A Conversation with Richie Kotzen – HuffPost 9.4.14

Mike Ragogna: Richie, whose idea was it to put together a Richie Kotzen Essentials collection?

Richie Kotzen: It really came from the label. I wasn’t planning on doing it. I would’ve done another Winery Dogs record or a solo record or whatever. There’s this big demographic of people that come up to me and are like, “Wow, I didn’t know you sang.” I’m thinking, “Well I’ve been doing that since I was seventeen but I understand.” They’re excited and they say, “I want to hear your music, but there’s so many records, I don’t know where to start.” So we decided to make a collection that answered the question, “If I don’t have any Richie Kotzen records, where do I start?” Now there’s a starting point. That was really the objective of the record.

MR: You’ve lent your talents to so many other artist’s projects. But did you originally focus on a solo career?

RK: That’s what I did. I made my first record when I was eighteen. I’ve always been a solo artist. I got my contract bought by Interscope when I was twenty and I moved to LA to work on my solo career. Unfortunately once I was here after a year of writing and I had Danny Kortchmar lined up to produce my record and write with me, they decided that they didn’t want me to make the kind of record that I wanted to make, which would’ve been a little more like what I’m doing now, combining my influences the way that I do. They wanted me to be more of a hard rock artist. I refused, I didn’t make a hard rock record, they dropped me and my career went the way it went. I continued to make records, but first and foremost I am a solo artist, it’s what I’ve always done. I go into the studio and I come out with a record. It’s just what I do. I know people who aren’t really super familiar with me hang on to the fact that in 1993, I did a record with Poison. I think a lot of people kind of stopped listening or paying attention, but I’ve always been a solo artist, it’s really who I am.

MR: You can understand why they emphasize that, though. You had some big hits with them, like “Stand” and “Until You Suffer Some.”

RK: Yeah, yeah. It’s definitely not evil that I was part of that, that was a great record that we made. I still stand behind that record. It was a great time in my life. I do understand the perception, but again the idea with this record was to shine a light on what I’ve been doing for the last fifteen years and also, like I said, give people a launch point if they’re curious to get into my music.

MR: That’s true. You were also part of Mr. Big, and you had “Change” and “Get A Life,” which were both popular.

RK: Yes, that was right after the Mr. Big era that I put that record “Change” out. There were some TV spots in Japan that used those songs.

MR: You’ve listed Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan as some of your influences. Do you still feel those influences affecting your choices?

RK: Yeah, I do still feel that. I always think that what I do is definitely a product of my environment. I trace it back to when I was a kid. Right around the time when I was learning the guitar, I was around seven and my mom was a real rock fan. She saw Jimi Hendrix, she saw The Beatles when they came over the first time, The Stones, Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Who, all those acts. Those records were played in my house, so there’s that classic rock influence that was just constantly in the hallways and through the rooms, I was always hearing it. At the same time, my father was more into the R&B stuff, so Talking Book, the Stevie Wonder record. I kind of have this divide between R&B of that era and rock of that era. I think that kind of defined who I became as a musician. Those are my primary influences. As someone that’s been doing music as long as I have I don’t necessarily think about influences, I just kind of act upon what I hear in my head. When I have an idea for a song, I work it through and it becomes what it is. I’m not dissecting myself, but if a Curtis Mayfield song or a Who song comes on the radio it brings me back to a certain era in my life. I’m aware of my roots, so to speak, but as far as the act of being a recording artist, when I’m writing a song that’s the farthest thing from my mind.

MR: You seem to have a bit of a jazz influence, too, since you’ve been hanging out with folks like Stanley Clarke.

RK: Well I did do the record with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White and that was a real education. Honestly, I’m surprised that they chose me because I’m not a jazz guy. I don’t know any standards, I don’t have a lot of history. I appreciate it, I love John Coltrane and Miles Davis, I understand the art form, but I would never call myself a “Jazz Guy.” Even in that band, playing with jazz musicians, I was still being me and doing what it is that I do. So apparently, there’s an element of my playing that can kind of move into that direction, but it probably is something that comes more from the R&B side of things and definitely not because I studied jazz, because I really didn’t. I wish I did. I’m blown away when I hear some of these guys, but I can’t claim that I’m a jazz guy.

MR: What is it about your sound, maybe your style, that makes other artists seek you out for their projects?

RK: It’s hard to step outside of yourself, but I think there’s an honesty that exists in me musically that I discovered as I went through my growth as a musician and also the experiences that I’ve had in the music business that put me into a position where at some point, I decided, “I’m not going to make music that I don’t love, and I’m not going to play songs that I don’t love.” Creativity comes out of being connected with yourself. If you’re doing something that is not really something that you feel good about instinctively, you’re going to suffer. I’ve really created a scenario where I won’t do something unless I absolutely believe in it. Even with the Winery Dogs, when we got together, we didn’t discuss a direction or anything, we just kind of let it happen naturally, and it worked because we didn’t have that pressure on ourselves. I think that kind of approach is healthy because you never find yourself in that position where you’re unhappy creatively. I don’t ever want to be mad at music. The short answer to your question is there’s an element of honesty in what I do. A huge element. I won’t do something unless I fully believe it’s a part of me and I’m connected to it.

MR: Speaking of being connected to it, are there any songs on this collection that are more essential to you than others?

RK: I don’t necessarily go back and relive my past, but I can say that there are songs that I think are really significant, especially a song like “Fooled Again.” If I was somebody who’d never heard me before and I wanted to know what I sounded like, I’d probably start with that song. It kind of encompasses all the elements of what I do. Stylistically, it has this Curtis Mayfield kind of vibe, but I’m also singing in my style that I sing in and there’s the solo that I pretty much go totally off on. It’s an important track for me. There are other tracks on here too… “Remember” is one. A lot of these songs are songs that I always play live. There’s reasons for that, I guess. But like I said, I never really analyze it, it’s just something where I know which songs really hit home for me.

MR: After listening back to a project like this, does it inspire you to do more solo work?

RK: Uh, not really that. I live in that world all the time. If anything I like taking breaks from myself. It’s funny, when the Winery Dogs thing happened I had just come off of an album cycle of my own, a solo record called 24 Hours. We were touring a lot, we were out for about two years on and off. I remember saying to someone, “Before I dive in and make another record, I really want to take a break from myself.” I even said, “Maybe I should do a project where I work with some other people and then come back to myself when I’m recharged.” No sooner did I say that than I got the phone call that Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan were looking to do a power trio and wanted to get together with me. It’s funny how stuff works, things just kind of happen the way they’re supposed to happen I guess. I don’t really analyze and look at it like, “Oh wow, look at this thing that I did,” or “Look at these accomplishments,” because I’m still in a place where I want to continue grow and do work and move forward. At some point I guess I’m going to get tired and not want to put records out and not want to tour and it’ll be nice because then I can look back and have that kind of attitude and say, “Wow, I released a lot of music over my life,” but for now I’m excited about what I’m doing today and moving forward with that.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

RK: Musicians ask me–mostly younger guys–“How do I grow, how do I move forward?” A big component to that is playing with other people. Not everybody has to be a great musician, but by playing with other people and interacting with them and really listening, you grow. Even in my solo band, for example, we’re obviously playing my music that I wrote and mostly performed on recordings. I pick guys that can elevate this music to a place that excites me so that night after night there’s always something different that happens that I pick up on an improvisation level. That keeps me excited. A key thing for young guys is just to get out, play live and play with other people in different styles. Maybe someone’s more of a musician and that’s not really your thing, but don’t be afraid to experience that. That will help you grow. Once you’ve arrived to a place where you feel like you have your own identity musically, then the parameters are a little different. Then you select people that have more in common with you and that can elevate your music. In the early stages, play with as many different people as you can. Play live. Playing live is a key component. That would be my advice to young artists.

MR: Do you remember what advice you got when you started?

RK: Funnily enough, there’s an Ozzy story floating around from one of the interviews that I did; in that time that I spent with Ozzy we were talking about the record business and one thing that he said to me was, “Always pick the money.” We were talking about record deals and I was explaining how I had several deals from major labels that went south, and he said, “Here’s the thing. People talk. On one hand, you’ve got a guy telling you that they’re going to give you a twenty year career with box sets and everything and then in the other hand you’ve got someone who seems like they’re not interested but they’re going to give you a half a million dollars to go and make a record; take the money.” That was his advice. It seems like at least in the music business that’s the only thing that’s concrete. Everyone talks a lot of shit, tells you a lot of things that are going to be happening, but they don’t really commit. The only way to force a commitment, at least back in those days, was through a front-loaded deal. That was the advice that Ozzy gave me.

MR: It’s the proverbial bird in the hand.

RK: Exactly.

MR: What about your future looking like?

RK: I have a new solo record that’s going to be released in January, it’s calledCannibals. It’s ten new songs. I’m very excited about the record because there’s one piece on it that I wrote with my daughter and I can’t wait for people to hear it. My daughter’s seventeen now, but probably four years ago she was playing this piano piece every time she’d sit at the piano and I said to her, “What is that?” and she said, “Oh, it’s something I wrote.” I set up the microphones and recorded this and it lived on my hard drive for years. When I was finishing my record I went back to look at some of things I had recorded and I discovered this piece and I just had this idea for lyrics, so wrote lyrics and sang on it. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve done. It’s different from what I normally would’ve done, it’s just piano and voice, and because she wrote the changes it’s got a whole other vibe. It’s really a cool piece of the record.

MR: Is this where your daughter’s going?

RK: Yeah, she’s really doing well with music. I don’t want to jinx anything but she’s got some great opportunities in front of her. I’m very excited for her right now.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne