FORTY DEUCE
Guitar master Richie Kotzen has revealed his own point of view on the tracks included on FORTY DEUCE debut album “Nothing To Lose” to be released on Frontiers Records on August 29th 2005 !
“Oh my God” is my personal favorite song on the cd... I love the lyrics... Very typical me... I remember when we wrote this song at my house: Taka was singing "oh my God, I fucked up again". Ari, Taka and I were talking about being drunk and all the mistakes we made in the past and how we never learn from our mistakes. Mostly in relationships. That night we wrote the song together. It pretty much wrote itself. Taka and I share lead guitar duties and on this song I did the solo.
”I Still” is one of the more powerful songs on the cd and I think it’s Ari and Taka’s favorite, as well as Thr3e's... It is a great song to play live and the riff kicks ass...
”Start it Up” is the last song we wrote for the cd... I wanted to write something that was really simple but still uptempo and aggressive. We are doing a show in a few weeks and it will be the first time we perform that song live, hopefully the audience will dig it as much as we do. I played the guitar solo on this one as well...
”Complicated” was the first Forty Deuce song ever written. Taka had most of the guitar parts worked out and Ari and I wrote the lyrics and we all worked on the melodies together. After we recorded this song we figured we were on to something cool and we then wrote “Heaven” and “Standing in the Rain”.
”Say” is a song that we have been using as the opener to our live show.... The way it starts is very aggressive and sort of introduces the energy of the band.... So far its been going over great
”Heaven” is a very unique song. There are not a lot of rock songs in this time signature. It is the second Forty Deuce song ever written. I can remember being in the atrium at Headroom studio, singing that melody to the chorus and we were all very inspired about finishing the song. Just like ”Complicated” Taka had the main riff worked out and we all went from there. I love what Taka played in the guitar solo on this song... Very memorable!
”Stand Up” was written some where in the middle of our sessions.... We wanted to have a positive song that had a bit of hope in the lyrics.... A lot of our stuff lyrically is dark or aggressive and this song is one of the more positive tracks
”Next to Me” was written around the same time as start it up.... I had the riff and played it for the boys and everyone dug it so we moved on it... I played the lead guitar on this one as well...
”Standing in the Rain” is by far the best mid temp song on the cd in my opinion.... Really think this is a beautiful song in a very dark way.... Taka came in with most of the music ready and some melodies ... I came up with a few ideas with the melody line and Ari and i wrote the lyrics along with Taka.
”Wanted” is one of the more mainstream sounding songs on the cd.... Its about someone who moves on to become successful but leaves someone behind in the process... Sort of a sad song I suppose... This one usually gets a great response live.
”Nothing to Lose” is the official ballad off the cd.... I guess you always need one on every record..... I think this song has a lot of me in it in the chord changes and melodies.....in is a bit light compared to the rest of the cd but I think its a great closer..... We also made the intro to the cd out of this song so it sort of works like book ends to the Forty Deuce record.... Over all I think we made an awesome record.... We really have our own sound due to the fact that Ari, Taka and myself are all writing everything together... It is really awesome to be a part of a new band from the very beginning..... I hope we get a chance to tour very soon!