During an appearance on the latest episode of the Guitar Hang podcast, THE WINERY DOGS frontman and acclaimed solo artist Richie Kotzen spoke about his upcoming second collaborative album with IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, “Black Light / White Noise”, due on April 4 via BMG. Regarding how he and Adrian go about writing music and lyrics together, Richie said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “There is a bit of a method to our madness. As far as how we record, we kind of adopted a little bit of the approach that I take with my solo albums, because the truth is that we kind of are writing as we go. And so the part that we adopted is this whole notion of everything is mic’d up and ready to go all the time. So the drums are downstairs in the drum room, mic’d up, there’s a bass path for the signal to go, the guitar setup. And so what happens is as we’re throwing it down, recording the ideas, we can, over the course of a week, two, three days, whatever, go back and change stuff until we get it how we like it. Even to the point that we can change the drum fill. It’s, like, ‘All right, well, yeah, I wanna rewrite this bridge, and it doesn’t really work with the drum fill. If we change the drum fill somehow,’ so I can go punch it in, and, bam, there it is.”
Kotzen continued: “And then as far as the actual, where the stuff is coming from, the material, it comes from both of us. So, on one hand, Adrian will show up here in this room [at my house] with his laptop and start going through, ‘All right. I got this idea. I got this,’ and he’ll play me five or six ideas. And so, for argument’s sake, let’s maybe say four of ’em I connect with: ‘Oh, yeah, we can do something with that.’ I’ll put ’em in my computer, ’cause my computer has the software and it’s connected to the outboard gear. So, then I’ll say, ‘Okay, well, I’ve got this,’ and I’ll play him six or seven [ideas].’ And he’ll say, ‘All right, well, I like those three.’ So we got seven things that are worth messing with. And this is where the process takes a lot of time, because we’ll work on something and we’ll build what we call a template. And so the template can be built on sometimes a simple drum beat that we play and program or the template can be me downstairs playing a form. And we’ve done both. And so what we’ll do is build the track on that. And then from there we can decorate it however we wish.”
Richie added: “The real fun is the lyrics and coming up with what do we wanna sing and talk about, which, depending on what day of the week it is, is sometimes obvious and then sometimes not so obvious. But something that happens is very interesting for us is that — and it happened on several songs. I know on the first record happened on ‘Solar Fire’ and on this record, it happened on ‘Heavy Weather’. I would be singing something on my demo, and I would not be singing real words. It would be, like — I think the word’s phonetic or something like [that]… And so it’s, like, fake words, and I would do that. And I’d play it for him. And he’d say, ‘Well, I like that chorus.’ And he’d say, ‘It sounds like you’re saying ‘heavy weather’.’ I’m, like, ‘Really?’ I said, ‘What do you mean? Like a bad storm?’ He said, ‘Yeah, exactly. Like a thunderstorm — heavy like a snowstorm, heavy weather.’ I’m, like, ‘Wow.’ So, how would you write a song with the title ‘Heavy Weather’? Well, it’s something you have to face. You’ve never faced the heavy weather. And it’s, like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I like that. Let’s write something off that.’ And so now it turns into this conversation, and we’re just talking. It’s, like, well, imagine if you had a child and they grew up in a situation where everything was pretty much there for you. Everything is lined up for you to either take the ball and run with it or run it into the ground. And maybe they run it into the ground and then they kind of have an attitude or they wanna blame. It’s, like, well, wait a minute. You’ve never faced the heavy weather the way I have — meaning being left alone to your own devices, go figure it out for yourself. And so now we’ve got something to write about. And so that’s how this stuff happens. All of ’em, really. You come up with a situation that either you went through or you fabricate. That’s the other thing. A lot of people have this misconception, like, everything that an artist writes about has to have happened to them. Not necessarily. It could have happened to somebody they know. It could be a fantasy or something imagined. Let’s not close all the doors of creativity.”
Recorded at The House, Los Angeles, California, produced by Richie and Adrian and mixed by Jay Ruston, “Black Light / White Noise” was previously described in a press release as a “ten-track … masterclass in modern rock, with Adrian and Richie‘s prodigious talents as songwriters, musicians and vocalists on full display.”
The official music video for the LP’s second single, “Black Light”, can be seen below. The dynamic, multi-layered clip, again produced and directed by Kevin and Richard Ragsdale a.k.a. The Ragsdale Brothers (DAUGHTRY, Dorothy feat. Slash, THEORY OF A DEADMAN),features the duo performing with bassist Julia Lage and drummer Bruno Valverde, alongside acclaimed Russian acrobat, contortionist and former Cirque Du Soleil performer Gyulnara Karaeva.
“Black Light” was a song that very nearly didn’t make it on to the album until a late-night session saw them strike studio gold. And it’s lucky they did as not only is it a song about deceit and deception, where the black light is a metaphor that reveals the truth about a person lurking under the surface, but it’s become a true album highlight, even lending its name to the album title. With help from U.K. photographer John McMurtrie, it also inspired the album cover with his UV lights picking up special paint on the black/rosewood custom Fender and Charvel guitars.
“It was a fun video to make,” Richie previously said, “as they have all been when we play together. Adding the UV performance section was fantastic and took us back to the album shoot that we did in London last year.”
“Our friend Gyula really added something to it,” added Adrian, “it helped the song’s narrative of all is not what you see!”
The track itself rides in on a thunderous drum beat and a seething riff before Adrian‘s raw bluesy vocal explodes from the speakers complemented by Richie‘s higher pitched rock tones. A dramatic bridge leads into a knockout chorus, demonstrating the quality and infectious hooks that are to be found throughout “Black Light / White Noise”.
“We had a lot of fun making this,” Adrian said. “We’d be writing and I’d want something inspired by some of my old hard rock or blues go-to bands then it’d go into a more progressive feel — and then Richie has these strong soul influences so there’s a lot to dig into there too. Influences are what makes the musical world go round — they go through you and come out slightly differently.”
“SMITH/KOTZEN is all about finding common ground,” added Richie. “Maybe Adrian will tend to go heavy, and then I’ll lean more in the fusion or funk or soul side of things, but somewhere in the middle is our sound: that heavy blues rock vibe that we really connect on.”
“Black Light / White Noise” is a truly magnificent collection of songs that stands shoulder to shoulder with some of Smith and Kotzen‘s finest work to date. Atmospheric, ambitious, diverse and brilliant, the LP not only features stratospheric guitar solos and raw, bluesy vocals but soulful touches, intricate playing, beautiful songwriting and an assured poise and style that brings to mind a host of legendary musicians (THIN LIZZY, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, CREAM, FREE, DEEP PURPLE) but is undeniably the work of Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen in perfect harmony.
Kotzen commented: “We’re so proud of this new album. It follows on from our debut and the EPs by focusing on collaborating on riffs, lyrics, harmonies and vocals. There’s a SMITH/KOTZEN DNA now and it’s definitely something we need to get out on the road with. I was pleased to work with my friend Jay Ruston on the mixing of the album, let alone my wife Julia (Lage) — who actually plays on ‘White Noise’ as well as four other tracks.”
“We’re like an extended family now,” added Smith. “We have a sound and a vibe and I don’t think many artists are doing what we do — sharing the vocals and the guitars. It takes me back to those classic bands like HUMBLE PIE and CREAM — which is not a bad place to start!”
The full track listing of “Black Light / White Noise” is:
01. Muddy Water
02. White Noise
03. Black Light
04. Darkside
05. Life Unchained
06. Blindsided
07. Wraith
08. Heavy Weather
09. Outlaw
10. Beyond The Pale
Last July, Smith joined Kotzen on stage at the Islington Assembly Hall in London, England to perform THE YARDBIRDS classic “Shapes Of Things”.
SMITH/KOTZEN released the “Better Days …And Nights” EP in September 2022 via BMG. The effort comprised five previously unreleased live tracks, plus for the first time ever on CD, the four studio tracks featured on their sold-out, limited-edition 12-inch vinyl EP, “Better Days”, released in conjunction with Record Store Day in November 2021.
The live songs were recorded during SMITH/KOTZEN‘s inaugural whistle-stop tour of the U.S. and U.K. at the start of 2022, which attracted unanimously rave reviews from fans and media alike, celebrating the duo’s debut on stage together with stellar back-up from Richie‘s wife, internationally acclaimed bass player Julia Lage (VIXEN),and drummer Bruno Valverde of ANGRA.
Japan’s metal bible Burrn! magazine reviewing the Whisky A Go Go show in Los Angeles pronounced it, “An amazing night….this rock n’ roll band is very different from any other…totally unique …and bringing you great songs!”. U.K.’s Classic Rock magazine said the show was a, “masterclass in guitar playing and performance”.
The original EP tracks were produced by Kotzen and Smith and mixed by Kevin Shirley. The live tracks were produced and mixed by Kotzen and Smith.
SMITH/KOTZEN‘s eponymous debut album was released globally through BMG in March 2021 to media and fan acclaim, charting No. 10 on Billboard‘s Top Album Sales chart in the U.S., Top 20 in the U.K. as well as in other major markets such as Germany, Japan and Canada.
Smith is best known as one of IRON MAIDEN‘s principal guitarists, having also enjoyed success as a solo artist. Kotzen is the frontman for THE WINERY DOGS as well as having been the guitarist for both MR. BIG and POISON during his long and acclaimed career, which has to date seen him release more than 20 solo albums. Both artists are also prolific songwriters.
Photo credit: Piper Ferguson
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