They had a residency at the Action House, and the club owner, George Morton, who was also their manager, was looking around for a record deal. With such style (and modesty), by the end of 1966 The Pigeons were one of the leading Long Island bands. Maybe there were guitarists like Vince, but Mark was certainly better than most of the other keyboard players around.” There were certainly no other bass players like Tim. The other drummers weren’t technical like I was. We’d listened to the doo-wop, the R&B and the Motown, and they didn’t have the chops that we had. “The other bands didn’t have the vocals that we had. “When I got together with these guys it was, ‘Great voices, great musicians’,” Appice says with a Brooklyn/Italian accent that could grace any episode of The Sopranos (and the sharp dress sense to match). “And he could sing too, which meant there were now four singers in the band.” “We needed someone with more chops, and Carmine definitely had that,” Bogert says. So they poached Carmine Appice from another band. But The Pigeons were increasingly aware that their drummer was not strong enough for the style they were developing. It was a competitive scene, and playing covers was an obvious way to get an audience’s attention. Tim Bogert, Mark Stein and Vince Martell were in a band called The Pigeons playing the same circuit as The Hassles (which included a youthful Billy Joel) and The Vagrants (with Leslie West, later of Mountain). The members of Vanilla Fudge came from the thriving Long Island rock scene of the mid 60s. Deep Purple are another band who freely admit the influence Vanilla Fudge had on them. But then Stein was Pascali’s hero when the latter was a kid watching Vanilla Fudge at the San Francisco Fillmore back in 1968.Ī few days later Robert Plant got up and jammed with the Fudge at their gig in Stourbridge in a gesture of lasting affection for the band who helped Led Zeppelin crack America. And the gig that evening at Camden Underworld leaves no one in any doubt that the original spirit of Vanilla Fudge lives on in the current band, which includes guitarist Teddy Rondinelli and keyboard player Bill Pascali who, as Appice rightly observes, is “scarily” reminiscent of Mark Stein. But no matter.īogert and Appice can claim to be (or at least have been) one of rock’s mightiest rhythm sections. Keyboard player Mark Stein, however, hasn’t played with them for several years. They are the only original members of the band in the current Fudge line-up, although guitarist Vinnie Martell was with them up until a few months ago. Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert are sitting in the bar of London’s Russell Hotel, preparing for a European tour. That’s right, the Tim Bogert: another third of Beck, Bogert & Appice, and the other founder member of Cactus. And bassist Tim Bogert played every note as though someone was poking him up the arse with a 2,000-volt cattle prod. Keyboard player Mark Stein’s head frequently disappeared from view below the keys while his hands kept pummelling away. On stage Vanilla Fudge could be as demented as their music. Then it opened up to reveal a line of little red Vox amps that was mostly The Yardbirds’ stuff.” So when the gig opened there was this lone spotlight that shone down to the bass drum that said ‘Vanilla Fudge’. Our roadie, who used to work with The Yardbirds, said he could borrow their stuff. “We’d come over with hardly anything, and we knew The Who were going to have a wall of equipment. That’s right, the Carmine Appice: legendary drummer with Rod ‘ D’Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ Stewart (a song that he co-wrote with Stewart), one third of the famous Beck, Bogert & Appice, and a founder member of the lesser-known but equally significant Cactus. At least that’s what the newspapers said,” drummer Carmine Appice recalls. It may have spent only one week in the Top 20, but that was enough for the band to scamper over from New York for a promotional visit that included gigs at London’s trendy Speakeasy Club, and the Saville Theatre where they supported The Who. But before You Keep Me Hangin’ On had shown any sign of life in the US it started climbing the UK charts. Quite why Britain should have taken to Vanilla Fudge before rock fans the band’s American homeland is something of a mystery.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |