Legendary rockers VANILLA FUDGE have inked a deal with Golden Robot Records. To celebrate this announcement, the band will drop a remastered version of its cover of LED ZEPPELIN‘s “Immigrant Song” on September 22.
VANILLA FUDGE will release a new album in 2021, “The Supreme Vanilla Fudge”, which will see them rework 10 songs from the legendary THE SUPREMES done in the classic FUDGE way. “The Supreme Vanilla Fudge” will feature all four original members: Mark Stein, Carmine Appice, Vinnie Martel and Tim Bogert (who no longer tours but will appear on a few tracks on the record), along with touring bassist Pete Bremy.
VANILLA FUDGE‘s Mark Stein said: “‘Immigrant Song’ by LED ZEPPELIN is one of the monster tracks of all time. How do you top that? Well, you can’t, but we decided to just have fun with it. I came up with this ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ kinda chord progression as the intro on the synth with a heavy-duty brass sound that worked pretty well. The guys fell into it right quick and it rocks the house. Carmine did a great job with the drum track and Tim and Vince killed it. I did the vocals in Florida and sent it back to Carmine in Los Angeles and he mixed it. Hope you dig it.”
Mark Alexander-Erber, president and founder of Golden Robot, said: “GRR is honored to have such a classic band on the label. Considering they had the main song ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ in the recent Quentin Tarantino movie ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’, it shows you their legacy will continue for some time yet. We are excited to release the new remastered LED ZEPPELIN and SUPREMES albums over the next 12 months.”
VANILLA FUDGE was one of the first American groups to infuse psychedelia into heavy rock sound to create “psychedelic symphonic rock,” an eclectic genre which would, among its many offshoots, eventually morph into heavy metal.
Although, at first, the band did not record original material, they were best known for their dramatic heavy, slowed-down arrangements of contemporary pop songs which they developed into works of epic proportion.
Originally, VANILLA FUDGE was a blue-eyed soul cover band called THE PIGEONS, formed in New Jersey in 1965 with organist Mark Stein, bassist Tim Bogert, drummer Joey Brennan and guitarist, vocalist and U.S. Navy veteran Vince Martell. They built a following by gigging extensively up and down the East Coast and earned extra money by providing freelance in-concert backing for hit-record girl groups. In early 1966, the group recorded a set of eight demos that were released several years later as “While the World Was Eating Vanilla Fudge”.
The East Coast, in particular New York and New Jersey, created a sound all its own. Inspired by groups such as THE RASCALS and THE VAGRANTS (fronted by guitarist Leslie West of MOUNTAIN fame), THE PIGEONS reworked many of their own existing arrangements of covers to reflect their unique interpretation of this “East Coast Sound.”
In late 1966, drummer Joey Brennan moved out to the West Coast. THE PIGEONS immediately drafted drummer and vocalist Carmine Appice, a disciple of the renowned Joe Morello (DAVE BRUBECK BAND) and a seasoned veteran of the club scene. In early 1967, THE PIGEONS manager Phil Basile convinced producer George “Shadow” Morton (producer for THE SHANGRI-LAS and Janis Ian), to catch their live act. Impressed by their heavy-rocking, trippy and psychedelic version of THE SUPREMES‘ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, Morton offered to record the song as a single. This resulted in a deal with the Atlantic subsidiary Atco, which requested a name change. The band settled on VANILLA FUDGE.
VANILLA FUDGE celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017 and is still rocking the world as hard as ever.
