KINGDOM COME's RICK STEIER Says JAMES KOTTAK 'Drank Himself To Death': 'He Was Drunk Day And Night'

In a new interview with Anthony Bryant of The Hair Metal Guru, KINGDOM COME guitarist Rick Steier spoke about the tragic January 2024 passing of the group's drummer, James Kottak. Kottak, who was open about his battle with alcoholism, died in Louisville, Kentucky. He was 61. No cause of death had been given. Steier also addressed KINGDOM COME's now-infamous appearance in June 2022 at Sweden Rock Festival, which was described by the popular Swedish site Rocknytt as the event's "biggest fuckup."

Rick said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "When we did that little [KINGDOM COME reunion] tour in 2018, [James] was drinking the whole time, and we tried… I mean, some shows he would play like he did [at Sweden Rock] — half time. And he would sneak stuff [to drink]. And this is after he quit SCORPIONS. And he didn't really quit [the SCORPIONS] — he was fired, which is really sad. He remained friends with [SCORPIONS members] Rudolf [Schenker] and Matthias [Jabs] and Klaus [Meine] and all that. And we went to a [SCORPIONS] show in L.A. here where Mikkey Dee was playing drums. And I'm at the show and I'm watching them play and James is standing next to me. We're watching it, and I just started crying. It was weird, because I was going, 'You're not up there anymore. You did this for 17 years, man.' And it was uncontrollable crying. I don't even know where that emotion came from. Because [James] was my best friend, and then he lost a job 'cause of alcohol. I remember one of the [booking] agents [telling me], he goes, 'You really have to be in the throes of alcoholism to give up one of the primo spots in rock and roll.' The SCORPIONS are right up there — not with THE BEATLES, but in a different genre. When you say top world-name [hard rock] bands, it's the SCORPIONS and then there's VAN HALEN, whatever. I mean, they're up there at the top. You look at any like roster from a festival, they're usually the last [ones to play]… And so I was [very emotional about seeing SCORPIONS play with another drummer], like, 'Dude…' [James] goes, 'Oh, man. It's okay.' He goes, 'It's fine.' But then I came to realize that everything that he would tell me [wasn't completely true]. He would say, 'Oh, I don't drink during the show.' And then Matthias finally did an interview with someone and he spilled the beans. He said, 'We've been trying to get James sober for years.' They even sent him to Eric Clapton's [Crossroads drug and alcohol treatment center on the island of Antigua]. They sent him there for six months, secluded, and he got clean. And he came back and I thought, 'Wow, this is cool.'"

Circling back to KINGDOM COME's appearance at the 2022 Sweden Rock Festival, Rick said: "So we'd already been used to him playing like [he did at Sweden Rock]. We'd tell the bartenders at whatever venue we were at, like at the hotel where we were staying. We'd show [them] a picture and [give them his] name would say, 'This guy, you cannot serve him any alcohol.' So what [James] would do is if a fan would come up, he would go, 'Hey, man, can you buy me a drink? I'll pay you. I'm busy here. Can you buy me a drink?' 'Oh, yeah.' And they'll bring it back. And, 'How much do I owe you?' 'No, it's on me.' So he'd do that three or four times with different people. It's impossible to stop, even if there's no liquor store around. And it was just a sad thing, 'cause we were all worried, because he was drunk the night before when we rehearsed. We rehearsed in our hotel room. We'd just go over the order of the songs and, like, 'What are we gonna do between this song and this song?' 'This is where I'll talk and this is where I'll introduce the banner,' blah, blah, blah, or whatever. And so we were right in the middle of it. He goes, 'I'm gonna go the bathroom,' and he came back. He couldn't play, 'cause he went back to his room. And now when you're an alcoholic, you don't have to start drinking from scratch. All that alcohol's sloshing around in you. So two drinks will put you back totally wiped out. It's not like you're starting all over every day. A couple of drinks and you're back to where you started or where you ended.

"So, anyway, our agent said, '[The Sweden Rock Festival organizers] might not pay you because you all sucked so bad.' I said, 'You know who sucked?' He goes, 'Yeah, but…' I said, 'We still played. They're gonna pay us. We did not not play because [James] was drunk. He just played terrible.' … I thought he was gonna just fall off. And he got real skinny. It was a sad, sad situation… So, the Sweden thing was a disaster, but we still sounded good. We were just, like, on half speed."

Reflecting on the fact that KINGDOM COME was forced to use a different drummer, SLAUGHTER's Blas Elias, instead of James for most of the band's shows in the year and a half prior to Kottak's death due to James's deteriorating health, Rick said: "I said to the guys, 'We've gotta get a new drummer. We can't do this.' … [The other guys] didn't have to deal with it. They just showed up [for the gigs]. [They would say] 'Oh, Rick will bring James in… Rick will take care of it. Don't worry.' And I felt, every time we'd go on the road, I was gonna have a heart attack because [James] was so unreliable and I never knew what he was gonna do. That's what brought on all this. I said, 'You guys, we need a new drummer.' [They said] 'James just needs a good talking to.' And I go, 'No. Listen to me. You've talked to him before. I know. I can't do this anymore. I cannot do this anymore.' And they were fighting me. And I go, I said, 'You come out, you fly out, or I'm just gonna go on my own. You guys will book the gig and if he doesn't show up, he doesn't show up.' I said, 'It's on you guys.' So he screwed up another time after that. He didn't miss the gig, but a major screw-up. So, finally we told him, 'James, you're not in the band.' I told him. And he called me two weeks later. He goes, 'Hey, I got this gig ready to go. A friend of mine wants to book us.' I go, 'James, James…' And he was drunk, always talking to me. 'Don't you remember our conversation?' He goes, 'What?' I said, 'You're not in the band anymore. He goes, 'Okay.' He'd hang up… So he didn't remember talking to me each time… That became really sad because I realized he was drunk day and night — it didn't matter if I talked to him at two in the morning or eight in the morning, or 12 in the afternoon. He was always drunk. So we got a new drummer and we played out. And I called [his ex-wife] Athena. I said, 'He's gotta get outta L.A. He's just sitting in his apartment.' We did an intervention, and that didn't work. His son came and other people came. Anyway, so finally I talked to his brother and sister in Kentucky. I said, 'You're either gonna buy him a one-way ticket to Kentucky or I'm we're gonna send him home in a box. It's your call. There's no other way this is gonna end.' So after a year, they sent him back, and he left all his stuff. His son came and I helped him move, and my other friend. And I found out he was partying [in Kentucky]. Then one day his brother called and said, 'James has passed.'"

He added: "James wasn't doing any drugs. [He] just drank [himself] to death. It sucked. So, that was the end of that."

Rick went on to say that James's alcoholism was apparently exacerbated during the drummer's time with the SCORPIONS.

"[James] said he wouldn't drink [when he was touring with the SCORPIONS]," Rick said. "And I go, 'Why are they talking about it?' And he goes, 'I don't know.' And I found out what he would do. After every show, the promoter would take 'em out to dinner on them. So they would go to these nice restaurants. And he'd excuse himself, go to the bar, say, 'Gimme a shot,' and then drink a couple. And that's how he was able to drink on the road. And they never knew."

Rick continued: "Matthias told me that [James] fell off the drums during his solo one night. He stands up on the drums and takes his shirt off and shows [off his] 'Rock & Roll Forever' [tattoo on his back], turns around, that whole thing. He fell down. And I think that was probably the [straw that broke the camel's back with the SCORPIONS]."

Asked if he was surprised to see Kottak fired from the SCORPIONS due to his alcoholism, Rick said: "No, I wasn't. Again, I was really upset about it, that he got fired from one of the greatest rock bands of all."

According to Rick, James undervalued himself during his time with the SCORPIONS. "He never knew how powerful he was, what influence he had in the band," the guitarist explained. "I said, 'You should tell them this.' He goes, 'No.' I said, 'You should ask for more money.' 'No.' I said, 'You gotta do [it]. Come on, James.' I said, 'Look, they put you on the cover of their autobiography book' — the SCORPIONS book. He's on the cover. Just him, with his back, 'Rock & Roll Forever'. I go, 'Don't you think you have some juice? Look at that. They didn't put Rudolf there or Mattias with the guitars. They showed you standing on your drum set with your back.' He didn't realize… I kept saying, 'Dude, you're worth more' than what he was getting paid. I always pushed him. Whatever, whatever. Anyway, so that's that, That's that for James. God rest his soul."

Back in March 2024, KINGDOM COME bassist Johnny B. Frank reflected on Kottak's passing, telling Artists On Record Starring ADIKA Live!: "I was James's sponsor, so I feel really bad that maybe I was a little bit responsible for his death… He was an alcoholic. He was in a rehab when he died."

According to Johnny, KINGDOM COME's 2018 reunion wasn't the first time the band attempted to make a comeback. "We tried to do [a KINGDOM COME reunion] in 2015 when [original singer] Lenny [Wolf] was still in the band," he revealed. "James had a year off from the SCORPIONS, so he said, 'Let's do some KINGDOM COME.' And Lenny was into it. We were getting those big bucks, 'cause it was all original members and we hadn't done anything in 30 years, 29 years or something. So there was a big buzz about us. And then James went to his doctor that afternoon — we were gonna rehearse that night with Lenny and Rick [Steier, guitar] and Danny [Stag, guitar] and everybody — and he told his doctor, 'I'm an alcoholic.' And his doctor said, 'Well, let me prescribe you some Valium.' So he thought, 'Okay, I'll just take a Valium before rehearsal and then I won't need to drink.' And then when the Valium started kicking in, he thought, 'You know what would go good with this? Some Jack Daniel's.' He felt that buzz coming on, and he was, like, 'I've gotta finish this off.' An hour later, he actually fell off his drum stool, and Lenny said, 'That's it. I'm going back to Germany.' And we made a deal with him a year and a half later to lease the name and Universal Pictures bought the bought the catalog and stuff like that. So it's kind of open now."

Circling back to Kottak's inability to stop drinking, Frank said: "Like most alcoholics, he wouldn't talk about his alcoholism. He would just deny that he was and eat a bunch of mints… He was a closet drinker, and I was his sponsor. I'm a professional drug counselor. I was the highest-paid drug counselor in Jacksonville. I did a frequency healing session for people that would bring on the divine frequencies and then get people to relax and other things they weren't capable of doing so quickly off drugs. They just got off drugs, so it's hard for 'em."

Asked if he recalls the last conversation he had with James, Johnny said: "I do, and it haunts me constantly. 'Cause we were screaming at each other. It's sad that that was my last conversation with him. 'Cause I was his sponsor, and I was supposed to be helping him. But I was applying what we call 'tough love'. He was lying to me, he was lying to me, and I was just, like, 'James, I'm not gonna listen to that shit. I'm not co-signing your bullshit. You're an alcoholic. Get back in, do another 31 days in rehab. You're not ready for the world yet. I can tell by talking to you. Let's do another 31 days, and then we'll get you back on drums and everything will be fine.' And 10 days later, he died."

In addition to SCORPIONS and KINGDOM COME, Kottak had toured with such bands as WARRANT and even DIO for a short run. James was also involved in various other projects, including the 1990s band KRUNK in which he sang lead vocals and played guitar.

Kottak was married to Athena Lee, the sister of MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee, from 1996 to 2010.

KINGDOM COME press photo credit: Ron Lyon