CARMINE APPICE Says SHARON OSBOURNE Is 'Ruthless'

Blasting-Zone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with legendary drummer Carmine Appice (VANILLA FUDGE, CACTUS, BECK, BOGERT & APPICE, ROD STEWART, KING KOBRA, OZZY OSBOURNE). Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: Any truth to the rumors that you auditioned to replace Peter Criss in KISS?

Carmine: "No. I never auditioned for KISS. There were rumors that when John Bonham died that me or Cozy Powell were going to replace him and when Keith Moon died, somebody from somewhere within THE WHO camp called the manager I had at the time, who was Bill Aucoin, who managed KISS. I was asked if I was interested in that and I told them I was and then we never heard back from them (laughs). I was playing with Rod Stewart at the time and Rod heard the rumors. He asked me if I was planning on joining LED ZEPPELIN and I told him 'No,' and he said 'Well, that's good, but let's keep the rumors goin'.' (laughs) So we went a did this European tour where I had to do press all the time answering about that."

Blasting-Zone.com: How did you become involved with BLUE MURDER?

Carmine: "I had my eye on BLUE MURDER because I really liked the way John Sykes played in WHITESNAKE and I loved the way Tony Franklin played in THE FIRM. When I heard they were getting a band together, they had Cozy Powell on drums. I was like, 'Man, Cozy is always getting these great gigs.' In the beginning of Cozy's career, he was like John Bonham, ya know? He told me I was his idol and he took a lot of my stuff and did it his own way. I was asked to join RAINBOW originally, but couldn't do it, so they got Cozy and when I couldn't do the Jeff Beck thing, they got Cozy. After a while, I was like, 'What are you my professional replacement?' He played with a lot of great groups, ya know? So when I heard he was playing with BLUE MURDER, I got upset…but then I heard that he was out."

Blasting-Zone.com: Did you seek out the group or did they find you?

Carmine: "I went to London and hung out with my brother and Dio for four days and Chris Wells the writer is the guy who gave me the contact number for BLUE MURDER. I gave them a call and drove up to Blackpool, which is another little city on the beach. I met Tony first at the hotel and the next day, me him and John jammed and from the very first day it was magic. We were so tight… From that day on we said we were gonna do it, ya know?"

Blasting-Zone.com: I can remember being seriously bummed when you guys didn't come out with another record right away…

Carmine: "Well, you know that whole grunge thing came in… That band was wild because we were not set up for failure, okay? We were set up for that album to become a big, big album. We had John Kalodner, we had Geffen and we has the three of us. We had Bob Rock producing…we had everything, ya know? The only thing we didn't have was the manager. Lately, we've been talkin' about getting it together, but John is a very difficult guy to work with. He never knows what he wants to do, ya know?"

Blasting-Zone.com: Really? I never would have guessed…

Carmine: "Yes, unfortunately. I hooked John up with the manager that we have for VANILLA FUDGE and CACTUS so he could try to get some control in his life, but it didn't work out, ya know? The only way BLUE MURDER was gonna happen again in a big way was if he let this manager do a number on it… because he's great at doing it. He put THE CULT together, THE DOORS…he put VANILLA FUDGE back together. He's just really great at doing that stuff. …I was lookin' forward to it. Me, Tony and John played together last October. We jammed and the songs were ninety percent there, ya know? They wouldn't take a lot to get them to the point where we could take them out and do some shows. But John didn't want to get together to take a picture or anything. He's a weird dude…so right now, we're at a standstill with it."

Blasting-Zone.com: At what point were you involved with Ozzy? Was it before or after the recording of "Bark At The Moon"?

Carmine: "It was after the recording. I was actually involved with the mixing and the finishing of that album with Ozzy in New York for three weeks. I was supposed to be given a credit on the album and I guess I was on the first couple of hundred thousand units. They gave me an associate producer credit, but once I got fired, they took it off. But it was in my contract, so I had to sue and it was a big mess. …It's just sad. Look, I think Ozzy's a nice and wonderful guy. All I can say about Sharon is that she's ruthless, she's gotten Ozzy to an amazing point in his career. He's like General Motors now, ya know? …It's just an amazing this that she's done with him. He couldn't have done it without her, there's no doubt about it. She's fired people and screwed people, but she's done it all in the name of helping Ozzy have a great career. It's brilliant, actually, the way she masterminded it all. I give her credit where credit is due."

Read the entire interview at Blasting-Zone.com.