They were dubbed by one rock critic as “The American Led Zeppelin.” And they certainly shared a lot of similarities with those bombastic Brits in terms of music, personalities, and a deep appreciation of hard blues.
Members also came with pedigree. Guitarist Jim McCarty from Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels; singer Rusty Day from Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes; and bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice made up the explosive rhythm section of Vanilla Fudge.
And while their live shows were pure fire, record sales didn’t quite match up. After releasing four albums in between 1970-72 (the first three with the original quartet) the mighty Cactus called it quits, remembered for decades mostly by rock nerds and record collectors. Though in 2004, two Rhino Handmade anthologies—one studio and one live—boosted their profile.
In 2006, three-fourths of the band reunited for Cactus V (Rusty Day having been tragically murdered along with his son in a 1982 drug deal gone bad). A shifting lineup has performed and recorded since then. Appice is the sole original member in the current group, which also includes Artie Dillion (guitar), Ed Terry (vocals/harp), and Jimmy Caputo (bass). And they’ve just released a new album, Temple of Blues II (Cleopatra Records).
It’s a sequel to 2024’s Temple of Blues: Influences and Friends. And the reason for a second drink from the well? It’s simple.
“The first one did good!” Appice laughs via Zoom from his home “guest room and gym” with a wall of framed gold records and a drum kit behind him. “But Cactus has always been a blues rock band. And I had seen how Slash and Foghat had put out successful blues records. And they’re like Cactus! We broke into the Billboard Blues charts at #3 and did well on Amazon with the first one.”
Like the original record, this 11-track disc features the current Cactus lineup along with a murderer’s row of guest singers and players tackling heavy hitting blues covers (“Back Door Man,” “Little Red Rooster,” “Spoonful”) and some Cactus tunes (“Token Chokin,” “Bad Stuff,” “Feel So Good”). Some songs were left over from the first album or unreleased, while others are new.
That guest list this go-round includes Ted Nugent, Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Joe Lynn Turner and Steve Morse (Deep Purple), Alex Skolnick (Testament), Dug Pinnick and Ty Tabor (King’s X), Pat Travers, Billy Sheehan, Eric Gales, Bumblefoot, Derek Sherinian, Tony Franklin, Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Thayer, Tracii Guns, and even folk rocker Melanie.
Appice notes that just a few days ago, Cactus just did a charity gig with several of Temple of Blues II’s guest musicians. Funds went to a few organizations including the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, MusicCares, St. Jude Hospital. Both sound and video were recorded, and Appice hopes to see their release.
Dug Pinnick and Ty Tabor of King’s X represent a Houston presence. Appice first met the pair in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s when their band opened gigs for Blue Murder, the cult favorite hard rock band which included Appice was a member. But it was Cactus that really brought them together.
“I’m a friendly guy. So, I walked onto their bus, and they were playing Cactus. And I said, ‘Are you doing that for me?’ And they said ‘No, man, we love Cactus! We play them all the time!’”
Prior to Cactus, Appice was a founding member of Vanilla Fudge. Best known for their heavy, organ drenched 1967 cover of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” Its doomy feel has made it a perfect go-to tune on TV and movies to signal that some-shit-is-about-to-go-down.
Whether opening the last episode of The Sopranos as Tony wakes up very cautiously in a safe house while on the lam, or the Manson family is about to cause havoc in Quentin Tarantino’s alternate history Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Amazingly, Vanilla Fudge still tours and records with 3/4ths of the original lineup. And Appice lets it drop that the Sopranos version of “Hangin’ On” is actually a very close sounding re-recording of the original song.
“When they want to murder people, they play that song!” he laughs.
And that’s still not Appice’s last current band. He also is the motor behind Rod, The Show: Celebrating the Music and Legacy of Rod Stewart. It’s a cover band that features some of Rod Stewart’s former backing musicians playing behind a look-and-soundalike, Rob Caudill. The group even has Stewart’s blessing.
Appice has co-writing credits on two of Stewart’s big hits, “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” and “Young Turks.” When told that just a few days after this interview, Stewart will appear in Houston on what’s been billed as his farewell tour, Appice has an immediate reaction.
“It’s always his farewell tour!” he laughs. “I was playing with him when John Bonham died [in 1980], and there were rumors that I was going to join Led Zeppelin. Rod asked me if that was true and I said no. And he told me ‘Oh, good. This is going to be my last tour. I’m retiring. So, let’s keep it going!’”
In 2016, Appice released his autobiography Stick It! My Life in Sex, Drums, and Rock ‘n’ Roll which the Houston Press reviewed. One of the more entertaining revelations is that, while on tour with Rod Stewart, several band and crew members formed an elite unit called “The Sex Police.”
So, when one of their mates as about to get, um, intimate with a female admirer in a hotel room, The Sex Police would burst in with noise and chaos, pull the offending male from bed, and possibly douse the couple with water, thus ruining any romantic possibilities. They even had T-shirts made up.
Carmine Appice may also have made a lasting mark on a huge part of pop culture. While Jim Henson never said anything so specific, Appice is sure it is he—and not the Who’s Keith Moon or Cream’s Ginger Baker, as some believe—who was the primary inspiration behind the wildly flailing, grunting, and drumming Muppet, Animal.
“I know it was me!” he insists. Appice says that when he came home from a tour of Australia, some people said they saw him on TV—in the form of Animal. So, his manager at the time called up Jim Henson’s company and proposed that the pair face off in on-air drum battle. And they waited for an answer.
“They finally called back and said, ‘Well, we have good news and some bad news. The good news is that we are going to use the idea. It’s a great idea. The bad news is that we’re going to use Buddy Rich.”
Thus, it was the legendary jazz drummer who faced off against Animal in a 1981 episode of The Muppet Show and not the more hirsute Appice. But there is a coda.
“I was friends with Buddy. When you got to know him, he was a fucking beautiful guy, and I was later with him on his death bed,” Appice recalls. “So, I called him up and said ‘This was my idea. Why did you get it?’ And he just said ‘Well, they wanted the best.’ Can’t argue with that!”
Finally, Houston was the location of a memorable event in Appice’s professional career—though not it a good way.
It was here that he was fired from Ozzy Osbourne’s band after a February 17, 1984, show, and told so by none other than his wife, Sharon. As he told the Houston Press in 2014, he had been staying with his friend and then-Houston KLOL-FM DJ Dayna Steele, and drove immediately back to her house. Steele, meanwhile, had already left for the gig and was looking for him at the venue. The pair remain friends today.
“I actually just sent her a picture of my new grandson! His name is Lucas Carmine Appice!” the now 79-year-old skin thumper laughs. “Great name!”
For more on Cactus, visit Cactus Rocks.com
For more on Carmine Appice, visit CarmineAppice.net
