Carmine Appice

King Kobra

King Kobra is a band formed in 1984 by the " one and only" Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne). They recorded only two albums for Capitol Records; 'Ready to Strike' in '85 and 'Thrill of a Lifetime' in '86. The other members of the band were David Michael-Philips and Mick Sweda on guitar, Johnny Rod on bass and Mark Free(my personal favorite) on lead vocals. They were given the chance to play in shows along with "big names" such as Kiss, Iron Maiden, Quiet Riot, Ted Nugent, Queensryche and Autograph. Unfortunately in 1988 they disbanded and each member continued his career in other groups like Carmine to Blue Murder , Mark Free to Unruly Child , Mick Sweda to the BulletBoys , Johnny Rod to WASP and David Michael-Philips to Lizzy Borden.

But out of the blue, the band decides to reunite in 2010 with the original classic '85 lineup, replacing Mark Free (now known as Marcie Free and vocalist in Unruly Child) with Paul Shortino, the voice of Rough Cutt and Quiet Riot(respect!!!). The new and self titled album has been recorded and is out now by Frontiers Records.

By Irene Panagiotidou

• April 26, 2011

Can you tell us how did you get you back together again after all these years? Was the idea of a reunion always in your head?

No it wasn't in my head at the time it happened. Me and Dave heard some tracks being mixed by my engineer friend Pat Regan , they were Keel tracks,,….so Pat asked me if King Kobra may want to do a record .We thought that would be fun So that's how the idea happened. I called all the band members to see if they would do it ..they said yes…We needed a singer and thought of Paul..I called him he said yes…Then, Adam Parson the manager ,,,got a deal on frontiers and we went to work putting together the album. And was very happy about the way it came out.

Where you in contact all of these years?

Yes I've always been in contact with all members through the years..

You replaced a great voice like Mark Free with another great voice, Paul Shortino. How and why did you think of him, apart from the obvious reasons of him being a fantastic and talented singer?

I know Paul since the 80s. I worked with him on a few tribute cds and I did a charity Christmas tour with him. That's when i found out how good of a singer Paul really was. He is a really nice person and i thought we need another great voice with a name. Paul came to mind immediately.

What differences would you find in KING KOBRA of 1985 and KING KOBRA of today, in 2011? Are you feeling more refreshed, creative, or even maybe more mature?

Well more mature. The creativity is always there with me and Dave when we work together we were the backbone to KK in the 80s. The creative process this time with me, paul for the writing was great and everyone's performance was full of new energy. So it was like doing our 1st album was in 1985!

Who is to blame for the album's music and song writing?

Me, Paul and Dave wrote all the songs. Sometimes me and Paul, Sometimes Dave and Paul..most was me Paul and Dave. A couple of songs were written with mike wolf in the 80s so his name is on two. But the direction was from the 3 of us.

Are you pleased with the final outcome of the album?

We are very pleased. This should have been our 2nd album in the 80s. I love the playing everyone has done and the fire and energy the album has it does rock hard!!

As fans, what can we expect of it?

Well, if you didn't hear it yet, you can expect a great album of cool rock songs of great lyrics, melody hooks. The playing is really great, really cool groove, very high energy and a fun all around party cd.

Are you thinking of contributing again in a movie soundtrack? I am just mentioning it due to your previous '86 hit-song "Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)" that was featured in the movie of the same name and gave you quite big publicity.

If a movie company asks us to do a song for a movie we would do it. We haven't had any offers so far. Iron Eagle was a situation that my friend and writer of the song needed a group to record the song for the movie. I told him we would do it.

Do you think of touring? If yes will it be just in the U.S or are you thinking of Europe too?

We are talking to agents and promoters in Europe and USA. As of now nothing is set but we are looking.

How do you find things in the music industry nowadays? Are there any new singers or new bands that caught your attention? If yes, can you name 3 or 4 songs that you really like or even maybe inspires you in a way?

Not much happening that I can hear …all these bands have these cookie monster vocals not my cup of tea. There is no radio anymore and if you do hear a good song or singer no one announces who the band is …so i can honestly say ..i don't have any at this moment.

When the time will come to stop making music, how you would like to be remembered?

I would like to be remembered as a pioneer of drumming, an educator and an innovator…

I leave the last words to you for the readers of Metal Temple as a closure of our talk.

I would like to say thanks for support my career all these years and if you want to rock and give your ears some fun check the KONG KOBRA cd!

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