SMITH/KOTZEN

With second album, Black Light/White Noise, confirming the hard-rock duo as a project with legs, we meet Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen to hear about volume abuse, the perfect length for a solo, and the white heat of improvisation

- Words Jamie Dickson & Henry Yates

When does a side-project become the main event? As we set up the photoshoot for Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen at Bristol's O2 Academy, it seems a pertinent question to contemplate. Back in February 2020 these two star players traded riffs for the first time on the Turks and Caicos Islands - of course, a few days later and the pandemic would have scuppered the project before it even began. However, six years on and Smith/Kotzen have a brace of acclaimed albums under their belt, from 2021's self-titled debut to last year's Black Light/White Noise (by comparison, Smith's mothership, Iron Maiden, haven't recorded since 2021's Senjutsu).

Having completed soundcheck and now settling on a leather couch, the pair display a complementary chemistry: Kotzen is happy to hold court, while Smith prefers to sit back, hat pulled low, and chip in as necessary. But as they explain, it's their opposing guitar styles that has made Smith/Kotzen such an enjoyable enterprise, with both musicians happy to be nudged from their comfort zones.

How does the second album progress from your debut?

Adrian Smith: “We actually recorded it in two parts. We did about six songs, then I went on tour with Maiden and Richie went off with his band. Then we came back together the following year. So it gave us the opportunity to let the dust settle and think, ‘What do we have here?’ I think it’s a more focused album, more ‘up’, more cohesive. You know, we're developing a writing and playing relationship. It’s more of the same - but a progression.”

When did you realise that you clicked as a partnership?

Adrian: “The first time we got together at Richie’s studio. I’ve sat down with other guitarists and you just end up playing blues licks all day and not writing anything. But Richie and I went to work straightaway. I had the riff and he came up with the chorus for