat heart, very low key. He did his thing in the background and got great sounds, great suggestions and was a great guy to work with and we were all on the same team, it was a good team. It sounded like Heaven and Hell album with a little bit different approach here and there.”
Tell us about Ronnie’s lyrics on Mob Rules
‘The band was happy at that point and Ronnie was very happy and we all looked forward to going to rehearsals, when the band is happy the music comes out great. Ronnie’s lyrics just fit the music.”
How did the band fall apart after Live Evil
“Everything was going great then I don’t know exactly what happened as far as why the band split up. At the end of tour there was an American limo and a British limo and stuff like that started happening, It didn’t matter to me so much I would go in either limo. Obviously they had some business disagreements, I’m not sure. It’s got to be a business thing cause it was not a musical thing. So when that tour ended Ronnie said I’m going to put a band together and I would like you to join me and Sabbath wanted me to stay so I had a choice. So I thought it would be exciting to do something with Ronnie, he’s the man and we lived miles apart it was easy to get together. I had to have a talk with everybody and I decided to go with Ronnie. “
Looking back at Dio Holy Diver album did you think Rainbow in the Dark would be a big hit at the time
“We almost didn’t do that song, that song was a jam. I recorded the beginning, as I was always in charge of recording, we hit that chord and that feel was there. I came in the next day and said this is cool. I know a couple of girls I played it for and they liked it and that is a good sign and Ronnie didn’t want to do it thinking it was too poppy. But then we kept working on it. The keyboard part that was pretty prominent was us playing back the tape in the rehearsal room and bassist Jimmy Bain having a Jim Bean and Coke in one hand and a cigarette in his mouth, he just went over to the keyboard and played it and we went that is great man! The ash from his cigarette didn’t even drop and then he walked away simple as that.”
Tell us about the sound effects on Holy Diver on the song Invisible
“In the beginning of the song the sound effect , Ronnie wanted that invisible sound and how do you do that there were no computers back then? He said like air rushing out and our pot dealer who was in the studio I got a spare tire on my truck. So we get the tire in the studio, now there is a mic on the spare tire. I don’t think anybody has ever recorded a spare tire before. So we recorded the tire and they added effects. So that is what that is.”
Where there any backward messages on Holy Diver
“Ronnie and I were talking why don’t we put something backwards on a song on the record. So if you listen to ‘Shame on the night’ the last track on ‘Holy Diver’ on the fade out you will here Ronnie backwards saying ‘Crucify the Diver’ backwards. So we put it in and you could hear it and we thought this will feed all of that Satanic frenzy, nobody even mentioned a word. (laughs)”
When asked about an update on the Last in Line band
“We are finishing up a new album, we went in the studio and recorded six songs, four are pretty much finished, we got about 6 or 8 more ideas to put those down too and we are probably going to play some gigs in the summer we will see how it goes.”
The Metal Voice celebrates 10 years with friends of the show. Join Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon as they go down memory lane.
Starts Live at Friday Feb 19 2021
2:45 Pm Pacific
5:45pm EST
Watch live or later Here:
Guests
Stryper Michael Sweet
CEO Metal Hall Pat Gesualdo
Rock Author Martin Popoff
Steve Grimmett Grim Reaper
Ex Anthrax Neil Turbin
Maybe Paul Di’Anno?
Appice Bros Singer Jim Crean
