Rock Drum Great Carmine Appice Recorded Early Hits With Gretsch

Did you know that legendary hard rock drummer Carmine Appice recorded classics like the Vanilla Fudge hit “You Keep Me Hanging On” with a Gretsch Kit?

Carmine has played with everybody from Jeff Beck to Ozzy Osbourne. Chances are, that if you’ve seen just one Heavy Rock Show in the last 30 years, Carmine was that guy poundin’ the skins behind some BIG kit.

You may not know that his legacy goes back as far as 1963. He’s seen here with some hip band “The 3 Beeets”. OK, he’s the guy in the middle with the sticks! And yes, that is a Gretsch Kit; the same one he apparently used with Vanilla Fudge during the recording of the classic “You Keep Me Hanging On”. I know you don’t need me to tell you, that’s some serious Gretsch trivia.

Excerpts from this article originally appeared in Modern Drummer Magazine.