Hear Carmine Appice’s New Version of ‘Evil’ With Dee Snider

Legendary drummer Carmine Appice is back with a new Cactus album, Temple of Blues - Influences & Friends, which will be released on June 7. The all-star affair includes guest appearances from a variety of musicians who were influenced by the Long Island band.

You can watch a video below for "Evil,' the first single, which features Twisted Sister's Dee Snider and King's X singer / bassist Dug Pinnick alongside Appice's original co-founding Cactus bandmate, Jim McCarty on guitar.

"To get a call from Carmine Appice, asking me to sing this song on a Cactus album is one of the highlights of my career," Snider said in a statement. "He told me I sounded more like the late great [Cactus vocalist] Rusty Day than anyone else he ever heard. Of course I do! You don't fuck with perfection! Thank you Rusty, Timmy [Tim Bogert], Carmine and Jim for showing me the way and allowing me (Carmine and Jim) the chance to do this. I am honored to rock with such greatness."

Cactus first recorded "Evil," which was written by blues guitar legend Howlin' Wolf, for 1971's Restrictions, their third studio album.

How Carmine First Heard 'Evil'

Appice remembers that it was Jeff Beck who originally turned him onto the Howlin' Wolf version. "He gave me an album called The Howlin’ Wolf Electric Album. On the cover, it said, 'This is Howlin’ Wolf’s new album. He doesn’t like it. He didn’t like his electric guitar at first, either,'" the drummer tells UCR. "On it was that song, 'Evil.' It’s the same riffs. The drum riff, I got from there. But we made it heavy and I played it the way I play it. It’s a bit different. It’s not a backbeat [Appice imitates the rhythm], it’s a little different. It follows the riff, the drum pattern."

"Morris Jennings was the drummer [on Howlin’ Wolf’s version] and if you hear that album, you would [find other similarities]," Appice continues. "Jimmy Page had it too. You can hear the first [Led] Zeppelin album sound in that record. There’s other songs, like 'Little Red Rooster' [originally titled 'The Red Rooster'] which had stuff that Jeff [incorporated] on his second album. I presented it to the band and we redid it our way, with bigger drum fills and stuff."

Snider previously recorded "Evil" in the '90s with his own band, Widowmaker, so he was very familiar with the song. Paired with Pinnick's sludgy bass groove, they bring additional intensity to the heaviness that Cactus first exhibited on their original take.

Other guests on the album include Ted Nugent, Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule, Living Colour's Vernon Reid, Joe Bonamassa and others. Now 55 years removed from their debut record, Appice is able to see the impact that the group has had. "Cactus became this legendary underground blues-rock band," he says today.

Temple of Blues - Influences & Friends is available for preorder now from Cleopatra Records.

Watch Cactus' 'Evil' Video Featuring Dee Snider and Dug Pinnick