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Two Sides Of The Coin With ADRIAN SMITH From SMITH/KOTZEN · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: First, I should have been more aware, but I said.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: To myself, Yeah, this is agent Swift Smift Cotson. Uh yeah,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I got a new Smith Cottson album coming out in
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks. It's called black Light White Noise
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: yeautiful I do.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: And thanks for joining us today.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Oh no problem.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: As you mentioned, yourself and Richie Cottson released your second
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: album together and Smith Potson on March is seven. So
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: what's this period like for you, mate, just before it
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: comes out? Like, are you like a nervous father or.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Do you sort of don't really focus on the things
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: around you control that much?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I'm quite excited about it. Yeah, I mean,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: I'm really proud of the album. I think it's a
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: real good follow up to the the first one. You know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I think it's probably a little little rock here than
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the first one. Well, you know, the first one was
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: successful and it's uh yeah, I'm not nervous, No, I mean,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I do it. I do this for fun. I don't
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I got pressure on myself, you know.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: And the album, as you say, is called black Light
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: White and Eves made and it's therelready been whispered by
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: those who've heard it is right up there with probably
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: the best thing that you and Richie have put out
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: together or separately, Like are they right?
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Well, uh, you know, do you write the songs the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: best you can, you play the best you can, and
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: you just I think, yeah, I think this is is
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: more a more consistent album than the first one. It's
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: probably a little a little more up tim and you know,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: obviously over time, you know, Richie and I develop our
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: writing relationship, uh, playing relationship, and things go from strength
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: to strength, you know, I think, and it's.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Got everything you could ask for made.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: There's guitar silos, there's a bit of funk, there's groove,
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: there's blues, there's hard rock, there's more guitar silos. But
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: I wrong that. Like to me, it sounded like you
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: guys just had a lot of fun making it and
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: then it comes out in the overall production.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I do it well, I play music
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: because I want to do it anyway. But yeah, it's fun.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: You know, Richie and I are friends. We are sort
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: of been friends for sort of the best part ten years.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: You know, I lived part time in America. I'm over
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: there usually around Christmas, and you know, we met up
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: one year we had. I had a party in my house.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: We were just jamming, you know, I've got a music
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: room and we were jamming like Bad Company and Stevie
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Ray Vaughn and all that, just blues. And someone said,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: you guys should write together, you know. So that's what
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: we ended up doing. And we did it because it
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: was fun, you know, and we thought we had something
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: to say as well. You know. I mean, I take
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: a lot of inspiration from sort of seventies kind of
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: music I grew up and you know, that music had
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: a massive effect on me when I was a kid.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: It sort of changed my life. So you know, I
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: take that as my basic inspiration. But we try and
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: take that to another level and try and use it
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: as an ingredient and write songs, you know, that hopefully
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: stand up on their own, you know.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And to date, you've released a single, White Noise
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: from the album, which is an absolute banger bra but
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: it is for those who haven't heard, He's had a
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: good sonic representation of the rest of the album.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I would say so, yeah, I would say so, I mean,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: it's that particular song was White Noise was probably the
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: second song we wrote the for the album. Richie already
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: had a song called Muddy Water, which is the album Otner.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: He had pretty much finished and he played it to
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: me and we've got together and I said, mate, that
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: we've got to do that one. So we finished that
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: one off. Then we did. I had the idea for
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: white Noise, brought that in. Richie actually had the phrase
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: white noise, and you know, we went from there. We
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: had two banging songs and you know, once you got that,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: you think, well, this is worth following up, you know.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: And Richie has been quoted saying that you're focused on
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: collaborating on riffs and lyrics, harmonies and vocals on this album.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Well, so how is that different to the way you
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: approached the first album.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I don't think the approach is that different really. I
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: mean it's basically Richie and I and he's got a
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: studio in his house. He's all set up, he's done
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: loads of loads of work there. He's got a drum
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: ket set up. So we get an idea, we start
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: putting it down, you know, somebody's got an idea for
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: some vocals, and put that down roughly and get the
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: track roughly finished, and then we sort of polish it up.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: You know, that was the process. You know, it goes
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: back and forth. I will say when we've got any
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: ideas and say, well i've got this for a chorus. Well,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I'll sing a verse and it just goes
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: back and forth like that. It's great. You know, he's
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: so easy to work with.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: And I noticed see that the album title is two
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: different song names brought together, like, is there any particular
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: reason for those two.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Songs or they just just look and sound good.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you know what you said there. I
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: mean I played the album to one of our manager's
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: day shack and he listened to it. He said, you've
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: got to call your album black Light White Noise because
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: of those two songs, and they're very strong titles, and
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: there's a certain you know, duality in that, you know,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: black and white. Just it's it's just a little player
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: of words. I think it's fun. And we've got a
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: new out, a new video coming out, new single with
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: the song black Light, and which is I think that's
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: the best video we've done. We've done quite a few now,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: but that would be out very shortly as well.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: Oh and you mentioned before that that you and Richie
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: ends outside of actually making album together. But like in
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: in between albums, like when you do you get together,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: do you just talk music and about what.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: You're going to do next? Or is that probably the
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: furthest thing from your mind?
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: It's all about anything, really, you know, it's usually I
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: mean most of my friends are musicians. You know, there's
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: a big community obviously in America. In London, it's just
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: you know, I just know a lot of people in
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: different bands and management, and you know, it's just like
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: a big fan We're not family really, but it's just
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: a big community. So you know, you talk about everything.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Obviously you took a lot about music, you know, and.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: You both obviously know your way around the guitar pretty well.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: Mate. But but the fact that you both know your
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: instruments so well, like, does that make it easier or
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: harder in the creative process?
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Personally, I find it a lot more prolific now, writing wise,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I mean considering you can you know, I'm on the
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: road a lot. I'm always traveling, but I can pack
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: a studio in a small suitcase. You know, I'm ready
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: to go. I'm ready to rite. So by the time
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I meet up with Richie, I've got a few ideas,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: you know, so we've got something to work on. But yeah,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I'm definitely more prolific, you know. I suppose as you
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: get older, you've just had more life experience and more
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: stuff to write about.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: True, And so in the studio, I mate, like, did
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: either of you have to pull the other one up?
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: I guess on a guitar solo, just because they're enjoying
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: yourself that much, and you just you just kept going.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I think, you know, we're about songs as much
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: as anything, you know. I think I think you could
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: just fill an album with notes, which is okay, But
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I think I think an unwritten rule of what we
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: do is, you know, it's more about the song, you
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: know as well, it's about as song as much as
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: anything else, you know. So I think we kind of
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: agree on what we're going to play. We like to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: be equally represented in each song vocally and guitar wise,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: so we try to blend it together. And I think
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: that's good because not many people are doing that. I
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: don't think anyone does it. Let's face it, two guitarists
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: doing an album could go horribly wrong, couldn't it, you know?
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: But you know, we divide it up. I think we've
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: both got a fair amount of respect for each other,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: so you know, we give each other's place within the
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: song to say what we want to say. You know, yeah,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I just is it a.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Thing we're two guitarists like yourselves, Like do you write
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: guitar solos for each other or is it strictly for yourself?
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Well, we tend to get the music together, and obviously
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: there's an instrumental section. It's probably the last thing we
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: concentrate on. But it's got to be like a say,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: in context with a song. But no, I'll write something
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: I want to play on, yeah, because because I mean,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: what you're playing over is obviously sometimes the key to
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: to what you're going to play. You know, it can
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: inspire different ideas, so you know, rather than playing over
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: something boring, you try and try and find something inspiring
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: to play over and to the point, you know, yeah, yeah.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Now, of course everyone's goet have of their own personal
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: favorite track on the album, mate, but I had to
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: listen about four times yesterday and the one that really
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: stands out.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: For me is Blindsided, Like, can you tell us a
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: bit more about that one?
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I like that song? I like it's one of my
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: favorite songs as well, you know, an unashamed nod to
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the Who for the you know, like the intro riff,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: I was very I wouldn't saying too all the Who stuff,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: but you know Who's Next obviously I thought was one
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: of the best albums of all time. So that's definitely
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: inspired by by the Hood. But Richie came up with
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: the title blindsided, you know, obviously about someone taking it
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: by surprise or doing something that you didn't expect them
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: to do.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: And is there any plans to take these songs out
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: on the road after the album drums.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we'd love to obviously. You know, I've got
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: a busy year with maybe well for a few months.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Richie's going out. He does a lot of touring on
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: his own, so yeah, but we both desperately want to
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: get out and play live. I think these songs have
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: really translate well to the to the live to the
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: live stage, and it's just a matter of logistics. We
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: are going to do an acoustic show actually on the
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: fifth of March. That just came up out the blue.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: The people at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles wanted
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: us to do it, and so Richie and I are
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: both available, So we got a little band together. Julia
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Lage who played on our road band, she's Richie's wife
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: as a bass player, she'll be playing with us, and
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: then we've got percussionists. So we've broken the songs down acoustic.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: It sounds sounds really different. I really enjoying it. So
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: we're going to do that. We're doing sort of seven
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: songs and a bit of a Q and A so
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: that should be fun.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Nice, So you're get our video record that or anything
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: for possible release.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all going to be properly recorded and filmed
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: and it will be broadcast on I think the Grammy channel.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: So yeah, so that would be available. We'll see at
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: some point. Nice.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: And have you spoken about bringing it over to Australia
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: all in the future, Like I said, I know it
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: was busy guys, but it would be great to see
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: every Yeah.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: I would love to plavors with sk down there. Yeah.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: It's a long way mate, Everyboddy, it isn't it. Yeah,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: maybe we could bring an acoustics down or something, you know.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, I love to go to Australia, so it'll
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: be fun.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, fantastic or thanks very much. For your time that
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I must been a pleasure speaking with the best of
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: luck with the albuments.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: So I'll go.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Been following both of you guys for a.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: Long time and it absolutely flawed me when I first
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: put on bro It's fucking awesome, So.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: God none, thank you so much. I appreciate you saying
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: that thanks at your face.
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: I should have been more weird, But I said to myself.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Will it for you?
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: I guess that's all I'm gonna have to care and
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: you ain't gonna have the normal for yourself.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Should be the kind of time covering as a tack
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: last time have tattle saying it's true, but I can't
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: to know I'm coming out until the turn time capture
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: one last, I say they need the fancy closes there
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: that on the black light, I see you, Cols.
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: Control is gonna find the way hide.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: In the truth and the black light.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: I see the.
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: Devil and your time cutting loose.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: On the bottom line.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: Do yeah, Custer on the road, just to see how
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: you and Ju been about to give you the benefit.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Of the town.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, kick the cake, go south of a cord and
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: stiff to play. I take it for someone sitting boy.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: I know I'm not, so I'm just getting out the
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: broken toy stalls.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Got chill?
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: Now, what los all?
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: I say.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: You need?
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: The fencing poses the lot that.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: The black light I saying colors come true.
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: It's not a fun way. Lot is the truth of
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: the black light. I see the devil and you're not
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: to cut into rose.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Cash black night.
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: I'll see your hairs because you're not. Where is the
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: trouble on the black night?
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: I'll see the tag on you.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Crying on the bubble.
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: At the black last.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: If you nest to
• 15:36
  Speaker 6: Nything name