Smith/Kotzen drop bluesy new single Scars from upcoming debut album

With the release of Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen’s long-awaited debut album looming, the pair have treated fans to a new ‘70s blues-rock-inspired follow-up single, Scars.

The latest offering from the upcoming album comes after the release of the duo’s stomping debut single, Taking My Chances, which served up a tasty mix of high-gain electric guitars and heavy-hitting riffs.

Scars pays homage to classic blues-rock tones of the 1970s – a style that the pair found particularly fun to work on.

Recalls Kotzen, “I remember Scars being one of the songs we wrote in the very beginning of the process. There is something moody and mysterious going on in this track that I find quite engaging.”

The Winery Dogs frontman went on to say that Scars “would be a great track for us to stretch out live for some guitar improvisation between the two of us”.

As well as sharing guitar, vocal, writing and production duties with the Iron Maiden axeman, Kotzen also plays bass guitar and drums on the track.

The single is accompanied by another music video, which closely follows in the footsteps of the Taking My Chances video. Featuring ominous black and white landscape shots, the video also shares footage of the two guitar heroes in action at their London and LA-based home studios.

Commenting on Smith/Kotzen, Smith said, “Pretty much everything on the album is handled between Richie and myself including the production. We had developed a really strong idea of how we wanted it to sound and I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

“There’s a lot of cool songs on there that we are really happy with.”

Smith/Kotzen is available now for preorder, available in CD, digital and vinyl formats.