Cactus might never have truly hit the hard rock big time throughout their three year lifespan at the dawn of the 1970s. But, as drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart) puts it, “]We] went onto be a really big underground band that really influenced a lot of bands,” and that’s a status that still clings to them today.
Indeed, while the present-day incarnation of Cactus continues to defy the passing of time (the band’s new video, “300 Pounds of Joy,” is among the heaviest things you’ll encounter this year), the band’s former self is crushing the opposition as well.
And their latest release, the self-explanatory Auxiliary Studios, Rochester NY 1971, is flattening all-comers as well, on CD, digital and now, a fabulous limited edition deep red and black double vinyl package.
With just 250 copies being pressed worldwide, this fabulous archive discovery captures Cactus both at the peak of their powers and, ironically, approaching the end of their career. Carmine and bassist Tim Bogart were already awaiting word that Jeff Beck was ready to resume the band they had intended starting a few years earlier… only for Beck to be seriously injured in a car accident
Guitarist Jim McCarty and vocalist Rusty Day were both about to depart and, while there would be one more album from the band (and a great one, as well), the clock was definitely ticking.
Already, however, Cactus had achieved more than many bands of the age. Formed by Appice and fellow Fudge-r Tim Bogert, Cactus swiftly established themselves among the loudest, and most influential hard rock bands of the early 1970s.
Three killer albums set the stage for a legacy that swept even Van Halen into their court - Carmine still possesses a cassette tape Eddie Van Halen gave him, of the then-unknown band blasting Cactus covers to a clubful of fans. And the last few years have seen Cleopatra Records delve into the band’s archive for a clutch of live albums that capture the original band in even more fiery form - The Birth of Cactus and Ultra Sonic Boogie ’71
Auxiliary Studios ’71, however, is the most monstrous performance of them all, and an historic one as well.
This was the night when the band announced that guitarist Jim McCarty was on his way out of the band, and they were searching for a new axeman - a shock split that hit the fan-base like an earthquake. Cactus were already known across the US as “the American Led Zeppelin.” And now the American Jimmy Page was on his way out.
It didn’t affect the show, though. Carmine recalls, ““McCarty’s playing was amazing on this show. He was on fire with us, me and Tim [Bogert, bassist]. As much as he didn’t like playing rock, because he was a blues guitarist, that’s what kicked him into doing what he did.”
From the outset, Cactus were a step ahead of the rest of the field. The drummer continues, ““Everything was so fast, hardly any grooves, just 110mph of energy. It became a really wild band, and we played all over the place. We went to England, Europe, we did the Isle of Wight Festival - that was incredible; we used to do the boogie, Rusty would say ‘come on everybody, let’s boogie!' and the whole place was on its feet, from the front by the stage to the back, a gigantic wave. I’ll never forget it.”
Neither did their fans. Black Oak Arkansas’s Jim Dandy cited Rusty Day as an influence; later, so did David Lee Roth. And, Carmine recalls how, as he was putting together a new line-up of Vanilla Fudge during the 1980s, he called Eddie Van Halen to tell him the news. Eddie’s response? “F*** that, get Cactus back together!”
Auxiliary Studios effortlessly illustrates the icon’s enthusiasm, as Carmine explains. “Evil,” the Chester Burnett classic that highlighted Cactus’s third album, Restrictions, and opens Auxiliary Studios ‘71, “became a giant song of our’s. Dee Snider cut it, the Daisies cut it, so many people cut it.”
Three songs from Restrictions open the Rochester show, “Evil,” “Alaska” and Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.” But the show itself is less about the songs and more about the atmosphere. You listen to Cactus, particularly their live recordings, and you can feel the planet start spinning faster. And, by the time they hit tonight’s closing number, an epic “Boogie Mama”… well, let Carmine explain.
“Rusty had a ball with that. He changed the lyrics every night, Rusty was amazing with lyrics, he’d be singing something and then something else would come into his head, and we used to flow with him, he was with lyrics the same as we were with drums, bass and guitar. There was no other band like us. It was a great time of our lives, we had a ball.”
As of the album’s December 18 street date, you can have one as well!
VINYL https://cleorecs.com/products/cactus-auxiliary-studios-1971-red-black-marble-double-vinyl-lp
CD https://cleorecs.com/products/cactus-auxiliary-studios-1971-cd
