Revered by legions of high-profile musicians, including Led Zeppelin's John
Bonham, as one of the most innovative and powerful drummers that rock and roll
has ever seen, the legendary Carmine Appice needs no introduction.
Now, the man whose soulful pounding powered the uniquely heavy psychedelia of
Vanilla Fudge's mesmerizing late-1960s remake of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" up the
charts and later co-wrote Rod Stewart's smash hits "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" and
"Young Turks" is launching an exciting new record label, Rocker Records.
The first four releases are due out Nov. 19 as digital offerings, and they
include /Bogert/Appice & Friends/, TNA (featuring Appice and guitar
master Pat Travers)/ Live in Europe/, and two concert recordings from
his highly influential post-Vanilla Fudge group Cactus, /Live in
Japan/ and /Live in the USA/. Expect a bonanza of Appice-related
material to flow from this new pipeline.
Information regarding these and other upcoming releases can be found
at www.rocker-records.com - www.rocker-records.com and www.facebook.com/carminerockerre
cords -
www.facebook.com/carminerockerrecords
.
It was a meeting with Mike Cusanelli, from the record label and management
company World Sound, that provided the impetus for the new venture. Wondering
out loud, Cusanelli suggested an idea to Appice that sounded very appealing.
"Mike, being a records kind of guy, says, 'You know, if you have product laying
around, you should probably start a record label that would be able to get your
product out, and then you could sell other people's product – from friends of
yours who have product that maybe want to release it," explained Appice. "So I
said, 'Really, that's interesting.' So then he had a talk with the head of eOne,
which is our distributor, and he was totally into the idea. So I thought, 'Okay,
let's give it a try.' And these first releases are things that I've had
basically in the can, with really nothing to do to them. They're from my
personal collection. So he says, 'Let's get it out to the fans!"
That's just what Appice and Rocker Records plan on doing.
"It's going to be a lot of digital stuff," said Appice. "So maybe we'll have a
digital online store, but there are enough of those already. We have a web site
now, rocker-records.com - rocker-records.com, which will keep news of what's coming out
and what's available and all that, and maybe provide some links to things you
can buy from iTunes or something. We may do that, but we're too new. We're
really taking it as it comes."
Appice discussed each of the four initial recordings:
Cactus /Live in the USA/
tinyurl.com/l3y5x42
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/live-in-the-usa/id731019984?ls=1>
Recorded in 2006 at B.B. King's in New York City, this heaping plateful of hot
and heavy boogie-rock documents the rebirth of the original Cactus lineup, minus
singer Rusty Day, who died in the '80s. "Actually, that was the first show we'd
done since we broke up in the '70s," said Appice. "So that's one cool thing
about it. It was the warm-up show we did for the Sweden Rock Festival, which was
the next show we did after that a couple days later before 10,000 people." This
record has an interesting story behind it. "We had a DVD years ago – 2006 – that
came out on MVD," said Appice. "Somebody in Europe took the soundtrack off the
DVD and released it, unbeknownst to us. So, when we found it, we went, 'Huh?'
And it was selling well, so we worked out a deal with the guy and he paid us
royalties, and when I listened to it, I said, 'Wow, this sounds really good.'
And it has Tim Bogert on it. So you've got Cactus with Tim Bogert."
Track listing:
1. Long Tall Sally
2. Swim
3. One Way or Another
4. Cactus Music
5. Brother Bill
6. Muscle & Soul
7. OLEO (Bass solo)
8. Part of the Game
9. Evil
10. Cactus Boogie
11. Parchman Farm
12. Rock & Roll Children
Cactus /Live in Japan/
tinyurl.com/mnzowpk
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/live-in-japan/id731012135?ls=1>
The current version of Cactus went over to Japan in 2012 to record two shows,
one audio and one video, "which will come out next year," according to Appice.
He describes that first performance as a "kick-ass show," and it is an absolute
barnburner, with Cactus rolling through classics such as their versions of Mose
Allison's "Parchman Farm" and Willie Dixon's "You Can't Judge a Book (By Lookin'
at the Cover)," plus "Rock & Roll Children" and "That's Evil." Appice said,
"/Live in Japan/ is the first night. It's not complete. It's a
single-disc. But it was the first night we played in Tokyo, and it was great. It
was a kick-ass show. I mean, we'd never been to Japan before, and the crowd was
great. It was sold-out, and (guitarist) Jim McCarty was on fire, and the band
just sounded great." Pete Bremy is the bassist for this occasion.
Track listing:
1. Swim
2. One Way or Another
3. Brother Bill
4. Can't Judge a Book (By Lookin' at the Cover)
5. Alaska
6. Electric Blue
7. Muscle & Soul
8. Evil
9. Parchman Farm
10. Rock & Roll Children
TNA (Travers & Appice) /Live in Europe/
tinyurl.com/meylep3
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/live-in-europe/id731026323?ls=1>
Take two sublime musical talents like Pat Travers and Carmine Appice. Let them
go at it, and the results will be magical, like they were for their
album, /It Takes a lot of Balls/. As Appice recalls, "It was the best
album I'd done in years." In 2004, they toured together and brought the house
down everywhere they went, playing 30 shows in Europe. This night was no
different. "That was the first night Tony Franklin played with us," said Appice.
"We had T.M. Stevens playing with us for two weeks before that, and then Tony
joined us, and we did another two weeks. Somebody sent me that CD, a live gig. I
don't even know where it came from, but when I got it in the mail in my office
in L.A., I played it in the car, and I said, 'Wow! This sounds great.' And I had
it in my computer, and I would listen to it on my iTunes for my enjoyment, and
it was really good." The versions of "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" and the Travers
classic "Boom Boom" are full of vim and vigor, and there is one bonus item, an
unreleased studio track that Appice finished with keyboardist Alessandro Del
Vecchio.
Track listing:
1. Taken
2. Better from a Distance
3. I Don't Care
4. Crash and Burn
5. Livin' Alone
6. Tony Solo
7. Gotta Have Ya
8. Keep on Rockin'
9. Snortin’ Whiskey
10. Can't Escape the Fire
11. Evil
12. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy
13. Boom Boom
14. Stand Up
15. Funkified
/Bogert/Appice & Friends/
tinyurl.com/mogfuru
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/friends/id731027537?ls=1>
Carmine Appice Set To Launch New Record Label
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