Category Archives: Smith/Kotzen

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Have About Seven Song Ideas For Their Next Album

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have revealed that they are working on material for their next album. The band currently have about seven song ideas for the effort.

Kotzen said the following while discussing the group’s upcoming tour on Metal Edge’s “Another FN Podcast With Izzy Presley“:

“What happened was it was all just by timing. Nathalie [Dufresne-Smith, Adrian’s wife] and Adrian came into town, and Adrian said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be there for a couple of months. You wanna write some more songs?’ And we did get together and we did about seven things that are in the works; we have some demo stuff that are in the works. And then we started thinking, ‘Man, we’re here. Why don’t we play?’ Julia was in the house and we were talking about it. And it just kind of — boom. It just made sense. ‘Let’s go. Call Bruno.’ And we put it together. It was real easy.”

Adrian added:

“We started writing with a view to doing another album, and then we got sidetracked on dates. Like Richie said, we’ve got six or seven things. It’s just taking where we left off with the EP — just writing as we do.

“I don’t wanna change the world. I just wanna make good rock music. It’s in there, and you’ve just gotta do it. You just have to do it, really. It’s one of those things.”

[via Blabbermouth]

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Announce U.S. & UK Tours

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have announced their first live shows. The band will be doing two runs including one in the U.S. and one in the UK.

Tour Dates:

U.S.:

01/15 Ventura, CA – Ventura Theatre
01/20 Los Angeles, CA – The Whisky A Go-Go
01/22 Las Vegas, NV – Count’s Vamp’d
01/23 San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick
01/26 Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
10/27 Morro Bay, CA – The Siren

UK:

02/27 Manchester, UK – Club Academy
02/28 Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
03/02 Glasgow, UK – Garage
03/03 Wolverhampton, UK – KK’s Steel Mill
03/05 Leamington, UK – Spa Winters End
03/07 Bristol, UK – Fleece
03/08 London, UK – Islington Assembly Hall

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) To Release New EP “Better Days” This Month

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), will be releasing a new EP, titled “Better Days,” on vinyl as part of Record Store Day’s Black Friday (November 26). You can find the cover art and track listing for that effort below:

“Better Days” Track Listing:

01. “Better Days”
02. “Got A Hold On Me”
03. “Hate And Love”
04. “Rise Again”

Kotzen commented:

“When Adrian came over to L.A. earlier this year, we got together and started throwing ideas around and we very quickly came up with the new songs. ‘Better Days’ almost seemed to write itself. It’s got a nice groove to it. Adrian came in with the riff and we came up with a melody for the chorus together, pretty much working to the same formula we used when writing the ‘Smith/Kotzen’ album, bouncing ideas off each other.”

Smith added:

“‘Better Days’ is a song I’m really excited about. I think its slightly different to the songs on the ‘Smith/Kotzen’ album — it’s kind of heavy but melodic. I’d played Richie the riff and I was looking for a reaction, and I got one. Kind of like the old grey whistle test scenario — there was a spark and we started building the song from there. I’d have an idea, then Richie would have an idea and we’d go back and forth, like building blocks.”

A video for the “Better Days” title track can be found below:

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Premiere “Solar Fire” Music Video

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have premiered a new video for their song “Solar Fire.” The track, which features Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden), is from the band’s self-titled album, which was released in March.

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Share Behind The Scenes Look At The Making Of Their Debut Album

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have shared a behind the scenes look at the making of their self-titled debut album. That effort is available now.

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Premiere “Running” Lyric Video

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have premiered a lyric video for their new song “Running.” This track is from their new self-titled album, which will be released on March 26.

Smith commented:

“It’s a really cool sort of driving track, one of the heavier ones on the album and we’re excited to get it out there ahead of the album release. We’ve both been thrilled by the reaction to our music so far and are very much looking forward to meeting up again as soon as we can, to write some more songs together.”

Kotzen added:

“‘Running’ was the first song Adrian and I worked on. Adrian came in with that heavy verse riff, which led me to conjuring up what lives as our chorus to the composition. ‘Running’ is surely one of my top three favorites on the SMITH/KOTZEN album and I really look forward to playing this one live.”

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Premiere “Scars” Video

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have premiered a new video for their new song “Scars.” This track is from their new self-titled album, which will be released on March 26. Kotzen commented:

“I remember ‘Scars’ being one of the songs we wrote in the very beginning of the process. There is something moody and mysterious going on in this track that I find quite engaging. This would be a great track for us to stretch out live for some guitar improvisation between the two of us.”

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Go Behind The Scenes Of Their “Taking My Chances” Video

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have shared a behind the scenes look at their recently released video for “Taking My Chances.” You can check that out below. “Taking My Chances” is from the duo’s new self-titled album, which will be released on March 26.

Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden, The Winery Dogs) Premiere “Taking My Chances” Video, Reveal Details For New Album

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Smith/Kotzen, the project featuring Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), have premiered a new video for their song “Taking My Chances.” This track is from their new self-titled album, which will be released on March 26.

Track Listing:

01. “Taking My Chances”
02. “Running”
03. “Scars”
04. “Some People”
05. “Glory Road”
06. “Solar Fire”
07. “You Don’t Know Me”
08. “I Wanna Stay”
09. “‘Til Tomorrow”

Notably, the record features some guest drummers including Smith’s Iron Maiden bandmate Nicko McBrain, who played on “Solar Fire,” and Tal Bergman, who plays on “You Don’t Know Me,” “I Wanna Stay,” and “‘Til Tomorrow.” Kotzen handled the drumming on the other five songs.

Smith commented:

“Richie and I started working together a couple of years ago. We’d been jamming as we’d been friends for a few years before that. 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. Pretty much everything on the album is handled between Richie and myself, including the production. We had developed a really strong idea of how we wanted it to sound, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. There’s a lot of cool songs on there that we are really happy with.”

Kotzen added:

“We had a very fluid process in writing. Sometimes Adrian would send me a riff and I would immediately hear some kind of melody or a vocal idea. And sometimes it was the other way round, so it was a kind of circular motion. 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.”

Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) And Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs) Premiere New Song “Taking My Chances”

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Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs) have launched a new project called Smith/Kotzen. You can check out their debut single “Taking My Chances” below: