VINNY APPICE: 'My Hearing Is Terrible' After Playing Loud Music For Decades

In a new interview with Bill Hartel and Marcos De La Cruz of the Drum Syndicate Podcast, legendary drummer Vinny Appice (BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN & HELL, LAST IN LINE) was asked if he wears ear protection while playing. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I wear little swimming plugs that cut out the top end, and that's it. And my hearing sucks. The TVs in this house are all closed captioned. And I'm always asking my beautiful girlfriend Leslie, 'What? What did he say?' So, yeah, my hearing is terrible."

Asked how far back in his career he started wearing the earplugs, Vinny said: "I wore 'em — probably first started with SABBATH, 'cause it was so loud. We played with monitors, the first SABBATH tour, 'Mob Rules'. There were fucking refrigerator-sized cabinets, two of 'em, behind me, just cranked. But you can't play that stuff through in-ears. It's BLACK SABBATH and [Ronnie James] Dio, and you've gotta feel the power. Unfortunately, it takes a toll on your ears.

"It's funny. I don't hear great — like on the TV, if they're talking, I'm better off with the closed captions, or in a room with a lot of noise, forget it," he explained. "It's hard to hear anything. But I can hear bad tuning, wrong notes, wrong key, wrong movements, whatever, timing and music while we're on stage. I'll be playing, it's loud. 'What the fuck? That's the wrong note.' And somebody's hitting the wrong note and stuff like that. I could hear that, like, perfect. But everything else is screwed up."

Vinny has recorded and co-written songs on several dozen albums and CDs, including many multi-platinum records. Vinny's drumming can also be heard on numerous movie soundtracks, including "Wayne's World 2", "Heavy Metal", "Iron Eagle" and "Bedazzled". Vinny, the author of drum instruction book "Rock Steady" and DVD "Hard Rock Drumming Techniques", has performed incredible powerhouse drum clinics around the globe. Numerous books have been written about BLACK SABBATH and DIO with the authors always mentioned Vinny's drumming style.

Vinny's unique drumming approach has influenced many artists over the last few decades. Never one to rest on his laurels, he is constantly putting out new music and is currently recording and touring with LAST IN LINE.

Vinny currently endorses Sawtooth drums, Evans drumheads, Istanbul Mehmet cymbals and Chromacast drumsticks.