We've been writing and recording together for the past year and I'm ecstatic with the results." Richie adds: "We found common ground in classic and blues-based rock - we both come from that mentality. He's a virtuoso guitarist but he's got a great sense of melody - the whole thing just felt very natural." Both artists are also prolific songwriters.Īdrian comments, "I think Richie and I complement each other really well. BIG and POISON during his long and acclaimed career, which has to date seen him release more than 20 solo albums. Kotzen is the frontman for THE WINERY DOGS as well as having been the guitarist for both MR. Smith is best known as one of IRON MAIDEN's principal guitarists, having also enjoyed success as a solo artist. * Limited-edition 12" red-and-black-smoke-effect-colored vinyl The album will be available in these formats: We'd get together whenever we could and throw some ideas around and it just evolved, which was great because there was no pressure and nothing other than just a natural course and I think the record really speaks for that." And sometimes it was the other way round, so it was a kind of circular motion. Sometimes Adrian would send me a riff and I would immediately hear some kind of melody or a vocal idea. Kotzen adds: "We had a very fluid process in writing. There's a lot of cool songs on there that we are really happy with.” We had developed a really strong idea of how we wanted it to sound, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Pretty much everything on the album is handled between Richie and myself, including the production. We both share a love for classic rock and bluesy rock, so we decided to get together and start writing some songs and it went from there. We'd been jamming as we'd been friends for a few years before that. Smith comments: " Richie and I started working together a couple of years ago. The record features special guest performances by Adrian's IRON MAIDEN bandmate Nicko McBrain on drums for the track "Solar Fire", and Richie's longstanding friend and touring partner Tal Bergman on drums for "You Don't Know Me", "I Wanna Stay" and "'Til Tomorrow", with Richie picking up the sticks on the other five songs. Recorded on the Turks & Caicos Islands in February 2020, produced by Richie and Adrian and mixed by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley, this nine-track opus is a consummate collaboration between these two highly respected musicians who co-wrote all the songs and also share lead vocals and trade off on guitar and bass duties throughout the record.Įxploding with powerful melodies and harmonies, the album embodies the spirited attitude of 1970s classic rock with a melting-pot of influences ranging from blues, hard rock, traditional R&B and more, blending the pair's backgrounds and life experiences to result in a thoroughly contemporary sound. Performances from the band take place in home studios in London and Los Angeles while outdoor footage juxtaposes the rugged beauty of the British Jurassic coast with the historic Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific coastline near Malibu. The black-and-white video was once again shot on both sides of the Atlantic. This would be a great track for us to stretch out live for some guitar improvisation between the two of us."Īs well as the pair co-writing, co-producing and sharing guitars and vocals, Richie also plays bass and drums on the track. There is something moody and mysterious going on in this track that I find quite engaging. The official music video for the disc's second single, "Scars", can be seen below.ĭescribed by Adrian as a song which "starts off with a dreamy intro then comes in heavy," "Scars" is a hark-back to '70s bluesy rock which the duo found particularly fun to work on.Īs Richie explains: "I remember 'Scars' being one of the songs we wrote in the very beginning of the process. SMITH/KOTZEN, the electrifying collaboration between guitarists and vocalists Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen, will release its self-titled debut album on March 26 via BMG.