Acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Richie Kotzen has unveiled a brand-new solo track, “Big Money Club”. An official music video for the song is available below.
Kotzen calls “Big Money Club” a character study inspired by a certain type of person he started noticing after relocating to Los Angeles.
“It isn’t about one specific person,” Kotzen says. “It’s this character I kept encountering over the years. Everybody knows him, everybody likes him, he’s at the private party, the expensive restaurant, backstage, behind the velvet rope — but nobody really knows what he does”.
What fascinated Kotzen was not so much the character’s obvious wealth, but the mystery behind it and the effortless access that seemed to come with it.
“There was always a story about where the money came from”, Kotzen explains. “Family money, some huge publishing deal, tech money, some business connection. But the story had a way of changing depending on who was telling it. The funny thing was, nobody really questioned it. Somehow every door opened and everybody just accepted that he belonged there.”
That ambiguity became a key part of the song. “Big Money Club” never makes it clear whether its central character inherited his status, earned it, fabricated it, or simply became so deeply embedded in the scene that the difference no longer mattered.
“That was the interesting part to me. Everybody seems to know this guy, but nobody actually knows him. You hear all these stories and eventually the mythology becomes more interesting than whatever the truth might be.”
Musically, “Big Money Club” takes a step away from heavy guitar rock, embracing a cleaner, groove-oriented sound influenced by classic rock, pop rock and the Philly soul that shaped Kotzen’s early musical influences.
“I didn’t want to explain who he is because I don’t know who he is. That’s really the whole point. He’s the kid from the Big Money Club”.
“Big Money Club” marks Kotzen’s third single of 2026, following the release of “Catch A Star” in May and “Ivory Queen” in August.
