Current and Ex Members of Iron Maiden and Poison Release New Single, “Scars”

Smith/Kotzen, the aptly dubbed new outfit featuring Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith and former Poison, Mr. Big and current Winery Dogs guitarist Richie Kotzen, have released “Scars,” the second single from their forthcoming collaborative album.

Like the album’s first single, “Taking My Chances,” the new jam is very early ’90s sounding. And like the previous entry, it’s also quite catchy. Unlike that one, though, but appropriate given the cast of characters, this one goes much more heavy on the guitar solos; in addition to a 30-second solo in the middle of the song where such things usually go, the track concludes with 45 seconds of the two shredders trading licks, and is generally sprinkled with lead flourishes throughout. Still, it’s not over the top. And besides, if you’ve made it this far into an article about Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen you likely already knew what you were signing up for.

Richie explains of the new track:

“I remember ‘Scars’ being one of the songs we wrote in the very beginning of the process. 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.”

Check out “Scars” below along with a music video. Smith/Kotzen comes out on March 26; pre-order here.