ADRIAN SMITH And RICHIE KOTZEN Officially Announce Collaboration; First Single 'Taking My Chances' Now Available

December 10, 2020

BMG has announced that two of rock's most admired musicians have joined forces for an exciting new side-project. SMITH/KOTZEN is the electrifying collaboration between guitarists and vocalists Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen. Part-time Los Angeles neighbors, full time friends with a healthy mutual respect. Both artists are seasoned performers on the global stage, having honed their skills throughout their careers to create their own unique musical sound.

Debut track "Taking My Chances" sets the tone for this brand new partnership between two rock music trail-blazers. Recorded in Turks & Caicos at the start of 2020, the song is evocative of the classic rock bands of the 1970s, brought bang up to date with punchy hooks, harmonies and sheer guitar virtuosity.

Smith is best known as one of IRON MAIDEN's principal guitarists, having also enjoyed success as a solo artist. Kotzen is the frontman for THE WINERY DOGS as well as having been the guitarist for both MR. BIG and POISON during his long and acclaimed career, which has to date seen him release more than 20 solo albums. Both artists are also prolific songwriters.

Adrian comments, "I think Richie and I complement each other really well. He's a virtuoso guitarist but he's got a great sense of melody — the whole thing just felt very natural."

Richie adds: "We found common ground in classic and blues-based rock — we both come from that mentality. We've been writing and recording together for the past year and I'm ecstatic with the results."

As the gloriously heavy and brilliantly catchy "Taking My Chances" shows, rock fans around the globe will be delighted at the first taste of this marriage-made-in-guitar-and-vocal heaven.

Stay tuned for more news to come from SMITH/KOTZEN early in 2021.

Kotzen alluded to his project with Smith during a February 2020 interview with the "Another FN Podcast". At the time, he said: "I don't like talking about things until they're finished, but if you look at the photographs [on my Instagram] and who I'm with, and that sort of thing, you could assume that there may be a collaboration in the works."

He added: "It's very surreal, because it's a band that I grew up with; it was one of my favorite bands forever, and one of my first hard rock concerts. So it's very surreal. Very cool. [I'm] very excited."

Smith is currently promoting his memoir, "Monsters Of River & Rock", which was released on September 3 via Virgin Books.

This past February, Kotzen released his 22nd solo album, "50 For 50", via his own custom label, Headroom-Inc. The three-disc collection is just what the title implies: a collection of 50 previously unreleased compositions produced, performed and written by Kotzen in honor of his birthday. It's the follow-up to his critically acclaimed "Salting Earth" album, which came out in April 2017 via Headroom-Inc.

View this post on Instagram

Nice Times!

A post shared by Richie Kotzen (@richie_kotzen) on

Find more on Iron maiden
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).