It’s been two years since drum legend Carmine Appice and his reformed Cactus — singer Ed Terry, guitarist Artie Dillon and bassist James Caputo — first unbarred the doors to the Temple Of Blues – Influences And Friends, a 15-track slab of headbanging, hip-swinging heavy blues rock whose subtitle roped in a host of special guests, all of whom held the band very close to their hearts.
Now the Temple opens again with its sequel, Temple Of Blues II, due out April 3 via Cleopatra Records. This time there’s an all-star aggregation that recalls Ted Nugent, Billy Sheehan, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, Dee Snider and Pat Travers from volume one, alongside an all-new wave of heavy hitters including Steve Morse (Deep Purple), Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple), Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot), Alex Skolnick (Testament) and a whole lot more.
The album’s second track, “The Little Red Rooster” (featuring Twisted Sister‘s Dee Snider on lead vocals and L.A. Guns‘ Tracii Guns on guitar) is out today. With a little help from A.I., a Western-themed video was created and edited by Dominic Esposito/Deville Films and co-directed by Carmine Appice. Watch it below.
Vinyl and CD pre-orders for Temple Of Blues II are available now here, while pre-orders on all digital outlets are available here.
“It was great working on ‘The Little Red Rooster’ with Dee and Tracii,” says Appice. “I arranged it with the drums first, then sent it to Artie Dillion and Ed Terry for their feedback. We created the demo with Ed‘s amazing vocals for Tracii, Dee, and James Haslip, who finished the song. Ed was gracious, sitting on the sidelines for this one so Dee could sing the lead vocals. It was such an honor to have Dee on the song and to have him make an appearance in the video, especially since he’s retired now. The song rocks!”
“Cactus! The name conjures such amazing memories for me,” exclaims Dee Snider. “An inspiration for the rock I would play in the years to come. Can you imagine what it was like to ‘get the call’ that your heroes want you to rock with them? Mind-blowing! And now to be asked for the second time!? What a treat to dig into a blues classic like ‘The Little Red Rooster’ with Cactus!!! Hell yeah!!”
“The Little Red Rooster” is the follow-up to the first single, “Back Door Man” (featuring MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan and guitarists Eric Gales and Artie Dillon), which was released February 18. As Carmine enthuses about the track, “When we finished ‘Back Door Man’ and listened to the whole mix, it blew me away. Billy and Eric are amazing together on top of my drums.”
