Sleaze Roxx has issued a new interview with former ROUGH CUTT/QUIET RIOT singer Paul Shortino, in which he discusses his position in KING KOBRA. The following is an excerpt:

Q: Getting into your involvement with King Kobra, did you have any second thoughts about once again getting involved with a band that has its own history?

A: "In the case of King Kobra I really wanted to do an album with Carmine (Appice), he's one of my favorite drummers. I remember seeing the guy on The Ed Sullivan show when I was a kid. I've worked with Carmine before, we did 'Dragon Attack' on the QUEEN tribute album and a couple of other things. Doing King Kobra was going to be my first time really working with Carmine.

We've become very close friends. We worked on a project with a blues guy by the name of JAVIER VARGAS, who has an album coming out in June via Warner Brothers in Spain. We did a video for the BECK, BOGART & APPICE track, 'Lady' - be sure to check it out. We also did a new version of 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' for the Javier Vargas album. I really hit it off with David Henzerling -- between David, Carmine and myself we became a pretty good writing team. Carmine and I are close in age, we are both of Italian decent, so we really bonded as friends and songwriting partners. We'd like nothing more than to take this on the road. We have to be cautious because of the economy - maybe some festival appearances would be our best bet.

King Kobra had an underground following even though they didn't get to the level of a band like RATT and bands like that. I think they should have been bigger because they put out some very good stuff. Mark Free was a good singer, but I really think I would have hooked up with these guys back then because we made a good marriage. You want proof, just listen to this record - this is some of the best stuff that I have ever done. I love the quality of the songs, my voice, the charisma and the magic that we created on this album."

Read the full interview at this location.