Guitar legend, Richie Kotzen, recently played The Robin in Bilston and before he went and wowed the audience we caught up with him back stage to hear about his new album, recording at 3am in the morning wearing just a cloak and making guitar-based kung fu videos.

 

 

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Richie Kotzen> So far its been very good and the shows seem to be getting better as far as the band is concerned, it takes us a few shows to get all of the cobwebs off. So, last night was a really good performance and I'm hoping that tonight will be even better.

 

 

Yeah, I was using a prototype of my signature amp and something went wrong and it just blew. So maybe I shouldn't have been using that one in the first place.

 

 

Nahhhh, I don't get into that stuff. I don't get attached to stuff like that.

 

 

I get asked this question all the time, when are you going to be playing here, there. And it really isn't up to me. If I had my way I'd be playing every night. Because the music business is the way it is now, there are fewer opportunities to come and play, so if someone calls and says hey, do you wanna come and do some shows - then I go play! So that's what I got here. These guys (FaBluSis Promotions) put these 10 shows together and brought me over here. So here we are doing it!

 

 

You know, they're great! I'm lucky I usually play to audiences that are knowledgeable and know my music, so my audience is usually pretty consistent.

 

 

Yeah probably a lot of long guitar solos (laughing) and jamming and we have a lot of songs to choose from. I have a new record out called 'Peace Sign' and we will do a couple from that, so I'm hoping its going to be entertaining for people who love the guitar.

 

 

Nooooo, I give the guys a bunch of songs to understand and learn but we don't rehearse a lot. We might go over each tune once or twice just to make sure they know how it goes and then it kinda comes together as we tour. These are quality guys in my band and I don't have a lot of patience for sitting in a room teaching people parts. So I'm one of these guys that if somebody plays with me I need them to come in, show up, already knowing the stuff, ya know? We just wanna get on stage and make it happen.

 

 

Yeah, I do. I don't have a specific set list. On stage, I have a list of songs that we know and then I pick from that. The down side is that you sometimes get some awkward silent moments in between the songs but the upside for me is that I'm not constrained to a predetermined set on songs. I love having that flexibility.

So, do we get a Richie Kotzen show, do we get a Forty Deuce show, do we get a mixture of everything...?

 

Well I don't do any of that material (Forty Deuce) that was more of a side project, we toured it and it was fun but that doesn't really fit into the mould of this environment. I'm doing stuff from 1994 and stuff from Peace Sign and everything in between, so a lot of tunes.

 

 

Yeah, its a really live sounding record, even though its not a band record, its all me again. but it has a live feel to it because of the way it was recorded. It's hard for me to talk about my records because in a weird way I look at them all the same. Essentially they are all just collections of my songs; little snapshots of what I'm going through, thinking about or doing at

the time, so one of the things that's kinda interesting is that if at the end of the recording I walk away and say this the best I've done so far, then I know that I have done something good. I'm usually most excited about my most current work and as an artist, that's gotta be a good thing. And that's how I feel right now, for me I feel like it's a success.

 

 

Yeah, I like both. I like working with guys but also like working on my own. If I wake up at 3am in the morning with an idea for a song, the recording studio is in my house, so I walk through my hallway, through the office...

 

 

Nah, I usually where a cloak and a Venetian Carnival Mask... and so i walk through into the studio, everything is always on and mic-ed up and I start throwing ideas around and by morning I have a song to work with. It's a very natural process and a comfortable way for me to work and I'm happy with the results. I don't have to please a (record) label or anything and because

I don't have that in the way, I think my records of late have been much better because I'm not having to deal with other people's ideas of what the record should be.

 

But I like working and song-writing with others too. It's not like I sit around and prefer one way or the other - I'm just doing stuff. If Dan and I write a song together, then we write a song, its however it flows. If an idea comes, I act on it. If I then have a collection of ideas that i like, then that sounds like a record to me, so I put it out.

 

 

No, not really, they kinda just come about, ya know? I've met people in my life that I have worked with and recorded with. Last year I did a side project (Wilson Hawk) with a very close friend of mine called Richie Zito. We worked together in the past and so we did that project and wrote together, so things come in different ways. It's not a matter of seeking it out its more by chance that something falls into your lap.

And that album has a much more soul-based, traditional feel to it...

 

Oh yeah... absolutely.

 

 

Well, no, not really... I had 3 or 4 songs that would have gone on my next solo record that I actually put on Wilson Hawk because it was the project I was working on. Then it was more the tempo and production values that were more focused on that kind of 'soul' sound; Horns, background singers, etc.

 

 

Yeah, I like that format a lot. It gives me freedom.

 

 

Nah, my music is not really two-guitar music. Perhaps in the past I've recorded two guitar parts but in this format where we are improvising and free-forming, we don't need another guitarist just getting in the way of my shit and f**king around, ya know? I like bass, drums, guitar, maybe a keyboard player.

And I heard that your daughter shot the 'Paying Dues' video? That must have been fun?

Oh yeah, that was great fun. We were just playing around, messing about on the computer and

stuff. We did it over a weekend.

 

 

Well, I'm not playing them live or anything. I concentrate on hitting the key phrases and try to make it look like I know what I am doing. Hopefully I'm playing in time so it doesn't look like a badly dubbed kung-fu movie!

 

Well we started in the UK this time and I don't finish until Dec 6th, then we will play South America next year. This is the longest single spell of dates that I have done. I usually mix it up a bit, do some studio work, whatever. I'm going cold-turkey for sure! I'm not sure if I'm gonna last!