IRON MAIDEN’S ADRIAN SMITH TEAMS UP WITH RICHIE KOTZEN TO TAKE A BLUESY, HARD-ROCKING SIDE TRIP

BY JOE BOSSO, PHOTOS BY JOHN McMURTRIE

Richie Kotzen [left] and Adrian Smith; as it turned out, Kotzen was a massive Iron Maiden fan, and he jumped at the chance to jam with one of his idols

“I IMAGINE IF YOU PAIRED RITCHIE BLACKMORE AND YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, IT WOULD BE AN EXPLOSION — THEY’D JUST GO UP AGAINST EACH OTHER. BUT RICHIE AND I BLENDED QUITE EASILY”

— ADRIAN SMITH 

IRON MAIDEN LEGEND Adrian Smith wasn’t looking to collaborate with another guitarist, but several years ago he and his wife, Nathalie, went to see Richie Kotzen perform in London, and what they saw impressed them. “Richie was terrific. Right away, I could sense that he and I were on the same wavelength,” Smith recalls. “My wife thought so, too. She started coaxing me — ‘You should get together and play with him.’”

As it turned out, Kotzen was a massive Iron Maiden fan, and he jumped at the chance to jam with one of his idols. “We played Bad Company, Deep Purple, Humble Pie, Johnny Winter, Free — stuff like that,” he remembers. “We bonded really quickly on classic hard rock and bluesrock, but what was really cool was when we started singing. We both realized our voices sounded really good together.”

For Smith, this was a major “aha” moment. Although he started in the business as a singer-guitarist and has demonstrated his vocal chops in short-lived side bands such as ASAP and Psycho Motel, his opportunities to sing in Iron Maiden have been few and far between. “I’ve always loved to sing, so it was really exciting to fall in with Richie,” he says “As guitarists and singers, we’re very equally matched.”