Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith Premiere New Song, "Scars"
The 70’s blues rock-indebted tune is the second single from Smith/Kotzen's self-titled debut album.

Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen have premiered their second single as Smith/Kotzen, "Scars."
Taken from the guitar-slingin' duo's self-titled debut album, it features Smith on guitar and vocals and Kotzen handling guitar, vocals, bass, and drums. You can check out its music video below.
“I remember ‘Scars’ being one of the songs we wrote in the very beginning of the process," Kotzen said.
"There is something moody and mysterious going on in this track that I find quite engaging. This would be a great track for us to stretch out live for some guitar improvisation between the two of us.”
Recorded on the Turks & Caicos islands in February 2020, and produced by Kotzen and Smith themselves, Smith/Kotzen features both guitarists sharing and trading off vocals, and guitar and bass duties. It's set for a March 26 release via BMG.
Smith/Kotzen also features Smith's Iron Maiden bandmate, Nicko McBrain, on drums on the song "Solar Fire" while Kotzen's touring bandmate, Tal Bergman, mans the drums on three other tunes. On the album's other five cuts, the drumming is handled by Kotzen himself.
Smith/Kotzen will be available on Digipack CD, 12” black vinyl with an embossed sleeve, in a limited edition 12” red & black smoke effect colored vinyl package, and digitally (streaming and download). You can check out its track list below.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
To preorder the album, step right this way.
Smith/Kotzen:
- "Taking My Chances"
- "Running"
- "Scars"
- "Some People"
- "Glory Road"
- "Solar Fire"
- "You Don’t Know Me"
- "I Wanna Stay"
- "‘Til Tomorrow"
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com and GuitarPlayer.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.

"It was like the ‘I've seen the light’ church scene in the 'Blues Brothers' movie.” Ronnie Baker Brooks dedicated his life to the blues on behalf of his father, Lonnie Brooks. The connection runs deep on 'Blues in My DNA'

“I said, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but that’s a note-for-note guitar solo from the Doors.'” Gene Simmons says Ace Frehley copied a Robby Krieger guitar solo for a classic Kiss song