Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith and veteran rocker Richie Kotzen have joined forces for the new blues-rock project Smith/Kotzen. In announcing the new outfit, the pair have unveiled their debut single, “Taking My Chances”.
Longtime friends and colleagues, Smith and Kotzen are a formidable guitar pairing and prove as much on the new song. This ain’t Maiden, but rather a love letter to the electric blues.
Smith and Kotzen share a mutual love of the genre that can be traced back through the years, like the time Smith played and sang a cover of Cream’s iconic “Crossroads” at one of Kotzen’s birthday parties. A natural chemistry can be heard on “Taking My Chances”.
“I think Richie and I complement each other really well,” Smith said in a press release. “He’s a virtuoso guitarist, but he’s got a great sense of melody — the whole thing just felt very natural.”
Kotzen has been a member of Poison, Mr. Big, and The Winery Dogs, while also releasing numerous solo albums. The singer-guitarist stated, “We found common ground in classic and blues-based rock — we both come from that mentality. We’ve been writing and recording together for the past year and I’m ecstatic with the results”.
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As the press release states, “Taking My Chances” is only the first song from the duo, with more news coming in 2021. And if the all-star collaboration wasn’t exotic enough, the song was recorded in the Turks and Caicos Islands, perhaps adding to the free flowing shred-a-bility of Smith and Kotzen’s axe work.
Stay tuned to Heavy Consequence further updates regarding the Smith/Kotzen collaboration, and stream “Taking My Chances” below.
