“I’ve sat down with other guitarists – you just end up playing blues licks all day and not writing anything. But we went to work straight away”: Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith on absurd volume, improv and how long a solo should be

Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen pictured with their Jackson and Fender guitars at soundcheck.

When does a side-project become the main event? As we set up the photoshoot for Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen at Bristol’s O2 Academy, it seems a pertinent question to contemplate.

Back in February 2020 these two star players traded riffs for the first time on the Turks and Caicos Islands – of course, a few days later and the pandemic would have scuppered the project before it even began.