Carmine Appice recently opened up about the time he turned Whitesnake’s offer down to join the band because he wanted to stay in King Kobra. He admitted regretting this decision after his band’s failure and said that he was in a depressed state of mind.
Appice is known to have influenced many iconic drummers such as Roger Taylor, Phil Collins, Tommy Lee, Neil Peart, and John Bonham. He spread his influence by taking part in bands like Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Rod Stewart, and King Kobra over the years.
While Appice was busy recording King Kobra’s second album, Whitesnake asked him to join their band. Torn between two decisions, he didn’t think it was the right decision to leave King Cobra hanging although Appice loved Whitesnake and was friends with its members.
He refused their offer, but disasters came upon him after he did. King Cobra failed with their album, and they disbanded while Whitesnake produced a successful album in 1987, named after the band. It became one of the most successful albums of the band and unfortunately, Appice missed the opportunity.
About turning down the offer, Appice said:
“It was like 1988, I just came out of King Kobra, and I did King Kobra 3 and I had the out mouth coming out on new Renaissance records, and I heard about this band with Tony and John, and I said ‘Oh, I love John’s playing, I love Tony’s playing.’
I was asked to play on that Whitesnake album. The big one, the 1987 album. I was in 1986, they asked me, John, and Coverdale, because I know Coverdale from Purple days, for a long time… I said to John and David, ‘Look, I’m sorry.'”
He continued:
“At the time I had King Kobras’s second album we were working on Capitol Records. It’s my band, I’m the signature guy on the contract, so I couldn’t just leave. I said to him, ‘I have my own snake to deal with,’ made a joke of it, I said, ‘Why don’t you get Ainsley or somebody?’ They said ‘No man, we wanted you, but then, I understand you can’t be in the band.’
They did that, and it went 27 million. King Kobra’s album did nothing, and the band broke up. I was so depressed that I couldn’t do that album. I loved John, I loved what he did on that ’87 albums, and Tony Franklin was with the firm, I loved the sound of his base, I loved the way he played. So when I heard they had a band going with Cozy, I said, ‘That freaking Cozy, gets all these good gigs.’ I guess because he’s English, and these guys are English.”
You can listen to the interview below.
