- Birth name: Carmine Appice
- Born: December 15, 1946 Brooklyn, NY USA
- Genres: Hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, heavy metal, glam rock
- Occupation: Musician, songwriter
- Instruments: Drums, percussion, vocals
- Years Active: 1966-present
- Labels: Atlantic, Atco, Epic, Repertoire
- Associated Acts: Carmine Appice’s Guitar Zeus, Ted Nugent, Rod Stewart, Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck, Bogert & Appice, King Kobra, Blue Murder, Mother’s Army, Travers & Appice, KGB, Ozzy Osbourne, Rod Stewart, Pappo, Paul Stanley, Marty Friedman, Hear ‘n Aid, Michael Hund (Guitarist)
- Influences: Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.
- On the Web: CarmineAppice.net
Carmine first came to prominence as the drummer with the 1960s psychedelic rock band Vanilla Fudge. He contributed distinctive background harmonies with bassist Tim Bogert. After five albums, the two left Vanilla Fudge to form the blues rock quartet Cactus, with vocalist Rusty Day and guitarist Jim McCarty. Appice and Bogert then left Cactus to join Jeff Beck in the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice.
Carmine joined Rod Stewart‘s backing band in 1977, co-writing songs such as “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and “Young Turks“. He also played drums on a track on Paul Stanley‘s solo album (1978).
He was also a member of KGB, which featured Ray Kennedy, Ric Grech, Mike Bloomfield, and Barry Goldberg.
Carmine has recorded with artists such as Stanley Clarke, Ted Nugent, and Pink Floyd. He has played with King Kobra and Blue Murder with John Sykes.
On May 23, 1981, Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles proclaimed that day as Carmine Appice Day in LA in recognition of Carmine’s charitable and educational work. In 1983, he toured with Ozzy Osbourne to promote Bark at the Moon (1983).
Carmine recorded Caso Cerrado (1995) with the Argentine guitarist Pappo. They were also joined by bassist Tim Bogert on four songs including “P. B. A. Boogie”.
In 2000, Carmine formed the power trio DBA with Tim Bogert and Rick Derringer and was reunited once again with Bogert when they reformed Vanilla Fudge.
In 2005, he became an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization which provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in less privileged public schools throughout the USA. He has personally delivered instruments to children in the program, and has also performed at benefit concerts for the organization and sits on its Honorary board of directors.
In 2006, Carmine formed the drum ensemble SLAMM in which he participates on drums playing alongside four young drummers. The show they put on has been described as “Stomp on steroids”. The band filmed a promotional video for the Cable Network station ESPN, using a NASCAR garage as a set and mechanic’s hardware as instruments. They were voted as the runner-up in the Modern Drummer Magazine poll for Percussion Ensemble (2008) after a special appearance at the magazine’s drum festival. SLAMM also appears on the Modern Drummer Festival 2008 DVD.
In 2009, he recorded Carmine Appice’s Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes, which was the third album in his Guitar Zeus series. These albums have featured guitarists such as Jennifer Batten, Brian May, Ted Nugent, Richie Sambora, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
In 2011, Carmine appeared on the Sly Stone CD I’m Back! Family & Friends, where he plays on the Sly classic “Stand!“
2011–2012 saw Carmine performing Drum Wars shows with his brother Vinny Appice and Guitarist Michael Hund, as well as a reformation of King Kobra with Johnny Rod, Mick Sweda, and David Henzerling, with Paul Shortino replacing Mark Free on lead vocals. This lineup released the album, King Kobra, in April 2011 on the Frontiers label, which received critical acclaim. A new King Kobra album was released in 2013, titled King Kobra II featuring the song “Have a Good Time”, for which a music video was filmed in Fall of 2012 at Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas.
Carmine published his memoir, Stick It!: My Life of Sex, Drums & Rock ‘n’ Roll , in 2016 and he continues to tour with the Vanilla Fudge that consists of all the original members with the exception of bassist, Tim Bogert.
Tiger Bill’s Personal Recollections:
I first met Carmine at the University of Miami in Florida in 1971. It was a week long series of drum clinics held by the Ludwig Drum Company and featuring their artists. Me and Danny Gottlieb were invited to go down with Joe Morello, our drum instructor at the time.
I remember that Carmine was a bit nervous because it was his first time performing a clinic and Ludwig sent him to the event so he could pick up some tips from Joe (Morello) on how to put on a great clinic. In Joe, Carmine learned from the best and I believe he was the first rock drummer to perform a drum clinic.
