Richie Kotzen: Fender interview

In a windy, rainy day in Anaheim, Calif., Richie Kotzen, dressed in tattered jeans, a black T-shirt and matching stocking cap, cozies up on a sofa with a Fender Telecaster Deluxe guitar and regales a room full of Fender staff for more than an hour with his skillful playing, stories from the road and childhood recollections.
Some people are born to work a room.

"I was always one of those kids that when the whole family would come over, I would be the one trying to entertain them and it would always be song and dance," recalls Kotzen, amusement evident in his piercing blue eyes despite the rose-colored rock star shades he's wearing. "So somebody said 'Richie seems like he's into music; he should take piano lessons.'"

The piano fell by the wayside once the 7-year-old Kotzen spied a beat-up guitar at a yard sale and decided it was exactly what he needed to be as cool as his favorite rock band, Kiss.

Thirty years later, Kotzen has earned a worldwide following of his own, but his wizardry as a singer, songwriter and guitarist was something the Reading, Pa., native literally had to grow into. more

Richie Kotzen has two Fender signature models in Japan - a Stratocaster (STR-145RK) and a Telecaster (TLR-155RK). The artist tells us what initially drew him to Fender:

"It happened when I was doing a record because I started making records when I was very young and I was still kind of evolving and developing as a musician as I was putting out my records. I wasn't getting the sound that I wanted out of the instrument that I was playing, and so I realized I have to play a Fender guitar to get the sound that I'm hearing in my head onto the tape. I needed a Fender, so I went out and bought a Telecaster and a Strat on the same day. I made a record, I think it was my third solo record, and a lot of that record is a Fender Telecaster.