Vinny Appice not crazy about the mix and thinks drums not loud enough on Resurrection Kings’ new album

Vinny Appice not crazy about mix and thinks drums not loud enough on Resurrection Kings’ new album

Drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio, Last In Line) was recently interviewed by Pariah Burke for the Hard, Heavy & Hair Show with Pariah Burke. The interview can be found on Pariah Rocks‘ website. Appice was promoting amongst other things Resurrection Kings‘ sophomore album Skygazer, which will be released via Frontiers Music Srl on July 16, 2021.

In terms of Resurrection Kings‘ upcoming album, Appice stated (as transcribed by the Hard, Heavy & Hair Show with Pariah Burke with slight edits): “Well, it’s a new album. I think it’s coming out this week or next week. And you know,  it’s more of a project and I played on the first Resurrection Kings album and this one, I really didn’t have a lot to do with it except playing on the songs. And it’s more of a project for Frontiers Records and I’m on it, Craig Goldy‘s on it. Chas West is singing some of the vocals and then Alessandro [Del Vecchio], who’s the producer. He seems to be playing bass on it whereas the last record, [it] was Sean McNabb. So and he’s singing on some of the tracks as well. So as it came out, it’s a good album. I haven’t really heard the whole thing in its entirety. So I’ve yet to, I just got some copies of it. I have to check it out, but the nice cover and everything, they did a great job and it should be a good record, you know?”

With respect to his writing contributions for Skygazer, Appice revealed: “No, I didn’t do anything. It’s one of those things where you want to play on it and of course, I did. I did the first one, but it was a little bit different because last time, we were a little bit more involved, each of us. This time, it was more of Alessandro‘s project and Frontiers‘. So I just played and, and you know, the drums are not loud enough for me on this record, to tell you the truth.”

Appice added: “Yeah, well, I didn’t mix it. If I mixed it, the drums would be way up, you know. It’d sound like a [Led] Zeppelin record, but these drums… That’s the problem these days and a lot of people mix. I do a lot of sessions and projects. Then I hear that stuff back and I go, ‘Well, who mixed this?’ The mix is — they buried the drums. It’s always like that. And that’s probably the reason because the drums are first. When you mix them, you go, ‘Hey, let’s get the drums up.’ And then you work on the drum sound, ‘Okay, then let’s bring the guitars, in the bass, the overdubs that, that, that, that, that’, and by the time everything’s in, the drums are forgotten. I mean, that’s the only theory I can come up with because I hear this all the time.”

Appice continued: “And especially the bass drum. People do not know how to mix bass drums in the music business. If you listen to a Zeppelin record, you could hear what [John] Bonham plays. You could hear, the rhythm that comes out of the snare drum and the bass drum. Well, that’s the way it should be, especially with a drummer like me. I don’t play the same plain vanilla stuff in songs. I like to play a lot of the rhythms and a different way of playing, but [mixers] seem to think everybody mixes the same way that they think the snare drum should be heard and the bass drum is just in there to [physically] hold up the tom-toms or something. So I just get upset with that kind of stuff. I don’t know, either they’re deaf or they don’t know how to mix. You listen to early Dio records, there’s drums in there. You listen to early [Black] Sabbath stuff, it’s all drums in there. And a lot of this other stuff, the drums are buried, man. So I’m not crazy about the mix, but the album, the songs are good and stuff is good, but yeah, it’s just one of those things.”

In regard to whether there were any songs that really stuck out to him that he liked working on, Appice indicated: “I liked working on a few of them. I can’t, it’s been a while, you know, I recorded this probably last year, so I don’t remember some of the songs and I haven’t really listened to the whole album. Of the few songs that they sent me, my comment was, ‘The drums were a bit low.’ So you know, there’s good stuff on it. It’s got a kind of a style of its own, which is good. But I think you know, mixing wise, we could have [added] a little bit more punch to it. So that’s what happens, you know, not every album comes out great. Like you want it to be, or you envision it, you know?”

Resurrection Kings‘ “Skygazer” single (from Skygazer album):

You can listen to the interview with Vinny Appice on the Hard, Heavy & Hair Show with Pariah Burke below: