Former Poison and Mr. Big guitarist Richie Kotzen has revealed he nearly joined Nine Inch Nails after blowing Trent Reznor away during a surprise audition.
In a story that feels like an alternative reality fever dream, the guitarist – who is currently on the promo trail for his second album with Iron Maiden riff-slinger Adrian Smith – could have taken a rather different career path in the early 2000s.
“The closest band that I ever came to joining was Nine Inch Nails, and nobody knows that,” he confesses to Hot Metal.
The worlds of Richie Kotzen and Trent Reznor may feel far removed, but it turns out that bassist Jeordie White (AKA Twiggy Ramirez), who was plying his low-end trade in NIN at the time, was a mutual friend.
“He said to me, 'Listen, you've got to come down. We're having a hard time finding a guitar player,'” Kotzen recalls. “So I went down to Third Encore [rehearsal studio in North Hollywood] and spent the day.
“Trent told me, 'You're by far the best guy that we've tried. I would love to have you in the band. I'm gonna have my manager reach out to you.' And I left that day thinking, 'Wow, okay, I'm gonna join another band.”
Kotzen, however, never got that call.
“A week went by. And then another week went by,” he continues. “I ran into Jeordie and I said, 'What happened?' He said [Reznor] didn't want to open up Rolling Stone magazine and see [the headline], 'Nine Inch Nails gets former Poison guitar player, Richie Kotzen'. He didn't want the association with a hair metal band in that camp.”
Kotzen had joined Poison in 1991 and featured on Native Tongue two years later.
“You know, aesthetically, when you think about the fanbase and you think about how people would read into something... I could see the point,” Kotzen continues. “So I jokingly said, 'Hey, I'll do it under an alias,' because I wasn't doing anything at the time and I think he's a genius and I would have loved to have worked with him.
“That wasn't the first time that that stopped me going in one direction or the other,” Kotzen adds. “On the other side of the coin, I don't regret having been a part of Poison, because I think we made a really great record. And so I would much rather have that record... than have done any of the other stuff that I could have done.
“But that's kind of how the music business is. It's not just about the music, a lot of people listen with their eyes. And it's unfortunate in a situation like that. But it is a reality.”
We’ll just have to file this in the ‘What could have been’ folder, alongside former Ozzy guitarist Gus G turning down auditions for Megadeth and Machine Head, and Kiko Loureiro pushing for Marty Friedman’s return to Dave Mustaine’s band following his departure.
Meanwhile, Harvey Mandel says he nearly became a Rolling Stone, believing he was better suited to the job than Ronnie Wood, and Lita Ford nearly joined Led Zeppelin.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
“His songs are timeless, you can’t tell if they were written in the 1400s or now”: Michael Hurley, guitarist and singer/songwriter known as the ‘Godfather of freak folk,’ dies at 83
“The future is pretty bright”: Norman's Rare Guitars has unearthed another future blues great – and the 15-year-old guitar star has already jammed with Michael Lemmo
