Guitar virtuoso Richie Kotzen has revealed a surprising revelation: he was once on the verge of joining industrial rock legends Nine Inch Nails. Kotzen, known for his work with IRON MAIDEN’s Adrian Smith on their latest album Black Light/White Noise, shared this bombshell during an interview with Hot Metal.
Kotzen confessed, “The closest band that I ever came to joining was NINE INCH NAILS — and nobody knows that.” He explained how he became friendly with Jeordie White (better known as Twiggy Ramirez), the bassist for Marilyn Manson, who was also playing for Nine Inch Nails at the time. White invited Kotzen to come down to the Third Encore rehearsal studio in North Hollywood, where Kotzen spent the day with the band. “Trent [Reznor] told me, ‘You’re by far the best guy that we’ve tried. I would love to have you in the band. I’m gonna have my manager reach out to you,'” Kotzen recalled.
At that moment, Kotzen believed he was about to join another major band. He described his excitement, thinking, “Wow, okay, I’m gonna join another band.”
The timeframe likely corresponds to the period between 2000 and 2008, when Robin Finck, former Guns N’ Roses guitarist, was not in Nine Inch Nails. However, after waiting for a week with no follow-up from Reznor, Kotzen approached White for answers. “What happened?” Kotzen asked. White informed him that Trent Reznor had concerns about Kotzen’s past with Poison. Kotzen explained, “He didn’t want to open up Rolling Stone magazine and see [the headline] ‘NINE INCH NAILS gets former POISON guitar player Richie Kotzen.’ He didn’t want the association with a hair metal band in that camp.”
Kotzen acknowledged Reznor’s point about the fanbase and media perception, saying, “Aesthetically, when you think about the fanbase and how people would read into something, I can kind of see that; I could see the point.”
Kotzen then jokingly suggested, “I’ll do it under an alias,” since he wasn’t active at the time. He expressed great respect for Reznor’s talent, adding, “I think he’s a genius and I would have loved to have worked with him.”
Ultimately, the collaboration never materialized, but Kotzen’s near-joining of Nine Inch Nails remains one of the most unexpected “what ifs” in rock history.
