by Mark Kadzielawa

Vanilla Fudge is an essential American rock band. Their sound revolutionized the way musicians approached music, many cite they were the link between the psychedelia and hard rock. Vanilla Fudge often covered songs from other artists, and took the original ideas into another dimension.
Vanilla Fudge formed in 1966 in New York. The band included Mark Stein on keyboards and vocals, Vince Martell on guitar and vocals, Tim Bogert on bass and vocals, and Carmine Appice on drums and vocals. Vanilla Fudge quickly rose to fame, released some groundbreaking albums, and repeatedly toured the land. While touring, Vanilla Fudge introduced many up and coming acts to the U.S. audiences. Bands such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, which later rose to great commercial heights. After releasing five successful albums, Vanilla Fudge broke up in 1970. The individual members went on to other projects such as Cactus, Beck/Bogert/Appice, and so on. It wasn't until 1981, the band returned for a brief reunion. Releasing an album, and breaking up shortly after. Many other reunions were staged, but it wasn't until 1999, Vanilla Fudge returned on a more consistent basis. The revived band often included different personnel as many original member couldn't participate for variety of reasons. Currently, Vanilla Fudge is back to Stein, Martell, and Appice combination. And with Tim Bogert retiring from performing, Pete Bremy steps in to fill the void. Since reuniting, Vanilla Fudge released two well received studio records, and several live albums. Needless to say, the beat goes on, as Vanilla Fudge continues to bring the classic rock to the masses.
Keyboardist, Mark Stein, talks about the history of the band, the successes and the regrets, and a new book he's just finished co-writing.

You’ve had a very successful career back in the late 60s. What caused the band to break up at that point?
Mark Stein: I guess we were together too long without taking too much of a break, I think back then. We were constantly on the road, and we got on each other’s nerves. Different guys in the band just acquired a different musical taste. We just got bored with what we were doing at the time. We were too immature to realize the great thing that we had at the time, and we couldn’t hold it together basically. That’s like a few answers right there.
Were you aware of your massive influence on bands such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, and countless of others, that incorporated elements of your sound into their styles?
Oh yeah, absolutely. Deep Purple were initially called the “English Vanilla Fudge.” I know that they were big fans of ours, and listened to our music when they were kids growing up. And I know we’ve influenced them a lot because when they came over to the states, we used to hang out in Los Angeles, and actually did a couple of shows together back then. We were the headliners of course. We saw them as developing band, and they became a fantastic band too. As far as Led Zeppelin, the first time they came to the country, they opened for Vanilla Fudge on their first two tours. We also saw them grow from a new band just out of adversity to become the incredible worldwide sensation that they did become.

Was there any disappointment when Vanilla Fudge broke up? Especially when the bands you clearly influenced went onto become massively successful in the 70s.
That’s a great question because that hit me really hard. I felt really bad about it because I saw it happen. We were bigger than both of those bands in the beginning, and then after we broke up both bands, Purple and Zeppelin, became tremendously huge. Yeah, it did bothered me personally because I just always felt we should’ve been carrying on the way they did. I mean I was happy for them, but It’s just human nature.
Vanilla Fudge was known as a band that was able to cover just about any song, and give it another life. Was there a special requirement that song had to have before selected?
Back in the late 60s, we were part of the Long Island sound which was the big production numbers. We were just taking songs, slowing them down, adding a lot of drama to them. We were trying to make more out of them than the original three minute versions were. In terms of what songs were picked....I think it was just everyone’s favorite songs that they wanted to do. I mean like “You Keep Me Hanging On” for instance came on the radio, and I was listening to it with Tim (Bogert,) and it sounded to us like it was on a fast mode, so we said that we should slow it down, and it could really be a soulful song. That’s how that happened for example.
After Vanilla Fudge broke up, Tim and Carmine went on to form Cactus. What were your thoughts on what they did with Cactus?
Cactus was a super high energy boogie band. And as I stated before, at the end of the original juncture when Vanilla Fudge broke up in 1970, and everybody was kind of bored with what we were doing. Carmine and Timmy were influenced by Ginger Baker, and Jeff Beck, and Cream, a lot of the up and coming bands and musicians from that time. I gotta say they went on to become one of the greatest rhythm sections in that era. They were excited and happy to be doing what they were doing, and that band had a lot of energy. I wasn’t crazy about the vocals or the songs, but the energy was quite amazing. They were one hell of a boogie band.

Vanilla Fudge eventually resurfaced back in 1982, and two years later you came back with an album, titled “Mystery.” How did the band get back together?
I think around 1981, I just happened to be in New York, and I was doing commercials at the time, and Carmine was at nearby theater doing a benefit for UNICEF. Tim and Vinny were in the area too, so the feelers were put out to see if we can get back together, and go up and play some songs for that benefit. That was a hell of a night. We got together and played after so many years, and the people went nuts. My old manager, Phill Basille, and some people from Atlantic happened to be in the audience, and they were knocked out, and asked us to get the band back together. They offered us a new deal on Atlantic. Basically, that’s how that started out back then.
It was once again a very short lived reunion, how come?
It was short lived because the album, “Mystery,” didn’t happen (laughter...) I thought there were some really good tracks on it, especially the title cut. What we were trying to do is not be Vanilla Fudge in the 60s. This was the early 80s, so we were trying to be Vanilla Fudge for the 80s. If you listen to the album, you’ll see why a lot of the original fans were not pleased. We didn’t have the old sound. At the time The Police were happening, Toto was happening, and other bands like that. We were trying to get hip for that time period by using our sound, and integrating it with it. Personally I thought it was a pretty cool album, but we had a lot of internal problems and legal battles that happened at that time, which were one of the big reasons for the demise of the band.
It wasn’t until 1999 until another proper reunion happened, and still it did not include all of the original members. There was a lot of the shuffling of the personnel. What was happening?
I was kind of in a hibernation. We were not talking back then, and they went on the road with a replacement for me. And frankly I’m not sure if that was well received at all. That didn’t last too long. But eventually, we went through another heavy duty lawsuit, and then once that war was over, we got contacted by the manager of The Doors. It happened around 2005, and he kind of got the band back together to open up for The Doors, on a 25 date tour. That was a really productive era for us.
I understand you have a book coming out. Can you tell me anything about it?
Actually I have a book coming out. It’s called “You Keep Me Hanging O: The raging Story of Rock’s Golden Age.” All of these stories about Fudge’s history are in there. It’s 50 years of rock history. My co-writer is Larry Schweikart, he is a professor at the University of Dayton. He actually had a number one, New York Times bestseller with “A Patriot’s History of the United States.” He is my co-writer, and it’s the first time a real historian collaborated with a true artist from that era, and told the story of the development of rock.
From 1999 onwards, the band managed to stay together until now. There were various configurations of the band, but the name was present among active artists. What kept it going?
I think through all the wars, and all the break ups.....I tell you, we must’ve reunited a thousand times. I think ultimately, apart from the desire to make music, it’s the desire to make a living. Making money, and making money doing really what you love doing is great. Ultimately, we really enjoy playing with each other. I mean, the music’s good, it’s a really symphonic, dynamic sound. Over the last few years we’ve been playing to some really good audiences who seem to really get into the band. We’ve been really well received, so we keep on playing.

You’ve mentioned a very important issue, being able to make a living from playing your music. How does that look for a classic band like Vanilla Fudge?
Well, frankly I’m in business myself. I have my own business, and Carmine’s got a lot of other things that he does. Frankly over the last ten years, the income from Vanilla Fudge really is not enough to sustain my lifestyle on its own. I wish it could because I really love to play, and that would be the ultimate high for me, but it’s just not reality. Back in the late 60s, that’s all we did. We were probably the number one touring rock band in the country at the time.
Of the recently released albums, the Led Zeppelin inspired "Out Through the In Door" is particularly impressive. What lead to lead to this project?
Well, Vanilla Fudge was probably the only true band Led Zeppelin ever toured with. So back in 2005, there was this idea to do a Zeppelin record. Since we were really known for doing other people's music our own way. And since we did tour with Zeppelin, maybe it would be cool to do a tribute to Zeppelin. You know, to take their songs, and do them Vanilla Fudge style. That's really how that happened. It's all in the book (nice selling point Mark.)
The recent live Vanilla Fudge shows are often called the farewell shows. Is it really the end? What's the story?
Well, in the beginning when we started to play shows it was the farewell tour, and it was a good marketing, so people would come out and see the band. It's not the first time in the history this has happened. I mean, Cher did it about three or four times, and Kiss is doing it all the time. To me it was a farewell to poverty, a farewell to unemployment.

According to what you're saying, we will still see and hear Vanilla Fudge in years to come, correct?
As long as the people want to see us, and as long as the promoters want to book us, we'll work and bring the classic rock to the people. As long as we can do it.
I'm noticing the latest shows continue to be without Tim Bogert on bass. What's going on with Tim?
Tim retired about two years ago. He retired completely and is not involved at this point.
Will there be any new releases from Vanilla Fudge as far as new studio recording, live recording, or a DVD?
Well, right now that's kind of in a dormant stage. Not to say that we won't be doing some more recording, but right now we're in the process of putting a distribution deal for that "Out Through the In Door" record. We're in the midst of getting a distribution deal for that.
Is there any vintage footage of Vanilla Fudge from the 60s, apart from the clip or two we normally see?
I have probably few hours' worth of super 8 film that was taken on the road. It's beyond my scope of imagination why when we were playing all of these big shows, and nobody had the vision to take footage of us. How incredible would that have been today? To have that. It's a shame. The Doors did it, you see a documentary on The Doors, you see what Jim Morrison was really like, it's incredible. I wish somebody would have done it with us. What I do have though is just some candid footage of us goofing around on the road, which nobody has seen. I'm probably gonna take that and develop it into a DVD.

Links:
http://www.vanillafudge.com/contents.htm
http://www.mark-stein.com/