Richie Kotzen – HuffPost 9.4.14

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Richie Kotzen: 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.