Vinnie Appice is regarded as one of the best rock drummers ever. At a young age, Appice landed a gig playing for John Lennon and later became drummer for Black Sabbath during Ronnie James Dio’s tenure as vocalist. After working with legendary artists and bands, Appice has rightfully earned legendary status in the rock and heavy metal community. Recently, Vinnie took the time to chat with Backstage Axxess about his career and the things that he is working on now. It is a fascinating perspective on an amazing career.
Thom: I know you have been asked a lot about your past but I would like to start with an update on your current projects. I checked your website and you seem incredibly busy these days.
Vinnie: Right now the big thing is a new band I am working with called Kill Devil Hill with Rex Brown from Pantera, guitarist Mark Zavon and vocalist Dewey Bragg. You probably haven’t heard of Dewey, but you will. We just got management and plan to have a CD out in the fall. After that we will do some touring. It’s really cool stuff, a cross between Black Sabbath and Alice in Chains. You can hear clips of some of our stuff at http://killdevilhillmusic.com/.
Thom: Is it significant that you chose the place where the Wright Brothers had the first successful flight?
Vinnie: No significance. (laughs) Most people think it is some evil thing and don’t make the connection to the flight at the place in North Carolina.
Thom: I’m a history teacher as well, so I am very familiar with Kill Devil Hill.
Vinnie: That’s funny!
Thom: Speaking of history, you and your brother Carmine are two of the greatest drummers of all-time. You are eleven or twelve years apart in age, so is it safe to guess that Carmine influenced you to become a drummer?
Vinnie: One of our older cousins was a drummer and we used to go see him; that kind of put the bug in Carmine. When I was growing up Carmine’s career was in full swing with bands rehearsing at the house and everything and then I got the bug. Then I took drum lessons from the same guy Carmine did in Brooklyn NY, Dick Bennett; not at the same time of course. So it was, one inspired the other and the rest is history.
Thom: So was it an advantage having Carmine as an older brother or did you feel pressure to live up to the family name?
Vinnie: Well, Carmine was established as one of the best rock drummers around so there was some pressure. I had to be pretty good or I was going to fall behind. So I practiced really hard and listened to a lot of drummers including my brother Carmine. I took it all very seriously. Then, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get things moving.
Thom: And one of the first artists you played with was John Lennon, right?
Vinnie: Yeah, that was 1975. I was with one of my early bands recording at The Record Plant in New York City and our producer was Jimmy Iovine, who was also working with Lennon at the time. Lennon was recording “Whatever Gets You Through the Night” with Elton John and they needed some hand claps on the record. Somebody came to where we were rehearsing and asked if we could do some hand claps, because they didn’t have computers back then. He asked about us and after that he would come and visit us during rehearsal. He liked us and we wound up doing a couple of video shoots together and played a live show. We also backed his wife on eight tracks that he produced, so we got to work with him in different capacities. He was our guitar player! (laughs) It was pretty cool at seventeen to be working with him.
Thom: I can’t imagine, you must still look back on it now and think about what an incredible thing that was.
Vinnie: Yeah, at the time I approached it from a professional standpoint, wanting to be a professional musician and so I didn’t look at it as a fan. But there were times I would sit back and think, holy shit, that’s John Lennon, but I didn’t freak out because I was used to having musicians around because of Carmine. I kind of wish I did because then I would have taken more pictures. I didn’t take any pictures with John Lennon and I regret that.
Thom: Then it was Rick Derringer.
Vinnie: Yeah, Rick was recording at The Record Plant and heard my band. He was recording with Edgar Winter at the time and was talking about forming his own band. He liked my drumming so I gave him my number and he called me six months later. I was playing with a band called Axis in Louisiana, a three-piece featuring Danny Johnson and Jay Davis. He came down to see the band and liked Danny, and then we formed Derringer with bassist Kenny Aaronson. We did three albums over about three years and a few years ago we did a reunion tour and had a really good time.
Thom: From a historical perspective you progressed from working with John Lennon-who had the famous “imagine no religions” line-to Rick Derringer-now a born again Christian- to Black Sabbath of all things; kind of an interesting progression.
Vinnie: (laughs) What can I say? I guess I am just a religious guy. It is funny isn’t it? That’s just the way things fell. When I played with Rick he wasn’t a born again Christian, he was a pretty wild rock star kind of guy. We had a good time together. As far as Black Sabbath, even before that I got a call from Ozzy Osbourne to join his band. I was still pretty young at the time so I figured I would ask Carmine because he knew him. Carmine said Ozzy’s crazy so I turned it down. That was when he was doing “The Blizzard of Oz.” A couple of months later I got the call from Sabbath when they were in L.A and I went down and met Ronnie and the boys and I was in.
Thom: Any regrets like not being able to play with Randy Rhodes?
Vinnie: I remember Randy from his days in Quiet Riot. When Axis moved out to LA we did shows with them and I remember telling Randy he played great and giving him my number. That was right before things started happening. I think I made the right decision though. While Ozzy went on to become bigger, Sabbath was the legendary band. They were the band that started it all. And I always think about the plane ride Randy took and I was young and crazy at the time and I probably would have hopped in there with him.
Thom: Wow, that’s an intense way to look at it.
Vinnie: What’s weird about it is that the day we heard about Randy, Sabbath was stuck at an airport somewhere. We were fogged in and going to miss the gig if we didn’t get out of there so we chartered this small plane. The fight lasted about an hour and a half and it was this bumpy ride in bad weather and we were all scared shitless. Right after we land, we hear Randy died in a small plane crash. That was weird because we had never flown in a small plane before and we never did again.
Thom: I remember reading about the tension between Sabbath and Ozzy at the time. Was that just hype?
Vinnie: Well he was out singing the old Sabbath songs and so were we, so there was a rivalry, mostly between fans. It was good for both of us in the long run because it kept us both in the press. It continued when we went on and did Dio, but at that point Ronnie wasn’t just looked at as a singer for Black Sabbath anymore. There was some tension there, but we did what we had to do.
Thom: They were very different, I mean I saw Sabbath with Dio and his stage presence was simply amazing, and in many ways I thought he was a better performer than Ozzy.
Vinnie: Well Ronnie was a real singer and Ozzy is a showman. Ozzy is great at what he does, he keeps the crowd entertained and there is a tension that he creates which is an art within itself.
Thom: That’s a great way to look at it, Ozzy is the consummate showman and Ronnie was the ultimate front man.
Vinnie: In fact Ronnie never did that “how are you feeling out there tonight,” thing. He introduced the song, talked a little and sang his ass off.
Thom: Right up to the end his voice was powerful. Did he have some pre-show regimen?
Vinnie: Never warmed up, never did any of that. Before a show he would hang out in the dressing room, have a drink and we would call him for the show and we burst right into “The Mob Rules” of all things. I only heard him struggle once, and that was at a show in Chicago and it was because he had a cold.
Thom: I’m really looking forward to your upcoming show with Big Noize. You sing songs from all of your different bands but I was wondering if this is the first time you will be playing Ronnie’s songs since he passed away and what kind of emotions that stirs up.
Vinnie: I’ve done these songs with Joe (Lynn Turner) singing before, in 2007 when Ronnie was alive and Joe does a great job. The most emotional thing after Ronnie died was when we did a tribute show in July with Heaven and Hell featuring Glenn Hughes and Jorn Lande on vocals. We rehearsed at the same rehearsal space in Wales so that was kind of weird because Ronnie wasn’t there. It was ok before the singers came down, then when there was someone else singing “Heaven and Hell” it was kind of sad and we all got pretty emotional. It’s great to still be playing the songs though. At my drum clinics I played to some original tracks for songs like “Last in Line” and “We Rock” with Ronnie’s vocals. At a couple of the drum clinics right after he died people were getting teary eyed. It’s cool now, it’s great to keep it up and still play the music.
Thom: We are glad too! Before I let you go I want to thank you for all the great music and I will definitely check out Kill Devil Hill.
Vinnie: I appreciate that, and we’ll see you in Blasdell, NY in a couple of weeks.
We would like to thank Lisa Eichholzer-Walker for setting up the interview with Vinny. For more information on the Big Noize show or any other Big Noize shows, please go to their website at: http://bignoizemusic.com/. For more information on Vinny Appice, please visit his site at: http://www.vinnyappice.com/.
