Rascally Rick Derringer: Still Smokin’ After All These Years T hough he's as finger-pickin’ good as just about anybody who's wrung the neck of a rock’ guitar, Rick Derringer is still what's usually referred to as a “Justifiable legend.” The term has a “yeah, but” built right into it, along with a dollop of irony: This, somehow, after flash- ing to #1 in the mid-'60s with The McCoys and “Hang on Sloopy.” This, after both producing the playing on Edgar Winter's monster They Only Come Out at Night LP and its #1 cut “Frankenstein”. This after touring his ‘own band with Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult at the height of their Popularity, and after racking up platinum albums for guesting with the likes of Todd Rundgren, Steely By Frank Lovece Dan and Bonnie Tyler. This, after failing to chart a hit since 1973, keep a steady band to- gether for long, or keep from falling into the cracks between record com- panies. This, after countless acco- lades for his virtuosity, but precious few for the vision that drives his fingers. ‘ve made some basic mistakes in my career,” Derringer concedes one day in the luxuriously cluttered New York City apartment he shares with his wife, Liz. The admission is almost belied by the bronze sculptures lit- tered about his living room like party PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK WEISS guests, by his latest platinum album (for playing on Tyler's Faster Than the Speed of Night LP), and by the split-level garden very few Manhat. tanites could afford. Then again, there are cents-off coupons on the refrigerator door. “In 19 years as a professional, you have a lot of opportunities to make mistakes,” he reflects. “I shouldn't have been with Blue Sky [his record label from 1973-1980] for as long as | was. My contract was constructed in a way that | was obligated to one company for too long a time, and | know better now than to enter into that kind of a contract again. There were nowhere times before and after that—those are the points where 27a ae ‘ M aybe because I’m diverse is the reason I’m still around. 3 people leave the business. The other side of the coin is not to take that step, but to recognize your mistakes, be a man about them, and learn from them.” ‘Success and the lack thereof are measured in relative terms, of course, and Rick Derringer the pro- ducer, impresario and guitar magazine columnist is probably do- ing as well as Rick Derringer the musician ever did except on his best days. It’s as a producer he’s scored his most conspicuous recent suc- cess. In fact, rock parodist "Weird AI” Yankovic, whose hilarious second album Derringer spearheaded, isn't laughing all the way to the bank by himself. Derringer also produced the recent debut albums of new band Colour Radio, and of “TJ. Hooker” co-star Adrian Zed. B.C. Rich, the noted manufacturer of limited-run, mostly handmade guitars, has a Der- ringer-designed model, and another company offers a Rick Derringer guitar pickup. The man has a book, a videocassette and a new album out all at once—two new albums, if you count DNA, his latest team-up with ld compatriot Carmine Appice. “if | were exclusively a guy who 28 FACES That it is, but as the result of more than a name change. Derringer's myriad projects see him claiming chunks of several fertile territories, including that latest playground, video. The Rock Spectacular was, he sings and plays on his own records, maybe I'd have more success,” he observes. “But maybe because I'm diverse is the reason I'm still around.” He's also, despite the tired eyes of ‘some 35 years, still the precocious ‘13-year-old who formed The McCoys and fronted a worldwide smash single three years later. He speaks rapidly, articulately, excitedly, projecting a far different image than that of the taciturn rock veteran grac- ing the cover of his videocassette, Sony's Rick Derringer Rock Spec- tacular. Tracing a bit of rock lore, he takes on all the vocal parts: “I re- member when | was a kid, my par- ents teaching me how to pronounce my last name, Zeh-ring-ger, Zehr- inger! | changed it in '70 or s0, nothing legal, just a stage name. ‘Show biz people were saying to me, ‘Get yourself a professional name that works for you! | like that, ‘a pro- fessional name.’ Your family's fight- ing on the other hand—‘Where's my little Ricky Dean Zehringer?’—so maybe because the [McCoys’] Bang Records logo was a derringer, | just moved over the ‘D’ in ‘Dean’ and became ... Rick Derringer! And, my family's happy! My manager's happy! My career is saved!” 5 I Ser are rer y says, his own création. “The idea came out of a benefit we'd done for ourselves a couple of months earlier. Our equipment truck had gotten stolen twice in a six month period. The second time, we were between insurance companies.” Performer friends agreed to play for nothing, promoter Ron Delsener pro- vided New York City's Palladium, and after the ushers and such were paid, Derringer and band were able to get back on the horse. “I got the idea, then, to do this again, only not as a benefit. The idea was that my band would be the ‘house band,’ and people would get to see a whole night of music without all those long waits between acts." The resulting concert at New York City’s The Ritz showcased an eclectic line-up that ranged from Southside Johnny to Ted Nugent, and the resulting videocassette has reportedly sold and rented well, for a music tape. Now Derringer is looking ahead to further video projects. ‘I think if | get truly successful as a record producer, then a logical step would be to produce other things, ona larger scale. Video is the next step. Derringer's octopus-armed career may eventually eclipse his reputation as a guitarist's guitarist, however. Although his new LP, Passport Records’ Good Dirty Fun, fulfills the celling-to-floor guitar promise for which one buys a Rick Derringer album, the fact is all but two of his previous eight albums are out of print. The man’s guitar playing still blazes. Even without knowing he’s picking on some album or other, you can often detect the colorful, larger- than-life Derringer solos. But it is the richness of sound he helps bring even to a “Weird Al” Yankovic album, where the music plays chauf- feur to the humorous lyrics, that may be his legacy. “No matter how much critical suc- cess | get, people will not necessarily go buy the new record and really listen to it, because when you're established, for better or worse peo- ple already have their minds made up about you.” When they've made up their minds you're one of rock's premier guitarists and becoming one of rock's most stylized producers, of course, that attitude does have its recompense. C1