Carmine Appice on how to say his name
Legendary drummer Carmine Appice talks with former 101 KLOL DJ Dayna Steele on her “Dayna’s Diner” podcast and tells us how to pronounce his name and why it’s said differently than his drummer brother Vinny.
– Ozzy Osbourne and KLOL Houston go way back
The interview kicks off with the story story featured in the “Runaway Radio” documentary of Appice’s firing by Sharon Osbourne at the Houston Summit from Ozzy Osbourne’s 1983 Bark at the Moon Tour. You can watch that story here.
Appice recalls memorable moments and anecdotes from his music career, like how his early band “The Pigeons” became the iconic Vanilla Fudge.
“The Beatles, you know, when they first came out, the Beatles, we used to goof on them,” Appice told Steele. “We used to say, um, dirty lyrics to their songs, wear Beatle wigs, because that’s when they would just like teenybopper stuff. But then when Vanilla Fudge was doing our album, Revolver came out and that was like it. So from then on, I was a big Beatle fan.”
These days, he just released a new Cactus album called “Temple Of Blues—Influences & Friends,” which features guest appearances by Dee Snider and King’s X singer/bassist Dug Pinnick, who is also in the “Runaway Radio” film, among other names like Joe Bonamassa, Ted Nugent, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot, Dee Snider and Pat Travers.
Appice is also back playing some of his biggest hits with Singer Rob Caudill and sax player Katja Rieckermann for a Rod Stewart Tribute, Tonight’s the Night, on a new 2024-2025 tour.
He also discusses his biography, “Stick It!: My Life of Sex, Drums, and Rock ‘n’ Roll,” chronicling his experiences in the rock music scene.
And then the moment everyone is asking about. How do you say his name? Which is correct? Carmine Appice or Vinny Appice?
“We did a Drum Wars video and a Drum Wars tour to say whoever wins the battle wins the name. But then my older brother said, ‘they’re both wrong. It’s ‘a-peach-ee.”” I was Carmine Appice (“app-uh-cee”) just like my brother. But everywhere I went, people said ‘a-piece,’ … or ‘a-pice’ or ‘a-peach-ee’, all these different names. So when I joined Rod (Stewart), Rod said, ‘look, we’re going to be playing in front of 20,000 people a night. What is your name? I’ve heard five different pronunciations.’ I said, ‘well, most people call me ‘a-piece’ and I correct them to ‘app-uh-cee.’ He said, well, let’s go with why don’t we go with ‘a-piece?’ And that way when we do your solo and I’ll say to 20,000 people, Carmine Appice on drums. I said, okay. So I went with ‘a-piece.’ At the time I told Ludwig Drums company, which I have the ad over there, and they did an ad that says ‘Everyone wants a piece of the Appice,’ which ran every major rock magazine in the world. So then I became a-piece. Four years later, my brother joined Black Sabbath. Vinny Appice (“app-uh-cee”) . So right there, he confused everybody, and the confusion is still going on.”
You can hear Dayna every weekday on Houston Radio Platinum.