Carmine Appice recently opened up about his current rivalry with Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe. The drummer told HEAVY Magazine that he met them when he was on tour with Ozzy Osbourne. Carmine described how he met the band while they were first starting out by saying: “When she [Sharon Osbourne] told me, ‘Your name is too big, you need to start your own band,’ I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to start my own band.'” We were on tour with Mötley Crüe, and you know all that nonsense. I went on tour with Mötley with Nikki Sixx recently, which surprised me since I thought we were buddies.” Sixx and Appice’s latest feud erupted when the drummer expressed his thoughts on Mick Mars’ departure from Mötley Crüe. The argument heated up when Nikki referred to Carmine as a “washed-up drummer,” to which he replied freely, “At least he can play his instrument well.
” Carmine went on to relate how he stayed with Mötley Crüe when they were merely an opening act: “In any case, I was friends with them.” I befriended them because they were only an opening act. I was the main attraction. I talked to them and hung out with them, so when I told them I was starting a band, they were like three blackhead men with a blonde frontman.” After being fired from Ozzy Osbourne’s band, he formed his own band, King Kobra. He explained his first ideas for how he wanted the band to look: “I said, ‘You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to start a band.’ So for a long time, I had black and purple hair. ‘I’m going to establish a band in which I’ll be the black-haired guy and everyone else will be blonde, but we’ll dye everyone’s hair to make it really crazy,’ I added.
The drummer went on to explain how he met Mark [Marcie] Free and eventually earned a recording contract. He stated: “I had the idea in my head already.” I already had Mark [Marcie] Free, the vocalist, on board since I was planning a solo record on which he would sing. So that was it; I informed my managers that I had been sacked. We had some guys, we did demos, and we ended up with a record deal with Capital.” Carmine Appice’s interview with HEAVY Magazine can be heard below.
