Carmine Appice: Still Kicking Against the Pricks with Cactus
Talking with the legendary drummer about his longtime band’s guest-heavy new album, Blue Murder, King Kobra and more
Drummer/sometime singer Carmine Appice can rightfully be labeled a multitasker, a handle that’s well in keeping with his reputation as a rock superstar.
The bands that he’s been a part of rank high in the pantheon of classic rock ‘n’ roll — Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck, Bogart & Appice, Zeus, King Kobra, Blue Murder and Rod Stewart’s backing band, among the many.
While others might find it difficult to find a focus with any single band in particular, his recent revisit to Cactus confines is especially auspicious. The band rebooted in 2006, and while Appice remains the only constant — the other current members mainly consist of Jim Stapley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Randy Pratt (harp), Artie Dillon (guitar), and Jim Caputo (bass) — the new album under the Cactus banner, Temple of Blues Influences and Friends — the follow-up to the band’s comeback of sorts, 2021’s Tightrope — features a host of guest stars who have claimed a debt to their legacy. In fact, the album unfolds as a series of guest appearances from the likes of original guitarist Jim McCarty, Joe Bonamassa, Randy Jackson, Dee Snider, Ted Nugent, Warren Haynes, Billy Sheehan, Pat Travers, Rudy Sarzo, Vernon Reid, Mark Stein and Fernando Perdomo, among them.
As a means of further cementing the band’s rich reputation, the album finds the musicians covering songs from their seminal period spanning 1969 to 1972, when the original line-up, consisting of Appice, McCarty, bassist Tim Bogert and singer Rusty Day, released three classic albums on Atco Records (Cactus, One Way…Or Another, Restrictions), prior to a fourth (‘Ot ’n’ Sweaty) that was credited to a briefly revamped group. A pair of blues standards, “Parchman Farm” and “You Can’t Judge a Book By the Cover,” and the Little Richard mainstay “Long Tall Sally” complete the 15 song track list.
AUDIO: Cactus “Long Tall Sally”
Not surprisingly then, a heavy blues/rock influence pervades the album as a whole.
Appice is credited with producing the new album, but in fact, his efforts go far beyond that. Yet, he claims the album wasn’t his idea and instead gives credit to Brian Perera of Cleopatra Records (the label that released the last album) for helping to create the concept.
“Brian called me and said, ‘I’ve got an idea’,” Appice recalls. “I said, ‘So what is it?’ And he said, ‘You do an album with all the people that were influenced by Cactus.’ I told him that I thought I could do that, but I need a budget. Without that, I can’t do anything. So we put a budget together, and next thing I know, we’re doing it.”
That was hardly surprising, but the way Appice tells it, the execution was unusual.
“The weird thing about it is that it started out in my little studio here in Florida,” he recalls. “I started the tracks solo playing the drums. I didn’t play to anybody. I figured out a way to play with myself. I kind of mapped out the song vocally so I had something to play to. The track ‘One Way… or Another’ I played without anything. And that was really difficult, because I was like singing it to myself while I played the drums. It’s a really rough thing. On the song ‘Evil’, I put the click track on and then played it all out. I did the whole song like that.”
It seem somewhat unprecedented to say the least to start with the drums and then leave it to the other musicians to fill in their parts, but the approach clearly works because the results sound perfectly in sync. Appice offers his own explanation.
“We wrote the songs from Cactus,” he says. “I played on all the songs. So I had some experience of playing them. I cut some parts out, but I knew what I was cutting out, so I just sang it that way. I’d give it to the singer and the guitarist and he would put a guitar or a harmonica on it. Then the bass player did the bass and then at that point, I had the demos. It wasn’t finished, but it was enough to show Ted Nugent or Jim McCarty or whoever would be on it. I tried to give them a complete song.”
It was clearly an ambitious idea and an over-arched effort at that.
“I manufactured the album somehow,” Appice maintains, only half-jokingly.
Nevertheless, while jazz drummers often took the lead back in the day — Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich are clear examples — the world of rock and roll often finds drummers subjected to the role of back-up players. Dave Clark, Buddy Miles, Phil Collins and Appice himself are the obvious exceptions. In this particular case, Appice was the only constant given that he was the only musician who appeared on every track of the album.
“This is really a tribute to the band,” Appice insists. “The cover was my idea, to do like a Sgt. Pepper kind of thing that included everybody that played on the album or had something to do with it. The original idea was to build it around the blues, but I said, what about including some friends of mine that I know would be willing to play on it.”
There’s no doubt that Appice has quite a bit of history that he can reflect on. One band that comes to mind that might not get the top billing that his other outfits receive is the group Blue Murder, a short-lived outfit initiated by British guitarist John Sykes in 1987 following his departure from Whitesnake. The band initially went through a series of personnel changes until Appice was recruited for the band’s eponymous debut, which was released 35 years ago this month, in June 1989. It not only scored well in the British charts but climbed into the top realms of the Billboard rankings as well.
“John Sykes is out of the business,” Appice replied when asked about the possibility of reviving the band, something he had attempted to do once before in the past. “He’s out of touch with everybody. I just heard that he doesn’t like the way the business is today. You do a record, but really, why bother? I’ve done so many records and I did a King Kobra record [last year], We Are Warriors. That’s another one of my bands, and we had the two original guitar players. But nobody hears it. Nobody buys it. I just wanted to keep the legacy going. That record took a while, and if you boil it down, we probably made 10 cents an hour. But I loved being in that band. I’d been in the band since 2010. We did some touring. We did Europe, and it was fantastic in Europe. So I said, let’s keep the legacy alive. We did a great record, but nobody heard it. We had a tremendous video and we spent a lot of money on it, but it didn’t get to the action on it that we wanted. I did an album with Fernando Perdomo and got no response. But we’re gonna do another because we love doing it.”
Fortunately though, Appice is seeing success with Cactus.
“I never thought we were going to break into the charts at number three,” Appice admitted in regards to Temple of Blues’ recent position on Billboard’s blues album chart. “I just wanted to get on the charts and work our way up to the Top Ten and thought that would be great! It blew me away. Maybe it will get us some sort of nomination for best blues compilation or something like that. It would be amazing.”
Still, it’s not like Appice is lacking in recognition. In fact, his list of accolades numbers well into the dozens.
“I got all kinds of awards,” he insisted. “I would just like to get a nomination for this. I don’t care if I win. Just to get a nomination would be a great thing.”
Nevertheless, Appice says he has no regrets.
“I always say I’ve been blessed in my career,” he muses. “Look, I’m not worth $400 million. But you know what? I’ve got a beautiful 4500 square foot amazing house. I’ve got a guest house and a studio. My kids are doing good. I got a lake outside. I have two acres of land in Florida. I’m happy. The fact that I don’t have to worry about money is amazing. My wife’s got more money than I do. And she’s brilliant. A Harvard Business School graduate. She’s very smart. And we’ve been together for 22 years.”
- Apeman Hop: The Ramones’ ‘Animal Boy’ Turns 40 - May 19, 2026
- Remembering Dave Mason - April 23, 2026
- Young Fresh Fellows: Live, Love, ‘Loft’ - April 9, 2026
You May Also Like
-
September 20, 2023 -
July 17, 2018 -
