Fast Chat: Carmine Appice on Vanilla Fudge, 'Diaries,' more

Carmine Appice hits hard. The drummer, 76, who was raised in Brooklyn but spent many of his adult years in Long Beach and Oceanside, has played with some of the top talent in the music industry.  

His career began recording five albums with psychedelic rock band Vanilla Fudge from 1967 to 1969. He moved on to jam with late guitar god Jeff Beck in Beck, Bogert, Appice and backed Rod Stewart in his heyday. Along the way he was in other influential bands of his own like Cactus, King Kobra and Blue Murder.

On April 16, Appice will return to Long Island with Vanilla Fudge for a gig at The Space at Westbury. He spoke to Newsday's David J. Criblez about the band’s formation, making a hit with Stewart, his new one-man show, “The Carmine Appice Diaries,” and the passing of Beck.

You recently put together a one-man show. What does that performance consist of? 

I start by getting on the drums and playing a groove. People sing with me and then they get to pick the stories I’m going to tell. I put a list of 20 stories on the screen and members of the audience raise their hand to get called on. I have stories like “John Lennon Eats Lasagna,” “Why is Prince in My Bed?” or “Hunting With Ted Nugent.” These are all stories from my life and every night is different. We get to do about eight then I play a drum solo. After the show, I sign copies of my book, “Stick It!,” at the merch table. It’s like an up-close and personal meet and greet that’s entertaining.

You and your younger brother, Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio), are both successful rock drummers from the same family, which is so rare. How did you both end up on the same instrument?

Well, I’m the original [laughs]. When Vinny saw me on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and other programs, he got inspired. I left a drum set home and one day I came back seeing him at age 8 playing my kit sounding pretty good. When I asked my mother, “How did he learn this?” She said, “He’s out there all the time! He’s driving me crazy like you did!” We put that into a song, “Bros in Drums” on our 2017 collaborative album, “Sinister.” But it goes beyond that. My cousin Joey was a drummer as well as my cousins Frankie, Anthony and Tommy. There’s like six or seven drummers on my father’s side.

How would you describe the difference in your styles?

Vinny is more Buddy Rich with his speed. I’m more Gene Krupa with the heavy grooves and stick twirling.

How did Vanilla Fudge initially form and what made your sound so unique?

I heard there was a whole scene happening on Long Island. Mark Stein [vocalist-keyboardist] invited me to play with them. He said they needed a drummer who could sing but who was still technical with a great right foot and good hands. I was married to my first wife at the time and for me it was a way to get out of town. I had never played with a bass player before. When I played with [late bassist] Tim Bogert, I thought, “This guy is amazing!” I never heard someone play a Hammond B3 like Mark plus his voice was ridiculous. Vince [Martell] was an incredible rhythm guitar player and a pretty good lead player. The four of us just gelled from the first visit, so I said, “Let’s do it!” We started taking songs and slowing them down. Whenever we played, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” people would stop dancing and come up to the stage to watch us because we were so animated. We came on like gangbusters.

What made you retool “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by slowing it down?

Tim, Vince, me and Mark were sittin’ outside a disco club in New York, listening to the radio smoking a joint and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” came on. We thought this would be great slowed down because the lyrics are hurtin’. It's a happy song but not happy lyrics. We tried to match the lyrics to the mood of the song, which was eerie and evil.

How did you land on the name Vanilla Fudge?

We were originally called the Pigeons, but Atlantic Records didn’t like that. One of our fans said, “You are like white soul — vanilla fudge!” We were like, “Whoa! We like that!”

You played on and co-wrote “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” by Rod Stewart, whose band you were in from 1976 to 1982. What’s the origin of that song?

Rod used to say, “I want a song like ‘Miss You’ from the Rolling Stones.” I went to my buddy Duane Hitchings’ house who had an eight-track studio with a drum machine. We put together a really good demo and Rod loved it. It turned out to be the biggest single he ever had. Rod liked to try new things and this was a vision of what he wanted to do. I learned a lot from Rod about songwriting, image, everything.

We recently lost Jeff Beck, who you played with in Beck, Bogert, Appice. What kind of impact did his death have on you?

I was empty for three, four days. … I couldn’t believe it. We are currently working on a BBA box set combining “Live at the Rainbow in London” and “Live in Japan.” I just listened to the test pressing and handed over the liner notes to Jeff’s manager days before he died. I’m still blown away. Tim and I have known Jeff since 1967. We used to jam at the Speakeasy and have been friends ever since. Jeff even played on Vanilla Fudge’s “Mystery” album from 1984. He will be greatly missed.

By David J. Criblez

david.criblez@newsday.comDavidJCriblez

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.