Music trumps legal wrangling for '60s rockers

Published in the Asbury Park Press 06/19/05

BY MARK VOGER
STAFF WRITER

'Keep Me Hangin' On" is right.

Fans of Vanilla Fudge hoping for a reunion of the quintessential psychedelic band (who recorded a heavy cover of the Supremes hit) have been waiting for decades. Now that singer/keyboardist Mark Stein is back in the fold, the original lineup is finally together:
Stein, guitarist Vinnie Martell, bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice.

Earlier, a Stein-free Fudge had been recording and touring, so it's only fair to ask: Did Stein and the Fudge have to bury any hatchets before reuniting?

"Well," Stein tells CELEBS, "we've known each other -- what? -- going on 40 years. So there's lots of hatchets to bury. They've been buried. Lots of history, lots of emotions. We're happy to be playing together again."

Appice is less coy.

"We're like everybody else," he says. "There's lawsuits and everything else goin' on."

Appice says the Stein-free Fudge wasn't setting the music world on fire (which he chalks up to lackluster management).

"We ended up playing the wrong kind of gigs," Appice says. "We played a lot of clubs. There's nothing wrong with 'em -- it just wasn't where we should have been at."

Then Appice learned that two of the surviving Doors were fishing for a drummer. Appice contacted their manager, Tom Vitorino.

Recalls Appice: "I asked him if I could maybe play with the Doors, because I was sick and tired of playing clubs. My career before that was always playing arenas and theaters. He said, 'Whaddaya mean? You're part of Vanilla Fudge! You're Carmine Appice! You shouldn't be playing clubs anyway.'

"I played him some Vanilla Fudge stuff we had going at that point. He said, 'Well, this is really a good band and all, but are all the original members alive?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Well, then, you guys should be playing together. Because that's the magic that started it.' He said, 'What about doing the original band?' I said, 'Well, you know, we've got our lawyer and they've got their lawyer.' He said, 'Well, look. Give me the numbers. Let me make a call. Let's see if we can put all you guys in one room together.' "

In March, the original Fudge indeed met.

"Everybody was sort of excited," Appice says. "(Vitorino) said, 'Look, if we put this Vanilla Fudge together, I can guarantee we'll put you on this Strange Days tour to start, and then we'll go up from there, hopefully.' We all agreed to give it a crack. So we stopped all the legal stuff that was going on, all that rock 'n' roll stuff."

Adds Appice with a laugh: "It's only rock 'n' roll, man."

Stein sounds happy to be back with the old band after that long period of legal wrangling.

"We all bring out the best in each other," Stein says. "I think we're finding that out. There's not too many original bands from the '60s except for the Cream that are out there doin' it. There's nothing like the original band."

The Strange Days Festival featuring the Doors of the 21st Century, Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge, the Yardbirds and Pat Travers is set to begin at 6 p.m. Friday at the PNC Bank Arts Center, Exit 116 off the Garden State Parkway, Holmdel. $20, $40, $60. (732) 335-8698.
www.artscenter.com.

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