Carmine Appice, Legendary Rock Drummer
Carmine Appice
"Carmine Appice set the foundation for heavy drumming ... before Bonham, before Ian Paice... before anyone else." - Rick Van Horn, 1999 Modern Drummer magazine.
Carmine has performed or recorded with Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Rod Stewart, Ted Nugent, Pink Floyd, Blue Murder, Ozzy Osbourne, Stanley Clarke (famed bassist), Travers & Appice, Beck, Bogert and Appice, King Kobra and more. Like his idol Gene Krupa, who brought attention to the drummer, Carmine put efforts into doing this as well. One such success was getting the drum-off on MTV for five years.
In 1976, Carmine played with Rod Stewart and co-wrote two hit songs: “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and “Young Turks".
Growing up, Carmine went through the Chapin book, and played along with the records of Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Chico Hamilton, Sandy Nelson and Cozy Cole's Topsy Pt II, Krupa vs. Rich Drum Battle album, and Rich vs. Roach. Krupa was one of Carmine's biggest influences, and he also was friends with Buddy Rich.
His book Realistic Rock, which legitimized rock drumming, was voted among the top 25 drum books of all-time by Modern Drummer magazine and has been studied by such drum greats as Greg Bissonette and Dave Weckl. It is also
one of the best selling drum books of all time, perhaps because Carmine was the first famous rock drummer to write a drum book.