From his humble beginnings in music back in 1986 Richie Kotzen has always had something different about him. By the age of nineteen he had signed a deal with guitar label Shrapnel Records and released three records. At twenty-one he joins Poison for one album before embarking on a solo career that truly began to uncover the real Richie Kotzen. His stops along the way include working with Stanley Clarke and Mr. Big as well as his other band projects Winery Dogs and Smith/Kotzen. Now twenty plus albums later he is set to release his latest album “Nomad” through BMG records. His career has been a remarkable journey and rollercoaster ride. Sitting down with Richie I got to talk about his entire career, uncover some great stories and talk about the new album.
Andrew : Welcome to The Rockpit and welcome to Australia Richie. Thank you for your time; we’re here today to chat about your album “Nomad” which is out this Friday September 27 via BMG. What a stellar little album it is.
Richie : Yeah. Thank you. I’m glad you, I’m glad you said that. It is a little album because it’s only eight songs compared to fifty songs on my last record. I wanted to make a record that was similar to the records that I used to buy when I was young. I came to the realization that many of the formative records in my life were eight songs, side A, side B, four songs on a side. Speaking of vinyl, I see in the back, you have the Smith/Kotzen record. Thank you. Yeah, so that was kind of my feeling was that if I had eight songs that I felt were non repetitive and unique unto themselves, but also could be played in a sequence I would be in good shape. And so that’s how I ended up where I’m at.
Andrew : Absolutely. Now we’ve already had two singles from it, ‘Cheap Shots’ and ‘Insomnia’. Both have that same bluesy, soul infused rock feel to them, but there is a lot more depth in the album. When you get to tracks like ‘Escape’ and ‘This Is a Test’ and ‘Nihilist’ you start really adding some different flavours and textures to the record. Tell me a little bit about how you go to creating such a depth and variety.
Richie : Well, you know, the artists that I respected as a youngster were like that, you know, they were not just a one trick pony. I was influenced by that a lot. There’s a young man by a young boy by, you know, those kinds of artists. When I write music, I’m never thinking in terms of genre or direction. I literally, I really, I mean, to be perfectly honest, I just write what comes to me. So, there’s a lot of ideas, you know, I was telling someone else, I looked in my recorder app in my phone, which is where everything goes before it’s fully developed and I’ve got 398 entries right now. The last time I went through that and cleared it out was for 50 for 50. And so, you know, it’s like the ones that get finished are the kind of the ones that haunt me, that kind of stick with me and I don’t think in terms of style or this or that, they’re all Richie Kotzen style songs. You know, it’s all stuff that I wrote that came outta my brain. If one of them is maybe more suited to be just acoustic guitar and voice, ‘Like This Is a Test’, then I’ll go with it, but I don’t look at it as anything other than just my perspective and my ideas, whatever style that is, is what it is.
I don’t really analyse my music that way.
Andrew : When you say you have 398 ideas that are sitting in your, in your voice recordings. How long do they sit there for generally, before they become something?
Richie : Some of them will sit for years, others will sit for an evening. Sometimes if something’s really strong in my head I’ll develop it the next day when I put it in other times, something, you know, I’ll put it in and I’ll forget about it. And then I go back and uncover things.
Andrew : Going back in your history it all starts with Athens Museum back in 1986. At 16 years of age, you recorded an EP and that almost launched your career through a major recording deal. What can you tell me about the band and what was the style of that band because I haven’t been able to track any of that down.
Richie :Well, the band initially started as a covers band, we played a lot of progressive stuff like Yes and Rush. Then we would also delve into R&B and soul. Initially the band had a female lead singer, and she was able to do Aretha Franklin just as well as she could do Ronnie James Dio. It really was something. We became popular in our tri state area, which would be Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Then the band changed form, it became a four piece and we made that little EP that you’re talking about with original music. I wrote three of the songs. So even back then as a 15, 16-year-old kid I was writing, my focus was to write songs. The bassist wrote the other two songs and we recorded it, we had some interest but we weren’t able to get enough music together after that. In that time period, I ended up getting my own record deal as a soloist/solo artist. At the time I chose that direction because it seemed like it was less resistance. It felt like the band route that I would be faced with constant turmoil and if I went my own way, that it would alleviate a lot of stress and it did, and that’s the way I went. I started off at a very young age, realizing that the reason for me to learn the instrument was to create music. I wanted to make songs that were mine, that I could perform and sing and record and play. And so that’s been my focus.
Andrew : When you speak of that first record deal with Shrapnel Records, which saw three albums, the “Richie Kotzen”, “Fever Dream”, on which you sang lead vocal for the first time and then “Electric Joy”, was that where you were at, at that time falling into that mould. Everything that was attached to shrapnel records back in the day, which was all about shredding and how quickly you could play to a certain degree. Was that a sidestep or was that something that you needed to get out of your system at that stage?
Richie : Yeah. Well, I had two sides to my coin. I had the side that I just described of me as a, a guy that loved the idea of writing his own music and recording it; singing and playing. Then I had the other side that I was one of those young hot shot guitar players as a teenager in my tri state area. I was one of the people that one of the guys at Shrapnel noticed. I was a 15-year-old kid, blah, blah, blah. I focused on that Shrapnel Records deal and I got it. I went to San Francisco and made that first album. Somewhere in that process I realized very quickly that I did not have the passion to an instrumental artist. Once I got in there I don’t know, it just felt like that’s not where I belong. I really realized very quickly that I wanted to be making music where someone was singing. So, I told that to Mike Varney, who was the president of the label; the person that signed me and he said, well, that’s fine, we do that too. But if you’re going to do that, you have to sing your own songs. He gave me the confidence that I needed to go into studio on that second album and be the lead singer. He said, just take all the stuff that you like, the guys that you like to listen to and you will find yourself in there somehow. Find out who you are, what’s your voice and that’s what we did. He helped me, you know, he helped me focus the same way I was focused on the guitar. I focused on my, on my singing and that’s set it off. Now the third album was an instrumental record, but what nobody knows is that album was given as a contract buyout. I never would have made that third album an instrumental record. I did because it was part of getting off of the independent label onto the major label. Part of that original deal was, well, you’re not allowed to do any albums where you’re singing if it’s not with us, because that’s what we are investing in, which is fair, it makes perfect sense. You know, they’re going to invest in me and they need to have some sort of exclusive arrangement. So, to get out of the situation, in addition to some money that exchanged hands, I delivered an instrumental guitar album that wouldn’t compete with the would-be major label vocal record that was never made; which is a whole other story that I don’t want to bore you with, but that’s what happens.
Andrew : It’s funny that you mentioned that too; you start to get the confidence to find your own passion and to find your own voice in doing what you want to do. Was there a shift in the way that you wrote, was it hard to sort of switch off for that last album and just doing an instrumental record again, because that you’d have to have the riffs and the solos as a focal point of a song. Melody still has to be there but the solo was obviously the focus of it all. You stripped away that, that, that lyric content again, you’ve got comfortable, and then you’ve had to step back to the beginning again. How tricky was that to do?
Richie : Yeah. I understand what you’re saying, I mean if I’m going to be totally honest, I was so excited to be getting onto a major label with really powerful people. I was equally frustrated that I had to deliver an instrumental record after having, you know, embraced the fact that this is who I am referring to what I did on that second album with “Fever Dream”. For me, you know, that’s my first album. I was really showcasing what it is that I am capable of doing, or not capable of doing, however you want to look at it. So, there were two sides to the coin in making that instrumental record. Once I got in there, I found a way to make it exciting and do my best. My focus after making “Fever Dream” was on Richie Kotzen the singing guitar player that writes his own songs.
Andrew : From there, I guess, you know, obviously once you’ve completed your deal and your contractual obligations with Shrapnel Records, you go on to join Poison in, in 1991, where I’m led to believe you were sought after by Brett Michaels, who was looking for a guitar player and something different in the band. He had clearly seen and heard something that he liked along the way. The “Native Tongue” album is my favourite Poison record period. For me that’s largely in part because of you and what you added to it, and that’s not only in your guitar playing, but your vocals. Your style and performance is all over that record. When I listen to that record your influence even shows in Brett Michaels’ performance. How much of a breakthrough was that for you because you talk about wanting to be signed to a major label and this is obviously your first step towards doing that.
Richie : Well, you know, the fact of the matter is it was a very strange situation because I was signed. This story keeps coming up lately, because a lot of people are trying to get through the history of Richie Kotzen and this and that, so I’m fine with telling it, but I was on Interscope Records, I was one of the first people they signed when the label formed. Deals were on the table from Interscope and Atlantic. I went with Jimmy Irvine and Tom Wiley and I signed with Interscope. They moved me from PA to LA to Los Angeles. I spent a year writing and I was going to make an album with Danny Kortchmar, who did “End of the Innocence” with Don Henley. So, you can kind of see the wheelhouse that I was in at 20. I was a 20-year-old guy, you know, very young and it was literally bang on top of the food chain, at least behind the scenes, it had nothing to do with the world of hard rock, metal, glam rock or any of that. Danny and I picked out five songs and we were going to write another five or six. I doubt he even remembers this. Why would he? But at the last minute, uh, after approving the budget, Interscope flipped on me and said, no, no, no, no, we don’t want you to make this kind of record. We want you to be a hard rock artist and I’m like, well, I’m not writing hard rock songs. We’ve already gotten motion here. I had also written with Robert Hazzard, an accomplished writer who wrote ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ for Cindy Lauper. We wrote four or five songs in that time. I wrote with Duane Hitchings who did “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” for Rod Stewart? Edgar Winter and I wrote a song together. I mean, all this cool stuff was happening and had some really cool things in the works and they pulled the plug on me, said, no, we want you to make a hard rock album. So, at that point, being a young, confident kid, you know a cocky 20-year-old, I said, no, you can drop me. I’m not making a hard rock record. Much to my shock, they did drop me and there I was without a recording contract. And as they were dropping me, they were very polite about it. And they said, listen, you should know Brett Michaels called us about meeting you. They need a guitar player. Because I was already known, I’d already been on a cover of a guitar magazine and had some articles written about me. Initially my response was like, hey, you know, you guys really are out of your minds. I mean, there’s no connection here. I’m not going to do it there’s no connection musically or creatively. What are you talking about? Just go meet him they told me, you’re here in LA go say hello. So, I get in my car and I drive from Los Feliz, which is a neighbourhood that I lived in Los Angeles, and I drive out to Calabasas; I met with him and we hit it off. All of a sudden we’re talking about a lot of the same music that we like, you know, Allman Brothers and this and that. He said, listen, you got to realize that I’m not looking for someone just to come in here and do what I tell them. I want someone I can work with and write with and collaborate with. At that point, my impression changed on the situation. I was being presented with we want you to write a record with us, you know, all the other guys too. I liked them personally and it started to make sense to me to make the album and that’s really how it happened. That’s how I ended up in Poison.
Andrew : 1994 is where I really grew an attachment to you and your musicianship and voice. “Native Tongue” had stirred an interest in you and in what I was hearing. The “Mother Head Family Reunion” album floored me. It turned my musical world on its ear when I first heard that. I love that record. It still gets played regularly; I still introduce you to a lot of people through that record. Tell me a bit about that one. How did that come to be, obviously the partnership came to an end with Poison.
Richie : Yeah, of course. That’s a very important record for me. It was a very important period of my life. A lot was going on with me personally and it was an amazing thing. It was a scary time as I was coming out of poison on not so great terms and I didn’t know what the future held. I ended up going back to San Francisco, which is kind of where I started my music journey as far as on a national level. I went to Coast Recorders Studio and recorded seven songs, which ended up being most of the “Mother Heads Family Reunion” album. I had all these San Francisco connections and someone said, go see Herbie Herbert, so I took the demo and went into Herbie Herbert’s office along with my drummer Atma Anur. Herbie Herbert was a super powerful manager who had Journey and a few other big bands on his roster. We go in the office. He didn’t even listen to the tape. He looked at us and I was 24 years old. Imagine this at 24, he looks at me and he said, guys, like, you are working at gas stations now; I don’t know what you want me to do with this. He throws the tape across the desk and he proceeds to go on this crazy rant about the music business and it’s over and this and that and rock and this and that I’m like, oh my God, what am I doing here? All I can think is I got to get out of this guy’s fucking office. Now, the funny thing is, years later, he would end up managing me as a member of Mr.Big and actually he and I ended up getting friendly but back then it was like oh my god who is this guy, you know, get me the fuck out of here. So, I’m like, well fuck this I said I’m going back to LA so I drive back from San Francisco to LA and I’ll never forget this. I come off the freeway and there was a guy, a homeless guy with a sign and he wasn’t asking for money, but the sign said something, I can’t remember exactly but it was like, if you do something for someone else, it’ll come back to you tenfold. All right. Now at this point, I had just been told by one of the heaviest hitters that I’m washed up in the to forget about it. I pull a hundred dollar bill out of my pocket and I hand it out the window to the guy, he takes the hundred and he looks surprised. I continue on my way home and the next thing you know, the following weekend, I’m in a meeting at the David Geffen company with John Kalodner and he says, I’m really impressed with what you’re doing with your music. I’m going to talk to David Geffen over the weekend and we’re going to put a deal together for you. On the Monday, I had an offer, so I was back in business and you know what, that’s the music business it’s a roller coaster. I did a deal and the next week I’m signed to Warner Brothers for a big publishing deal. I went looking for that homeless guy again but I couldn’t find him. That was crazy. Then the record came out and then I was back down at the bottom of the roller coaster because a year or however long it was goes by, the record was done, I put my heart and soul into it. The young lady that was doing publicity for Geffen was going to be Bryn Bridenthal who did Guns N Roses PR. She was very excited to work with me; she liked me. Bryn ended up leaving the company. The guy that signed me, John Kalodner ends up leaving the company. This is all happening as my record’s about to be released. Now I got nobody at the company. I go to meet the label and get introduced to this girl who is going to do your publicity. I meet this girl, at the time she had a band called Counting Crows that she was looking after, they had a big record. She looks at me, and again, I’m right back in the Herbie Herbert situation; she takes my tape, throws it, now it’s done. She throws it across the desk because she doesn’t get it. I don’t understand your music. I don’t know what you’re doing here. I can’t push this. I was like, oh my god, here I am again thinking right? It’s up, down, up, down; and that’s the record business. That’s how and what happened with that album. Now, the good side of it all is that I made a really honest record. I think it’s one of my most important albums. But, you know, it was one of those things that never got a fair shake. The label just didn’t push it. Who knows what it could have done or not done. It was a hard lesson in how the business worked. That’s what really goes on, and there’s all kinds of other stuff that was told to me. What I could and couldn’t do. Who could and couldn’t play on my record, and not for musical reasons. There was all sorts of weird shit. The record business then was a real weird business. I don’t know now because I don’t really feel like I’m in that element of it. You brought the record up, you probably wanna talk about the music, but I’m talking about all the stuff that led up to the music, you know? (laughs)
Andrew : It’s all relevant and it all ties back in with you were saying earlier. I was ready to go and do this major label thing, and there was just obviously that gap in time that happened I guess there’s that other chance, the next opportunity that you have. Personally, I’m so glad that that record came out because as I said it’s one of those go to records for me; I love it. I’ve got a favourite cover versions playlist that I have for the car when I go on drives. ‘Reach Out’ is on that playlist and the first time my partner heard it she goes who is that? It’s such a great version. That hasn’t just been with my partner; over the last 30 years there have been so many instances where that song has been a gateway into getting people to check you out. From there it leads me into here’s the album and now have a listen to the new stuff. It also opens up discussion about you and your career. “Mother Head’s Family Reunion” really was the first time I really got to hear your voice on its own. There is a quality to your voice that I haven’t heard in anyone in forever and it’s something that still blows me away. It’s that soulful emotion that you are able to deliver on.
Richie : It was a funny story that the Four Tops song ‘Reach Out (I’ll Be There)’ from years ago, before that I was in Atlantic City. I grew up outside of Philadelphia, so I’d go down to Atlantic City a lot and I’m down there and Four Top are playing and you know, Feel like you can’t go on. Can’t go on. You’re the background singer, right? So the singer he’s up there singing and I’m in the front singing along. At one point, he puts a mic in front of me and I sang it. Can’t go on. He looked like he was shocked. Like he didn’t expect that voice to come out of me. He like gave me a look, you know, respect. It was, kind of a big moment. So, you know, years later there I am, I covered it.
Andrew : I love those kinds of stories. Obviously after, after “Mother Head”, you continue to write and release new solo music. From 1999 to 2002, you joined Mr. Big and do three albums with those guys. Paul Gilbert had stepped away from touring at that stage. What was the catalyst for you joining?
Richie : I actually did two studio albums, and then a couple of little trinkets that came out. At the time I was already in a band with Stanley Clark. We had a jazz fusion band called Vertu and we were in the Bay area, San Francisco once again, recording at The Site, which is a very cool studio. I don’t know if it’s still there, but that’s a really cool place. I had, um, I had driven over Berkeley because Santana was recording his big record and my friend, Steve Fontana was working with him. I went over and I visited; met Carlos, he was showing me his guitars and it was really cool.
I always get creeped out driving over the Richmond Bridge at night, but somehow found myself in San Rafael. I was at I think it was New George’s, a little bar and Eric Martin was doing like a fun little fuck around gig. I walk in and I knew Eric from the past. I’ve known Eric since I was a teenager, when I was like 19 or 20, well ever since the first time I ever came out to California. I put in these fake teeth that I had and I was like this kind of weird looking guy, you know? I come in the venue and he didn’t recognize me and I’m staring at him in a real crazy way. He comes off the stage on the break and says, Hey, why don’t you come with me? He takes me outside because I think in his mind he sees me and thinks like, hey, this guy could be a loose cannon in this bar, let me get him out of here. He gets me outside and suddenly I take the teeth out and he’s like, Oh my God, Richie. He says, this is crazy that you’re here because I was going to reach out to you. We need a guitar player for Mr. Big and I’d love you to do it. My first reaction was, I can’t, I’m already in a band. That band was Vertu with Stanley Clarke. We left it at that and let it live there in the weeds for a week or two, and then Billy Sheen and Pat Torpey reached out and they hit me up again. They said Hey, look, we know you’re in another band, but why not do this too? We’re only active in Japan really. At the time they were just doing dates in Japan. So I did it, we made the record and I did a very short run of dates, the rest of the year I was off doing whatever I wanted. So it made sense for me at the time and I think we made some good music.
1999 was a busy year, I was 29 years old. I was in Stanley’s band, I did the Mr. Big album. I had two solo albums come out that year and we actually played the Osaka dome opening for Aerosmith for the millennium countdown show. It was Buckcherry. Mr. Big and Aerosmith. I remember it so well because I wore pants that night that were made for Steven Tyler that he never picked them up. This is crazy. There was a woman, Tyra was her name, she tells me I made those for Steven and he never took them. There they were in her shop on Melrose, I tried them on they fit me, so I bought them. That night in Osaka when he came in our dressing room I was wearing him and I said, you know these pants were supposed to be yours. At least he acted like he knew what I was talking about (laughs). it was it was a fun year a lot of cool stuff going on.
Andrew : Was it your time in Mr. Big that leads to the formation of The Winery Dogs?
Richie : No. Mr. Big did not lead to that, and here’s some other funny trivia that nobody knows. Prior to me being in Mr. Big, Pat Torpey and Billy Sheehan and I were down at Mates Recording. We were going to do a band, a power trio band. Pat Torpey had all these demos recorded on digital audio tape. That had to have been 1997 or ‘98, because one of the songs ended up on one of my solo albums that was released in ‘98, the song is called ‘Locked Out’. That trio with me, Pat and Billy Sheehan predates Mr. Big and the Winery Dogs. The Winery Dogs started completely unrelated, because Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan wanted to do a power trio. They were working with John Sykes and for whatever reason, that didn’t come together. Then Eddie Trunk called and says, Hey, would you be interested in meeting up with Mike Portnoy? He wants to do a power trio with Billy Sheehan and I mentioned you might be a good match for those guys, and that’s how The Winery Dogs was formed.
Andrew : That’s something I had no idea about. It really is quite the story. Given Mr. Big’s cult following in Japan were The Winery Dogs designed to be a Japanese project or was it always going to be something bigger?
Richie : No, no, no, no, no, no, it had nothing to do with that. It was just meant to be what it was, you know, just a power trio and whoever liked it, liked it. We certainly did not form that band with the idea of singling out any particular parts of the world.
Andrew : The Winery Dogs is a great project that’s still running as of today? It’s just on a hiatus with everything else that’s going on with everyone else?
Richie : Yeah, of course. We finished our tour. We did almost a hundred Winery Dogs shows last year. You can imagine that. Oddly enough, you brought up Japan. We ended in Japan at the end of it, we were very happy with the way it went we were left with some nice vibes. Billy and I are very supportive of Mike going back to Dream Theatre, everything’s good, you know, and the future is the future. You never know what, what lies ahead.
Andrew : If we can go back to 2015. You released “Cannibals” which is another of my favourite releases of yours. It has something really special about it. I really connected with that record.
Richie : Thank you. Yeah. It was kind of a turning point in a weird way. I mean it’s an interesting album from an interesting time in my life. The Winery Dogs had had already done two albums. So that record was me coming out of being in a band and sort of missing my alone time and doing my own thing.
Andrew : Absolutely. You obviously spotted the, Smith/Kotzen record that’s sitting on the shelf behind me.
Richie : It is. Did you put that there just for today or is that always there?
Andrew : Well, it’s not always there. It’s been played over the weekend. So yeah, it’s still sitting there in prominence. Can I ask what’s happening with Smith/Kotzen is that an ongoing thing or have we seen the last of it?
Richie : Yes it is an ongoing thing. Stay tuned. You know, obviously, you know, I’m talking to you because I have a new record coming out next week, but I can safely say that, shortly after my record “Nomad” comes out you might hear some news about Smith/Kotzen. That’s all I’m going to say.
Andrew : And we’ll leave it at that, because I’m sure there’s another discussion to be had around that. Getting back to “Nomad” as a record, there’s one performance, actually, there are two performances, who am I kidding? The whole record is amazing, but where I found something really different in you was on ‘Escape” your vocal is great.
Richie : Oh, ‘Escape’. I thought you were going to say ‘Nihilist’ for some reason.
Andrew : ‘Escape’ was the track that I just went, my God that’s what is this? You’re singing in a different register and there’s just a different emotion to your vocal. It’s not that big soulful voice that is instantly you. It seems to channel Chris Cornell in so many ways. It’s eerie but so good, so familiar.
Richie : Really?
Andrew : Yes. I found that quality in your voice, which I hadn’t really come across in you before.
Richie : Yeah.
Andrew : ‘On The Table’ is such an amazing song. That’s possibly my favourite song on the record.
Richie : Oh, okay. Interesting. Cool.
Andrew : …. ‘This Is a Test’ I absolutely love as well.
Richie : I’ll tell you a funny story about ‘This Is a Test’. I was getting ready to fly back to Pennsylvania to visit my parents and I had this computer here that I’m using to talk to you with, with me and I plugged in some audio stuff and a microphone, a guitar, because I wanted to see if I could go home. Uh, I call it, still call it home. Isn’t that funny? Even though I haven’t lived there in 33 years. I wanted to go back there and try to do some writing. I was testing the system to see if it would work. I was strumming these chords that are the chords of that song, but I didn’t know that that was going to be a song. I’m just strumming in my mind, just some chords that fit together. I started singing this kind of innocent, you know, unsuspecting melody, every now and then I would say. This is a test. This is a test. And I would go back to whatever nonsense I would say, you know, singing nonsensical stuff. And then I stopped after about two minutes and I listened to it and I’m like, well, that’s more than a test. That sounds like a song. So, I sat down with a piece of paper and I wrote the words and that’s how that was born. It literally was a test and it still is a test; apparently, it’s just a test in life. I thought that was interesting how it all fell together, I’ve never had that happen before where something presented itself from nothing really into something complete.
Andrew : With “Nomad” being released this week you have already start touring behind and are out until the beginning of November. How much of this will you be playing in the set?
Richie : Yeah, I’m in a hotel room today in Salt Lake City. We’ve done five shows so far and I did 28 in Europe a month ago. This tour ends in Dallas on November 2nd. At the moment we’ve got two songs in the set. We’ve got ‘Cheap Shots’ that we can play and then your favourite song ‘On The Table’. Hopefully we’ll add some more while we’re out here, you know?
Andrew : How do you go about picking a band to take out on the road?
My bass player Dylan Wilson has been with me since 2011. I couldn’t imagine playing with anybody else at this point. My drummer Kyle Hughes came on board this year and he’s a young lad from the UK and he’s been doing a great job. It’s great to play with people that can interpret your work the right way and both of them are able to do that.
Andrew : Were they involved in the recording of “Nomad”?
Richie : Kyle’s on the song ‘These Doors’, the rest of it is me.
Andrew : Just one quick one to wrap it all up. How long has it been since you’ve been to Australia? It’s been eight years?
Richie : I was last out there in 2017, almost eight years ago.
Andrew : Will we see you back here to tour soon?
Richie : I hope so. I know the front office has been kicking the tires with some promoters that could potentially bring me there. It all depends on where it can fit and if we can afford to make the trip, all those things have to add up. But I would love to, for sure. I had a great time when we were there last.
Andrew : I have just realized we’ve gone over time and I apologize for that. This conversation has just been so much fun.
Richie : You’re the last guy. So, it’s Ok that we have gone over a little bit. Actually, I should stop, I hope you don’t mind I’m speaking in a different way cause I’m trying to preserve my voice for singing. I got to sing tomorrow and I’ve done four interviews today.
Andrew : That is perfectly fine. Thank you again for your time. Thank you for going over time for me. I appreciate it so much. Hopefully we get to chat again soon. Congrats on “Nomad” again.
Richie : Thank you, this was fun.
A huge thank you to Richie Kotzen, BMG Music and Maric Media for the access.
TRACKLISTING
Cheap Shots
These Doors**
Insomnia
Nomad*
Escape
On The Table
This Is A Test
Nihilist
Presave/Pre-order here
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