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RARE PHOTOS: Richie kotzen | Vintage Vibes

“I’ve been trying to prove myself constantly. When you get billed as some hotshot player, people will stand with their arms crossed as if to say, ‘Prove it’”: How Jared James Nichols took Blues Power to Dave Grohl's Studio 606 and super-sized his sound

On this year’s Louder Than Fate, Nichols is spreading his creative wings, and – with some help from a one-of-one amp made for Jeff Beck – venturing into new musical pastures

Guitar World

“I’ve sat down with other guitarists – you just end up playing blues licks all day and not writing anything. But we went to work straight away”: Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith on absurd volume, improv and how long a solo should be

We meet Smith and Kotzen pre-show totalk gear, their new album Black Light/White Noise, and find a pair whose chemistry makes this a hard-rock project with legs

Guitar World

“They’re 16 bars, and that’s it. There’s no extended solos”: Adrian Smith on why making music outside of Iron Maiden lets him stretch his soloing wings

In Smith/Kotzen, he’s relishing the chance to improvise and color outside of his usual lines, but admits that keeping up with Kotzen isn’t easy

Guitar World

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“That’s why I don’t like old Les Pauls”: The reason Adrian Smith isn’t keen on some vintage Gibsons

The Iron Maiden guitarist swapped LPs for Jacksons in the ‘80s, because he’d grown tired of one key feature

Guitar World

Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen rolled out an Iron Maiden classic at their London show, with a very special guest

The Smith-penned anthem has been a standout during their live shows, and in London, things got a little more Maiden

Guitar World

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith brought a mega-famous friend to guest on a classic Maiden anthem at a gig in London last night

Watch Bruce DIckinson join Smith/Kotzen for a live version of Iron Maiden’s Wasted Years

Metal Hammer

"Some other very well-known people were at that first jam": Adrian Smith on how Smith/Kotzen got started, bonding over British rock and Iron Maiden's big homecoming

Guitarists Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen are preparing to take their side project on the road with shows in the UK and Europe

Metal Hammer

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“Ace was the reason... His image made me go, ‘This is what I want to do with the rest of my life’”: John 5 on his final conversations with Ace Frehley, working on Peter Criss’ new record, and the signature guitar so good he’s written a song about it

The Mötley Crüe guitarist reflects on losing his greatest influence, reveals what’s great about the former Kiss drummer’s upcoming album, and his hopes for another tour with Richie Kotzen

Guitar World

“I have such horrible OCD. Ever since I was a little kid, if I couldn’t get something, I would stay home from school fake sick and play it over and over”: John 5 on staying true to the Crüe, pushing his playing and why he’s surrounded by ghosts

The virtuoso explains what made him the perfect fit for Mötley Crüe, how he’s channeling Paul Gilbert and Robert Johnson on his latest solo album, and what’s next for his signature Fender Telecaster

Guitar World

“I love using toy guitars that you have to wrestle with. It adds to the performance – you’re pulling from the instrument”: Dean DeLeo on why his favorite STP songs are the ones he didn’t write, and barging into Allan Holdsworth’s dressing room

The Stone Temple Pilots guitar icon explains how he stumbles upon songs, why nothing’s quite like a Telecaster, and how his latest spellbinding collaboration, One More Satellite, came to be

Guitar World

“When I picked up the Fender, it immediately responded to what I was putting into it. So I went out and bought a Tele and a Strat on the same day”: Fender's highly sought-after Richie Kotzen signature Stratocaster has just been rolled out worldwide

The guitar had previously been available as a Fender Japan-exclusive release

Guitar World

“The most important thing is to be true to yourself so that, when you play, it sounds like you”: Fender gives Richie Kotzen’s head-turning MIJ signature Strat a global release

Ash-bodied with a figured maple top, offered in Transparent White and Red Burst finishes, equipped with DiMarzio pickups, Kotzen's Strat could be a modern classic

MusicRadar

“People on their mobiles, getting bombarded with this information –it’s kind of like brainwashing”: Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen are waging a two-man war on the modern world with Smith/Kotzen

Transatlantic supergroup Smith/Kotzen is the sound of two worlds colliding

Louder

“You're by far the best guy that we've tried. I would love to have you in the band”: So why did Trent Reznor turn down Richie Kotzen for Nine Inch Nails?

But Stanley Clarke “didn’t give a shit” what band he was in

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Guitar World

“Trent Reznor told me, ‘You’re by far the best guy that we’ve tried. I would love to have you in the band’”: Richie Kotzen came close to joining Nine Inch Nails – but one detail stopped him getting the gig

The former Poison guitarist aced his surprise audition but never got a call back

Metal Hammer

Richie Kotzen says he almost joined Nine Inch Nails but his glam metal past got in the way

Trent Reznor reportedly told Richie Kotzen he was the man for the Nine Inch Nails job before backtracking

Guitar World

“I started on guitar because I wanted to be in a band and meet girls. Richie wanted to be a guitar player, because he wanted to play guitar”: Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen come from different worlds, but it all comes back to the blues

Returning with one of the hard-rock records of the year, the dynamic duo talk tone, collaboration, and the limits of technique and gear

Guitar World

“I needed to have a bucket on the side of the stage because I was that sick”: Richie Kotzen on his worst-ever show, that time wildfires came for his guitar collection, and upsetting his mom by getting Purple Haze wrong

Kotzen checks in to talk first guitars, first songs, and to give his younger self a little friendly advice. Plus, why didn't he take any guitars as the fire got close?

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Guitar World

“I told her, ‘This is Purple Haze’, and she said, ’No, it’s not. I saw Jimi Hendrix live, and Purple Haze didn’t sound anything like that!” When Richie Kotzen learned a Hendrix classic wrong, his mom called him out

The guitar virtuoso says he had to face down criticism at the very outset of his playing career – albeit from his own mother

Louder

The best new rock songs you need to hear right now

Including Smith/Kotzen, Those Damn Crows, The Sheepdogs and five other riders on the rock'n'roll storm

Guitar World

“There’s even a button I can press where it turns into a Leslie”: Richie Kotzen explains why he ditched a regular pedalboard for an all-in-one pedal from the creator of the SansAmp

Once upon a time, Kotzen went into Home Depot and made this bespoke ’board for his effects, but with a little help from Andrew Barta, it is now a very pro all-enclosed unit, and it's pretty much everything he needs

Louder

"No worlds are changed here, but a few will be enhanced": Richie Kotzen showcases metal, funk and fusion on solo album Nomad

American guitar hero Richie Kotzen makes heroic guitar album

Louder

The best new rock songs you need to hear right now

Including Jerry Cantrell, David Gilmour, Thundermother and five other custodians of the eternal rock'n'roll flame

Guitar World

“There’s nothing like plugging into a great amp without anything in front. It’s like Italian food – it doesn’t have to be complicated, and uses great ingredients”: Richie Kotzen was once a Shrapnel shredder – now he’s moving away from “stun guitar”

Cheap Shots is the first single from an album tentatively titled Nomad. It finds Kotzen playing cleaner than ever, seeking out melodies, and retiring the "stun guitar" approach

Metal Hammer

"There was almost a Mafiosi-style meeting about me joining them": Richie Kotzen looks back on life in Poison, Mr Big, the Winery Dogs and more

Richie Kotzen has just arrived in Europe for a lengthy tour, with UK dates in July

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