The American drummer Carmine Appice is known especially for his work with Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne and Beck, Bogert & Appice. But in 1980 he had the chance to try to become the drummer for Black Sabbath, that was looking for a new one after Bill Ward left the group.
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The musician explained in an interview with Ultimate Guitar the reason why he decided not to audtion for the Heavy Metal group and his younger brother Vinny Appice ended up becoming their drummer.
Carmine Appice explains why he didn’t joined Black Sabbath
“They wanted me for the gig, but at the time, I was playing with Rod [Stewart], and we were playing 20,000-seat gigs. So, my publicist who worked for Warner Brothers, which was the label Sabbath was on, said to me, ‘Carmine, Sabbath is looking for a drummer.”
“Would you consider it?’ But at the time, Sabbath was not doing well, and they couldn’t even sell out one night at the same places Rod was selling out six nights at. So, for me, Black Sabbath was a much smaller gig. And with Rod, I had a percentage of the take, so that was good for me, too.”
Carmine Appice continued:
“So, at that point, I felt like Sabbath wasn’t a good gig for me, and I told my publicist I wasn’t interested. Now, from there, they listened to my brother’s album he did with Rick Derringer, and they loved his sound.”
“So, connections were made, and when Tony Iommi met with Vinny, he said he was listening to that album constantly. In the end, it was good that Vinny got the gig because that started his career. Even though he had played with Rick Derringer, for Vinny, that was an important gig, and it gave him a huge leg up,” Carmine Appice said.
Vinny Appice career with Black Sabbath
Vinny Appice joined the band in 1980 and recorded the album “Mob Rules” with the group, leaving in 1982 alongside the singer Ronnie James Dio. Throughout the 80s he recorded with Dio, returning with him to Sabbath from 1991 to 1992, recording the album “Dehumanizer”.
From 2006 to 2010 he was a member of the Sabbath spin-off band Heaven & Hell” that came to an end after Dio’s death.
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