Two more European festivals have been added to next years tour. Alice Cooper will be playing Resurectionfest in Spain on June 26th and Bospop in the Netherlands on July 12th. Tickets for Resurectionfest go on sale on Monday while Bospop tickets appear to go on sale tomorrow.

Alice showed up at DJ Eddie Truck’s 40th Anniversary bash at the House Of Blues in Las Vegas this week to play a short three song set backed by Glen Sobel, Orianthi, Robbie Crane with Van Halen’s Michael Anthony joining in on School’s Out with Sheryl Cooper and Kip Winger on backing vocals! You can see some good audience shot footage via YouTube.

The following night Alice and Sheryl were among the stars at the grand opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel, a brand new $3.7 billion luxury resort/casino in Vegas. The star studded affair also hosted Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Lenny Kravitz, and a host of other actors, pop stars and reality TV stars.

Beasto Blanco have announced they will be playing at next years Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. I believe the festival has already sold out as it usually does.

The ’80s Recycle Bin’ podcast interviews Kane Roberts which is now available on YouTube.

Alice Cooper will be playing at the ‘Heavy Weekend’ at the Zénith de Nancy, Maxeville, France on June 23rd with Judas Priest. This is a three day event and so far it looks like only three day tickets are available, probably with day tickets released later. Playing the other two days are Scorpions and Extreme on the 21st and Deep Purple and Megadeth on the 22nd.

AZCentral have a review about yesterdays annual Alice Cooper’s Christmas Pudding show in Phoenix. The show featured appearances by Sammy Hagar and Nancy Wilson of Heart as well as a short closing set by Alice. Unfortunately AZCentral appear to have blocked the content outside the US.

The Hollywood Vampires have released a teaser trailer for their forthcoming film entitled ‘Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires’ filmed during this years tour. So far there seems little other information about the film or even a release date so watch this space.

Nita Strauss will be out on the road with Mammoth WVH again next year after the success of this years shows. The tour starts on February 21st in St Louis, MO and runs through March 10th in Albany. Mammoth WVH then continue on with a different opening band so make sure Nita is playing your local show if going. Full dates can be found at NitaStrauss.com.

Tommy Henriksen was interviewed on ‘Cutter’s Rockcast’ which you can check out on YouTube.

Two more shows have been announced for next years European tour. Alice Cooper will be returning to the Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium on June 20th to headline the North Stage, before which he’ll be the Grona Lund in Stockholm on June 9th. Tickets for both shows appear to be on sale now.
In other tour news the ‘Life After Death’ festival in Mexico in December has been cancelled.

Dennis Dunaway and Blue Coupe will be live on ‘The Rock’n’Roll Channel‘ on TalkShopLive Friday December 1st at 12AM UK time/ 7-8PM EST chatting about, and selling, copies of their new ‘When Legends Collide’ CD/DVD signed set. You can pre-order copies now including a UK option.

A new vinyl version of the classic ‘Theatre Of Death’ concert film appears to be in the way. The limited edition of 3000 2LP+DVD will come on clear red vinyl with a numbered replica ticket. I’ve not seen a release date though.

Tommy Henriksen is interviewed on both The Logan Show and the Chuck Shute podcasts talking about Alice Cooper and Crosssbone Skully.

Chuck Garric, Callico Cooper and Beasto Blanco will be playing the Plage Noire Festival in Weissenhäuser Strand, Germany which will take place next November 29th-30th!

Next Friday is ‘Record Store Day Black Friday’ and will see the release of a special CD/DVD release by Dennis Dunaway and Blue Coup. Entitled ‘When Legends Collide’ the signed two disc set includes 10 rare or previously unreleased tracks on CD and a collection of the bands classic video clips and more on a DVD. This release is only available via your local independent record shop and will be limited to just 600 copies worldwide. To make sure your store in the UK is ordering copies you can ask them to contact Henry Young, Director of Business & Product Development at Ingram Entertainment on (615) 287-4537 and he should be able to sort them out. As with other Record Store Days it’s likely any left over copies will be available online the following day but the rules of RSD say they can’t be sold the day of release or pre-ordered, so if you still have a local record store you need to be proactive and make sure they order copies. Below is the promo graphic with tracklisting (click to enlarge).

Rufus Books have announced details of the long awaited official Alice Cooper book ‘Starring Alice Cooper’ along with the chance to pre-order a copy. The 400 page book currently comes in two editions: a huge 300mm x 420mm size limited edition of 500 for and eye-watering £599, and a 240mm x 340mm limited edition of 1000 copies for a marginally better £199. Currently they offer 10% off if you order early. The books are expected to ship around May next year. You can get all the details and see a promotional video here.

Tommy Henriksen’s Crossbone Skully have released a new song called ‘I’m Unbreakable’, which features Hollywood Vampires and occasional Alice Cooper bassist Chris Wise. You can see the video here or below.

An Alice Cooper character has been added to the ‘Iron Maiden: Legacy Of The Beast‘ video game. Log into the game any seven days between November 15th and December 15th to get the character.

LouderSound have posted an article about the early years of Alice Cooper, which may have been previously published in Classic Rock.

Nita Strauss is interviewed on the ‘Knockin’ Doorz Down‘ podcast.

Five new German shows have just been announced for next year. Tickets appear to already be on sale! They are:

June 12th 2024 Stadtpark Open Air, Hamburg, DE
June 22nd 2024 Waldbühne, Northeim, DE
July 1st 2024 Stadtpark, Nürnberg, DE
July 2nd 2024 Junge Garde, Dresden, DE
July 4th 2024 Schlosshof, Butzbach, DE

Two more European festival shows have been announced today. They are:

June 6th 2024 Trondheim Rocks, Trondheim, Norway
July 6th 2024 Pinot and Rock, Breisach, Germany

Four more European appearances have been announced this week. They are:

15th June – NovaRock, Nickelsdorf, AT
17th June – Enteria Arena, Pardubice, CZ
7th July – Pause Guitare Festival, Albi, FR
10th July – Pordenone Blues Festival, Pordenone, IT

The MC5 tribute album ‘Call Me Animal: A Tribute To The MC5’ can now be heard on bandcamp. The album by Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre features Alice on a cover of ‘Shakin’ Street’.

Rufus Publications have released a ‘teaser’ video for what is likely the long awaited official Alice Cooper book first announced last year. It simply says that further information will be announced on November 15th.

Killington Pit, featuring Chuck Garric, have released a new video for their cover of Rainbow classic ‘Kill The King’ which you can see here or below.

Nita Strauss is now out on tour with Mammoth WVH and has been doing interviews with ‘Beyond The Boys Club‘, and a joint interview on ‘Two For The Road‘ with Wolfgang Van Halen.

Tommy Henriksen has been talking to Loudwire and 955KLOS about his forthcoming Crossbone Skully project.

The Grateful Web has a review of the Pasa Robles show with some nice photos.

Alice Cooper has released a new video for ‘Dead Don’t Dance’ from the latest ‘Road’ album. It features footage shot on the recent tour both on and backstage. Check it out here or below.

Alice will be appearing at ‘Monster-Mania 57‘ horror convention in Philadelphia between November 10th and 12th. There will be signings and photo ops all three days.

The last night of the current tour in Las Vegas saw co-headliner Rob Zombie forced to pull out at the last minute due to laryngitis. To make up for it Alice and the band played their longest set of the year adding ‘Go To Hell’ and ‘He’s Back’ as extra encores.

The May Pang film ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story’ mentioned a couple of weeks ago will be on the Icon Film Channel in the UK from November 20th. This is a subscription channel but they have a free trial. The film will be released on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from 18th December.

‘The Flagship‘ have a short interview with Alice but unfortunately it’s geolocked so you will need a VPN outside the USA.

Classic Rock/Louder Sound have a new feature on the ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ album.

Journalist and ‘Alice Cooper @75’ author Gary Graff will be at the Berman Center for Performing Arts in West Bloomfield, MI on November 11th to promote the book. There will also be a live band, presumably performing various Cooper hits. Tickets are available now.

Two more European festival dates have just been announced for next year. Alice Cooper will appear at:

June 11th 2024 Musikhuset Aarhus, Aarhus, DK

June 19th 2024 The Hall, Dubendorf, CH

Two new European festival dates have just been announced for next year. Alice Cooper will appear at:

June 5-8th 2024 Sweden Rock Festival, Sölvesborg, SE (precise date to be announced)

June 14th 2024 Rockovy Weekend, Banská Bystrica Centrum, Banská Bystrica, SK

Alice will be hosting ‘Classic Vinyl’s Nightmare’ on SiriusXM channel 26 on October 27th from 8pm, with repeats daily until October 31st.

Alice is the subject of a new “faith-based” film called ‘Fame’ that seeks to reveal how “how fame, fortune, and partying drove him to the brink of destruction and ultimately led him into the arms of Jesus.” You can see a “sneak peek” here.

Alice will also turn up in a new movie about Mai Pang, John Lennon’s personal assistant called ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story‘ which will premiere in the US on the Icon Film Channel on December 20th.

Tommy Henriksen will be co-writing and producing the next solo album Marc Storace, vocalist of Swiss band Krokus. Apparently Tommy, who now lives in Switzerland, and Marc live about 90 minutes apart.

Ryan Roxie was on ‘Artists On Record‘ with former bandmate Stefen Adikia and Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats.

Nita Strauss was on the ‘Made In Metal’ podcast which you can check out here. Nita also appeared at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles during an LA Rams game yesterday performing her single ‘Victorious’ with guest vocalist Dorothy Martin. Blabbermouth has a brief clip showing the performance on the stadiums giant video screen.

The Simpsonian has a review of the recent Wells Fargo Arena show with photos.

Nita Strauss has been forced to miss the last few Alice Cooper shows due to an undisclosed illness. She posted the following to social media: “Hey everyone, I got lots of messages about my whereabouts after last night’s Alice Cooper show and unfortunately I have some bad news to share. Sadly, I will have to miss the next few shows of the tour due to illness. I’m taking all the necessary things and will rejoin the tour the absolute second I’m well enough. Alice and the boys are out there kicking ass as always, so show them lots of love if you’re going to a show this week!
I’m very sorry to miss you guys out there and I will be back as soon as possible”.

A new show has been announced for the Enteria Arena in Pardubice, Czech Republic on June 17th 2024. This would obviously suggest there will be a European tour around that time with dates being announced in the not to distant future.

Tommy Henriksen’s Crossbone Skully have released a new single called ‘The Boom Went The Boom’ which you can check out below on here.

SockShop in the UK is now stocking Alice Cooper themed socks and underwear! They even have a deal where you can by a pack of both for a special price. Both appear to come in a special gift box just in time for Christmas.

Another new Alice Cooper book has just been released in France. It’s called ‘Alice Cooper From The Inside’ by Chrisophe Goffette and is limited to 1000 numbered copies at present although it’s hoped it will be translated to English at some point in the future. The book includes ten interviews with Alice from 1990 onwards of which only six were ever published previously. You can order now direct from the publishers here. You can see the cover below.

According to Mojo magazine Alice will guest on the next album by ‘Black Keys’ album on a track called ‘Stay In Your Grave’. According to the band: “The song has a devil character in it and Patrick had been playing golf with Alice Cooper, so I was like, You should get Alice to come in and play the devil for us!” There’s no release date yet.

Part three of the official "Behind The Tracks" series of short videos promoting ‘Road’ is out and can be seen here. There’s also a new ‘Band Edition’ video.

‘The Pitch‘ has some cool photos from the recent Kansas City show. Mxdun has a review of the Denver show while photos from the show can be seen at Prelude Press. Metal Planet reviews the Tinley Park show with photos. Riff covers the Concord show.

Atlantic Records is reissuing ‘Welcome To My Nightmare'(again) this time as a 45rpm 180g double vinyl and SACD as part of their 75th anniversary collection. Be warned though they seem to be very expensive, around £45 for the CD, £75 for the vinyl, with no extras or bonus tracks.

The new issue of Rock Candy magazine has Alice on the cover and a 16 page feature inside. You can order a copy here.

The recent ‘Music Connection’ Q&A with Alice can now be read online here.

Distorted Sounds has a short article on the ‘DaDa’ album which has just turned 40 years old.

Tommy Henriksens’ Crossbone Skully project has a new website where you can sign up for updates on the forthcoming album.

Nita Strauss is interviewed by ‘Hard Rock Greece’ talking about Alice. Demi Lovato and her new solo album ‘Call of the Void’.

This years Christmas Pudding show will take place on Saturday December 9th at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix and will feature guests Nancy Wilson (Heart), Sammy Hagar and Quiet Riot among others. Tickets go on sale on September 29th at 10am.

The official AC YouTube page has started a series of short ‘Behind The Tracks’ videos about the new ‘Road’ album. with short soundbites of Alice talking about each song in turn. Part one is here, while part two is here.

Chuck Garric has been promoting ‘Road’ with two new interviews, talking about how the album came together. Check out the Everblack podcast and Hear 2 Zen Magazine.

‘Revival69: The Concert that Rocked the World’ is finally available to watch, at least in Canada via the ‘Crave‘ channel/network. It’s also currently on YouTube but will probably be removed quickly. The film is about the legendary Toronto festival which spawned the chicken incident and saw Alice Cooper backing rock’n’roll legend Gene Vincent. For decades we were led to believe the Gene Vincent set was neither recorded or filmed, and there’s never even been a photograph of Vincent and the band together… until now. This film features not only footage of Alice Cooper backstage at the festival but also footage of them on stage with Vincent! One of the holy grails of Alice Cooper. Now if we can just get an official release including all the AC footage they have!!

Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock charity has announced the opening of a third teen center based in Goodyear, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix. This follows the recent opening of the second center in Tucson.

Lastly, here’s a few more tour reviews and photos worth checking out from Revolver, Metal Rules, Metal Insider and City Beat.

More interviews with Alice this week come from the WTF Podcast, and Republican American. He also popped up on the Eddie Trunk show on SiriusXM on Thursday (subscribers only) and ‘Sound of the 70s with Johnnie Walker’ on BBC radio 2 yesterday which you can listen to here.

Alice is also on the cover and featured in Germany magazine ‘Rock It‘ and ‘Heavy‘ magazine from Australia.

101 WRIF has photos from the Livonia record signing last week. Also there were Ryan Roxie and Chuck Garric hanging out with fans.

The Illinois Entertainer and Loud Hailer have photos from the Tinley Park show. The Oakland Press has a review of the Pine Knob show while Detroit News and Metro Times have photos from the show. The Rockpit highlights two shows from the current tour with photos.

Long Island Press has an excellent interview with Tommy Henriksen, talking about his career, the Hollywood Vampires and playing with Alice.

‘Road’ has been out for a little over a week now so the first chart positions are appearing from around the world. The album made #8 in the main UK chart but #3 in the actual physical sales chart. It arrived at #2 in Germany, #17 in Finland, #24 in Sweden, and #39 in Norway.

The ‘Freaks On Parade’ tour with Rob Zombie is underway and you can find reviews and/or photos from Ultimate Classic Rock, Des Moines Register and here, and Creative Loafing. Hollywood Vampires bassist Chris Wyse has been standing in for Chuck Garric for the last few shows. It’s current unclear as to why or for how long.

Alice is featured on ‘Call Me Animal: A Tribute to the MC5‘ by ‘Joecephus and The George Jonestown Massacre’ singing a new version of ‘Shakin’ Street’. The album is out November 1st on various formats.

Dutch magazine ‘Lust For Life‘ features Alice on the cover of their current issue with an article inside and 5* review of ‘Road’.

There are new interviews from ‘Vulture‘ magazine, Studio 10 and Today in Australia, Chicago Tribune, WRIF, Raised On Radio, and The Oakland Press,

Dennis Dunaway is interviewed for 100 minutes on ‘The One Song Show‘.

Nita Strauss is on the cover of this months ‘Guitar Player‘ magazine with a feature inside.

Dynamite Comics have posted a short promotional video for their upcoming Alice Cooper comic book which should be in shops October 4th.

The new Alice Cooper studio album, ‘Road’ is finally released today and copies have been arriving on doorsteps worldwide since yesterday. The full album is now available to stream on all the normal streaming platforms and YouTube.

Reviews have been appearing thick and fast over the last few days as well. As usual they are almost universally good, if not great. If you want to check some out you can choose from: Blabbermouth, Ultimate Classic Rock, Associated Press (reprinted on many sites), The Independent, Arts Desk, American Songwriter, The Express, Daily Mail, K-RPM, and Metal Planet. Obviously there are more out there and even more to come.

Alice will be on TalkShopLive on Monday (Aug 28th) at 6pm EST to talk about the album. They also have signed versions of various formats to sell.

He’ll also be on the Billy Sloane radio show on BBC Radio Scotland this Saturday at 10pm which should be available to listen to here.

There’s a few new interviews to promote the new record including: Punk News, Paste, Dallas Morning News, RockFM (Spain – There’s a dubious translation here), and The Times but it’s paywalled.

Alice is featured on the cover of the new issue of ‘Powerplay‘ magazine, the new ‘Sorted‘ magazine, and inside the new issue of OOR magazine in the Netherlands.

The San Antonio Current has a review and photos from the Tobin Center show.

Riff Magazine has a long interview with Nita Srauss talking about all the usual stuff but also the new ‘Road’ album.

‘Hot Milk’ have released a song called ‘Alice Cooper’s Pool House’ and it actually features Alice himself in a cameo at the end of the song. You can hear it below or on Youtube.

“Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories.” author Mike ‘Ampboy’ Allen was on ‘Lou’s Control Rock’n’Roll Radio’ on Wednesday for a long interview about his time with Alice Cooper, including lots of stories and songs. You can listen here.

Alice Cooper has been announced as the headline act of the ‘Life After Death‘ festival in Mexico City on December 2nd.

A new video has been uploaded to YouTube which features short clips of every track on the forthcoming ‘Road’ album.

The Dallas Observer has a new interview with Alice talking about life on the Road, while 417 magazine has a review of the Springfield show and Tulsa World has photos from the Chapman Stadium show.

Chuck Garric has a new project called Killington Pit which also features ‘Granny 4 Barrel’ singer Terry LeRoi, and ‘Evanescence’ members guitarist Troy Mclawhorn and drummer Will Hunt. They’ve just released a cover of Accepts’ ‘Balls To The Wall’ which you can check out courtesy of BraveWords.

With the release of ‘Road’ getting ever closer a new lyric video has been released for ‘Welcome To The Show‘ as well as a live video for ‘School’s Out‘ from the bonus Hellfest 2022 film that comes with the new album. Alice has also been doing various interviews to promote the album including Noise11, San Antonio Current, Heavy Magazine, Tulsa World, and a short official earMusic interview.

According to a news post that has just this second arrived it appears ‘Nights With Alice Cooper’ is coming to an end after nearly 20 years on unbroken broadcasts. Apparently United Stations, who syndicate the show worldwide, have confirmed the show will come to an end on Friday September 8th. No reason has been given so far.

The first few ‘Road’ reviews are starting to appear as well including Metal Planet, and the new edition of Classic Rock magazine, which also features a four page article about Alice Cooper in the ’80s. It should be noted though that the January 2nd 1986 show in Nashville the writer refers to at the start of the article actually took place in 1987, and so isn’t the show Alice is talking about in the interview. This makes some of his other things he writes about it clearly incorrect. Someone has mistakenly added a January 2nd 1986 show on setlists.fm, complete with setlist, which is presumably where the author looked to get his information.

Vampyre Cosmetics are releasing an ‘Alice Cooper Collection’ make up set which features “guitar and amp shaped makeup palettes, microphone styled lipsticks and a new version of Alice Cooper’s iconic Whiplash mascara” Pre-orders are available now.

Mike ‘Amp Boy’ Allen, author of the excellent ‘Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories’ will be interviewed on Voodoo Radio‘s ‘One Song’ show which will air August 30th and be repeated on September 6th.

Guitar Center have posted a new video with Nita Strauss showing you around her new home studio.

Nepa Scene have posted a review and photos from the Hollywood Vampires show in NY a couple of weeks ago.

Dig have an article telling the story behind ‘School’s Out’ pulling quotes by Alice and Dennis from various other sources.

The third single from ‘Road’ will be available at midnight your local time. This time it’s ‘Welcome To The Show’ and you will be able to hear it via YouTube or below.

To promote with the release of ‘Road’ Alice will be making an in-store signing appearance at ‘Rock City Music Company’ in Livonia, MI on September 4th at 4pm EDT. Tickets to attend are available now from Eventbrite.

AZCentral reports Alice has recorded a new version of ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’ with new lyrics for a charity album called ‘Rock for Children, Vol. 1: A Fun and Inspirational Musical Experience for Children’ which will be out in September and will benefit various charities including Solid Rock. This new version, now entitled ‘Mr Nice Guy’, features new lyrics addressing bullying. Alice says: “The song is about a young boy who suddenly rethinks carrying on as a bully and transforms himself into a real ‘Mr. Nice Guy.'” Calico Cooper and Rob Halford also appear on the album.

Alice called into QFM96 yesterday for the ‘Torg and Elliot show’ and can can listen to the interview here.

The new issue of ‘Record Collector‘ for September has an interview with Alice. Not sure if it’s out quite yet but should be available in the next week or so.

There’s two new comic books on the way with an Alice connection. The French Hellfest festival is publishing two new 96 page hardback graphic novels called ‘Hellfest Metal Love’ and ‘Hellfest Metal Vortex’ and the covers show Alice among others, so presumably he’s featured inside as well. You can order copies here but remember they are in French.

And talking about comics, Bleeding Cool have posted more information about the forthcoming Dynamite comics Alice Cooper series including some artwork to check out.

K-RPM in France have posted a review and great photos from the Hollywood Vampires show in Paris back in June, while Backstageaxxess have posted a review of the Bethel, NY show with photos.

The eventful (if you believe any of the endless Jonny Depp clickbait) Hollywood Vampires tour is now complete after a trio of US shows, with the Bethel Woods show seeing a not entirely unexpected guest appearance by Dennis Dunaway for ‘School’s Out’. Reports are that the band were firing on all cylinders this year and better than on any previous tour. The Boston Globe, KNAC, and People have short reviews and/or photos.

Swiss site exlibris, who if I recall correctly were the first site to show images of the forthcoming ‘Road’ album, have again possibly jumped the gun a little with 30 second samples of every track from the new album. ‘Road’ is due to be released on August 25th.

Michael Bruce’s induction video from the Arizona Hall of Fame ceremony can been see here. There was also a report on Channel 3 Phoenix with Michael performing his blues version of ‘I’m Eighteen’ retitled ‘Forever Eighteen’, and further footage here, here, and here featuring interviews with Michael. The show closed with Michael and others performing ‘School’s Out‘.

Nita Strauss has been talking to the SDR podcast and revealed that Alice has been recording with her "other" boss Demi Lovato. She’s also been chatting to KNAC.

Last year Dynamite Comic announced that they would be releasing “Alice Cooper vs The Prince Of Darkness" and we’re still waiting for it. However now they have announced another Alice Cooper title which is due in shops on October 4th. This new 5-issue series is written by Rodney Barnes with art by Edu Menna and has some cool covers.

Alice Cooper has announced a new batch of US shows in October after the ‘Freaks on Parade’ including three ‘Halloween Hootenanny’ shows with Rob Zombie. Pre-sale tickets and VIP Packages on sale tomorrow with code ‘SICKTHINGS’. General on-sale Friday at 10a local time. The Dates are:

October 4th 2023 St Augustine Amphitheatre, St Augustine, FL
October 5th 2023 Wilson Center, Wilmington, NC
October 7th 2023 Aiken Theatre, Evansville, IN
October 8th 2023 Wesbanco Arena, Wheeling, WV
October 10th 2023 Hobart Arena, Troy, OH
October 11th 2023 Honeywell Center, Wabash, IN
October 13th 2023 The Cason Center for the Performing Arts, Paducah, KY
October 14th 2023 Simmons Bank Arena, North Little Rock, AR
October 15th 2023 Heymann Performing Arts Center, Lafayette, LA
October 17th 2023 Stride Bank Center, Enid, OK
October 19th 2023 Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, Colorado Springs, CO
October 20th 2023 Rio Rancho Events Center, Rio Rancho, NM
October 21st 2023 AVA Amphitheatre, Tucson, AZ
October 23rd 2023 Vina Robles Amphitheatre, Paso Robles, CA
October 25th 2023 Yaamava’ Resort & Casino – Yaamava’ Theater, Highland, CA – with Rob Zombie
October 26th 2023 Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, Reno, NV – with Rob Zombie
October 28th 2023 Zappos/Bakkt Theater, Las Vegas, NV – with Rob Zombie

The second single for ‘Road’ has just dropped but is again geolocked, so you can`t hear it until midnight YOUR local time. It’s called ‘White Line Frankenstein’ and you’ll be able to see it here or below at midnight.

Not one to sit still Nita Strauss will be hitting the road opening for Mammoth WVH (featuring Wolfgang Van Halen) in November and December. Tickets are available from MammothWVH.com now.

With the conclusion of the Hollywood Vampires UK dates we can do a quick round up of the press and happenings during the tour. Ronnie Wood and Imelda May joined the band in London for the Jeff Tribute and Train Kept a Rollin’, while Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi appeared in Birmingham for a unique version of ‘Paranoid‘ with Alice singing it! Not something you see everyday. Jimmy Page was also at the London show (again) but sadly didn’t make it onstage (again!).

Unsurprisingly the tour generated a great deal of press. Also unsurprisingly most of it just revolved around Johnny Depp’s every move or satorial choice. As usual I will ignore all those and concentrate on worthwhile articles or reviews about the band and/or shows.

Firstly there was the surprise appearance of Alice on ‘Good Morning Britain’ on Monday. It was a short interview and there wasn’t really anything new said but nice to see him back on UK TV. You can see a version of it on YouTube., but sadly they have blurred out the images and footage (presumably for copyright reasons). If you’re in the UK the show is currently still available on ITVX. You want Monday 10th July show and Alice appears around  1 hour 56 minutes into the show. 

There’s been various show reviews/photos, including Scarborough: Yahoo, Yorkshire Post, Northern Echo,  Soundsphere Swansea: WalesOnline  Planet Rock. Manchester: Daily Mail, RamZine, JustJared. London:, Far Out, The Telegraph (paywall), The Upcoming, Daily Express, TotalRock, Birmingham: BirminghamLive, BirminghamWorld and here, Express & Star, Metal Planet.

While in Manchester Alice was out and about shopping and was spotted buying a T-shirt for Johnny Depp. This, of course, also made the news.

The Arizona Republic has an interesting article about the early days of the band in Phoenix and their mentor Jack Curtis, who will be inducted into the ‘Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame’ on Sunday, with comments from Dennis Dunaway.  They also have a new article on Michael Bruce’s induction into the AZ Hall of fame on the same day.

Nita Strauss made her solo show at the Whisky in LA special by geting engaged to long time boyfriend and band drummer Josh live on stage. Congrats both! Naturally it was caught on video which you can see here. There’s also new Nita Strauss interviews this week from Metal Global,  and the Mistress Carrie Podcast.

If you remember back in April 2022 Solid Rock announced there would be Alice Cooper Arizona car license plates, and then it all went quiet. But now it appears they are finally available to order and it also appears anyone can order one! On top of that $17 from each sale goes to Solid Rock.

The new Nita Strauss album ‘The Call of the Void’ is out today and there’s a new animated video for ‘Digital Bullets’ featuring Chris Motionless from Motionless in White who opened for Alice a few years ago. You can check out the video here or below. Nita will be live on ‘Rock Feed’ on Sunday at 9.30pm which you’ll find here.

The Northern Echo has a review of Wednesday’s Scarborough Hollywood Vampires show.

The ‘Talk Louder Podcast’ has a long interview with Neal Smith promoting his new ‘Killsmith Goes West’ album. Check it out here.

Lastly, just a note to say that I know the Twitter feed on the news page is currently broken. For some reason Twitter have disabled/broken their own embed code, so there isn’t much I can do. Hopefully they will fix it but with the mess Twitter is in at the moment who knows. If it isn’t fixed after a while I’ll search for some alternative.

Michael Allen, author of the excellent ‘Living And Touring with Alice Cooper & Other Stories’, will be appearing on 959 The Rat’s ‘Electric Ballroom’ tomorrow at 8pm ET to chat about the book and his experiences in the earliest days of Alice Cooper. You can listen live here.
Mike will also be appearing at the Peregrine Book Company in Prescott, AZ on July 8th at 2pm to chat about the book and sign copies.

Michael Bruce is to be inducted into the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall Of Fame on July 16th at 4pm. The event takes place at the Madison Center for the Arts in Phoenix, AZ.

Rock and Roll Globe have an interview about the recent deluxe reissues with liner notes co-author and former Creem editor Bill Holdship.

Goldmine has Ryan Roxie listing the ’10 albums that changed my life’

Nita Strauss is still doing the promotional rounds for ‘The Call to The Void’ which is released next week. She’s been chatting to the ‘Talk This Way Podcast‘ and ‘Radioactive with Mike Z‘ which includes some chat about the new Alice Cooper album.

Rhino Records have released a new version of 1973s ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ album on Blu-Ray Audio. It’s the first proper re-release of the original quadraphonic (early surround sound) mix of the album and is not the same as the surround mix released on the DVD-A some years ago, as that was a completely new mix especially for that release. It’s currently only available directly from Rhino themselves in the US, but it seems it will be available in the UK from ‘Dig’ from August 4th with pre-orders available now. Ordering from them in the UK is likely to be substantially cheaper than ordering from the US and avoids the risk of addition import and VAT charges when it arrives in the country.

Electric Eye have a review and lots of photos from the Hollywood Vampires Paris show a few days ago.

Nita Strauss spoke to 97.7 QLZ this week which you can listen to via YouTube, where there is also fan-shot video of her full show from Mechanicsburg, PA last week.

Alice Cooper has announced five more headline shows in August with tickets going on sale tomorrow. The new shows are:

August 6th – 1st Summit Arena at Cambria County War Memorial, Johnstown, PA, Johnstown, PA
August 15th – Juanita K Hammons Hall, Springfield, MO
August 19th – Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, Midland, TX
August 20th – The Buddy Holly Hall at Helen DeVitt Jones Theater, Lubbock, TX
August 22nd – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, San Antonio, TX

The Hollywood Vampires show at Hellfest almost didn’t go ahead after their equipment was stuck in traffic at the French border. Luckily thanks to Kiss and their crew, who were also at the festival, they managed to put together enough gear for them to play the show.

Dennis Dunaway will be appearing on ‘Voodoo Radio’ tomorrow at 7pm UK time. Anyone can listen in to this via the stations website here.

There’s a new 90 minute interview with Chuck Garric thanks to the ‘Mama Tried Show & Flat Out Friday’ Youtube channel which you can check out here.

Hollywood Soapbox has a short interview with Neal Smith talking about his latest solo album ‘Killsmith Goes West’.

Nita Strauss jumped up on stage with Demi Lovato again the other night, on a night off during her current tour, to guest on ‘Heart Attack’. Blabbermouth have videos.

‘I’m Alice’, the first single from ‘Road’ has just dropped in Australia on Spotify and Youtube but due to the time difference it won’t be playable until midnight in your local time. But when it is it should be playable below!
UPDATE: The official video has now appeared which you can see below or here.

There’s also a new show added into the schedule in Madison, WI at the Overture Center on August 10th. This is a headline show between the dates on the Motley Crue/Def Leppard tour and tickets are already on sale direct form the venue.

While we’re still waiting for the official press announcement, details of the new album have been surfacing over the last few days from various retailer listings and the appearance of the short video teaser above [since removed for some reason] suggests a full announcement won’t be long coming.
What we know so far is that the album is entitled ‘Road’ and it will be released on August 25th by earMusic in various combinations. There are *at least* three different CD versions: CD, CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray. Then there are also *at least* three double vinyl versions, in black, red and orange, which also come with the DVD. There will also be a deluxe limited edition vinyl+CD+Blu-Ray+merchandise version. The DVD contains last years Hellfest performance which was streamed live at the time. (I’ll post order links up once both AmazonUK and US have finalised their listings)
The album was produced by Bob Ezrin and features the current live band (Tommy, Roxie, Nita, Chuck, Glen) plus guest appearances by Kane Roberts, Tom Morello, Keith Nelson (Buckcherry) and Wayne Kramer (MC5) who all also co-write at least one song. The track listing as listed on Amazon is:

1. I’m Alice
2. Welcome To The Show
3. All Over The World
4. Dead Don’t Dance
5. Go Away
6. White Line Frankenstein
7. Big Boots
8. Rules Of The Road
9. The Big Goodbye
10. Road Rats Forever
11. Baby Please Don’t Go
12. 100 More Miles
13. Magic Bus

Amazon.com has the following description:

“The road will make you or break you. To survive it, you need to be as tough as asphalt and move fast enough to make the competition eat dust. Throughout 2022, Alice collaborated closely with the members of his touring band as well as long-time producer Bob Ezrin, putting together what would become his brand-new studio album “Road.” You can feel the energy and lightness that the band brings with every riff and hear the story behind what inspired them. Bringing everything full circle, it channels the spirit of old school Alice with instantly recognizable grit and plenty of gusto. It’s everything you’d hope for from him and more. And this time his trusted longtime bandmates— Ryan Roxie [guitar], Chuck Garric [bass], Tommy Henrikson [guitar], Glen Sobel [drums], and Nita Strauss [guitar]—are riding shotgun. Kane Roberts (a touring and recording collaborator with Alice’s in years past who briefly rejoined Cooper on the road in 2022) makes a special guest appearance, contributing the raucous and rip-roaring “Dead Don’t Dance.” Other special contributors to the album include Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, who co-wrote, and plays and sings backing vocals on “White Line Frankenstein,” and Buckcherry’s Keith Nelson and MC5’s Wayne Kramer, who also co-wrote new songs with Alice.”

Obviously I’ll post the full release information as soon as it’s released

In other news, Nita Strauss has released another track from her forthcoming second album. This one is called ‘Victorious’ and features "Dorothy" on vocals. Nita says: "‘Victorious‘ is the anthem I always wanted, a song about inspiring change, marching forward relentlessly, being willing to save yourself instead of waiting for someone to do it for you, and never backing down from a fight, Dorothy was the perfect powerhouse voice and personality to stand and deliver, and knock this one out of the park.” You can see the video below.

Radio Eksen in Istanbul, Turkey have posted a short interview with the Hollywood Vampires which you can check out here. It’s in English. The band began their European tour a couple of days ago with a similar set to the last tour but with a couple of nods to Jeff Beck added in.

The "Sally Steel Rocks! Show" has posted the second part of her interview with Alice talking about being on Hollywood Squares, what he feels his best song was, what he was like in high school. You can check it out here.

Beasto Blanco have signed a deal with COP International for two new singles later this year followed by a new album in 2024. You can read the full press release here.

The Hollywood Vampires have announced that all income from the June 10th show in Istanbul will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee to help with aid after the devastation earthquakes in Turkey recently. They have also released ‘Raise The Dead‘ from the ‘Live In Rio’ album/DVD which came out Friday.

The News-Gazette have an interesting article which claims to show the contents of the Alice Cooper Tour Rider, that is, the part of a concert contract that shows what must be provided at each venue on the tour for the band’s comfort during their stay at the venue. While there’s nothing particular weird on there it does offer some insight to how things are done on the tour.

Alice is on the front cover of the latest issue of ‘Rock’n’Roll‘ magazine in Sweden.

Nita Strauss is interviewed by UltimateGuitarTV on YouTube and ‘The Rock Experience‘ about her new album.

The Hollywood Vampire have postponed their three US shows this week after Johnny Depp sustained a “painful injury to his ankle following his recent appearances and has been advised by his doctor not to travel.” The statement continues: “He is devastated by this turn of events, but looks forward to resting up so all four Vampires can bring their absolute best to the tour in Europe.”
The shows have already been rescheduled with all tickets remaining valid for the new dates. They now play:

July 28 – Boston, MA – Wang Theatre Boch Center
July 29 – Manchester, NH – SNHU Arena
July 30 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center For The Arts

Alice was interviewed on AXS TV’s ‘Power Hour’ last week part of which is now on YouTube.

‘Forbes’ magazine has a review and photos from the Champaign show including commenst from Nita. Check it out here.

Nita Strauss has released a new video on YouTube for ‘The Golden Trail’ featuring Anders Fridén of In Flames.

Nita Strauss has officially announced the title of her forthcoming second solo album ‘The Call Of The Void’. The album will be released through Sumerian Records on July 7th and the latest single ‘The Golden Trail’ featuring Anders Fridén if In Flames can be seen here.. You can pre-order now through AmazonUK and AmazonUS on vinyl, CD and streaming.
Nita has been talking to Soundsphere and Kerrang! about the album, working with Alice and more.

Ryan Roxie will have a busy week in Fort Wayne, IN in July when he has two solo events taking place.
The first is on July 27th when he will be hosting a ‘Master Class’ evening including a 2 hour chat and Q&A, talking about his career, somgwriting, touring and anything else that comes to mind. Tickets for this exclusive event are $100 and available here.

Secondly Sweetwater Studios will be holding a 2-day ‘recording workshop’ with Roxie on July 28th-29th. This is a more technical two-day class with day one titled ‘The Basics of Tracking a Session’, and day 2 ‘Mixing to Yield Professional Sounding Results’, and during that time Roxie will actually be recording a new solo single! Places for this event are extremely limited and can be booked here.
If anyone on here is going to attend, email PerfectWave@USA.com letting them know you’re from SickthingsUK so they will "add on some special benefits" for you!

Rhino have posted a new track from the forthcoming ‘Killer’ deluxe edition. This one is ‘You Drive Me Nervous‘ record at the Mar Y Solo festival in 1972.

The Hollywood Vampires have released yet another clip from the forthcoming ‘Live In Rio’. This time it’s their version of Hendrix’s ‘Manic Depression’ which you can see here. ‘Live In Rio’ is due June 2nd from earMusic.

Dennis Dunaway and Michael Bruce have been interviewed for a new article about ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ in the June issue of ‘Vintage Guitar‘ which should be on the news shelves soon. The issue you want has Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton on the cover.

The Rock Pit has a review and photos of the Mystic Lake Theatre show last week which you can read here. Smile Politely has a review and photos of the Champaign show.

Neal Smith has been talking to the Akron Beacon Journal about his life and career here.

Classic Rock/Louder have posted a long article about the early days of Alice Cooper (possibly reposted from a earlier magazine article) with quotes from Dennis Dunaway.

The Hollywood Vampires have added an extra show to their European tour. They play
Summerstage Autostadt – Wolfsburg, Germany on July 21st. Tickets go on sale Monday May 8th at 10AM CET.

Nita Strauss has announced two months of US solo shows for June and July. The ‘Summer Storm’ tour, which will feature opening act ‘Lions At The Gate’ runs as follows:

June 13th Nashville, TN @ Exit/ In
June 14th Atlanta, GA @ The Loft
June 15th Greensboro, NC @ The Hangar 1819
June 17th New York, NY @ The Meadows
June 18th Toronto, ONT @ Horseshoe Tavern
June 19th Mechanicsburg, PA @ Lovedrafts
June 21st Harrison, OH @ The Blue Note
June 22nd Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop
June 23rd Angola, IN @ The Eclectic Room
June 24th Bloomington, IL @ The Castle Theatre
June 25th Madison, WI @ The Majestic Theatre
June 26th Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
June 28th Denver, CO @ The Bluebird Theater
June 29th Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
June 30th Boise, ID @ Neurolux
July 1st Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
July 2nd Vancouver, BC @ The Rickshaw Theatre
July 3rd Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
July 5th Sacramento, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post
July 6th Los Angeles, CA @ Whisky A Go Go
July 8th Las Vegas, NV @ The Space
July 9th Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
July 11th San Antonio, TX @ The Rock Box
July 12th Dallas, TX @ Trees
July 13th Houston, TX @ Scout Bar
July 14th New Orleans, LA @ The Parish at House of Blues

OnMilwaukee has a short interview with Alice. Of amusing note is their reference to his ‘Pretty Things’ album… obviously meaning ‘Pretties For You’. A mistake copy and pasted to AC.com!

WANE has the story of Alice and Sheryl out shopping in in Fort Wayne and buying a new sword, which sure enough you can see during the opening of that nights show. Unfortunately their report and videos are geolocked to prevent the information reaching Europe…

Mike Allen’s new book ‘Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories‘ has apparently been selling well and Mike has been on Hudson River Radio chatting about it, and his time with the original band. Check it out here.

‘I’m Always Chasing Rainbows’ from ‘Goes To Hell’ is featured on the new ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ mixtape and possibly the film as well. check out the full list here.

Lastly Classic Rock recalls the old story of Alice and Joe Perry trying to write songs for ‘Monster Dog’ in a haunted house. An oldie, but to be fair one not repeated as often as many other old stories. Alice is also featured in the latest issue of Classic Rock Magazine.

We’re now three shows into the new ‘Too Close For Comfort’ US tour and there’s plenty of video appearing on YouTube. As promised the tour features a completely new stage set which heavily relies on video screens showing close ups of Alice and the band, as well as pre-recorded clips to illustrate certain songs. Sadly the new setlist is rather predictable, with only a couple of real surprises, and there seems to be minimal theatrics, although the snake is back for the first time in some years. The tour also sees the return of Nita Strauss after she sat out the fall tour last year.
Ultimate Classic Rock have a full review of the Mount Pleasant show with photos and lots of spoilers, while Seth Lewis has posted some excellent photos from the same show. More photos can be found at PennLive.

To mark the start of the tour April 29th was named ‘Alice Cooper Day’ in Youngstown, MI by radio station WYFM and the Mahoning County Commissioners who presented Alice with a proclamation in honour of his 50 years playing shows in the area and a custom painted trash can! You can see a copy of the document here while WYTV has video and a report but it’s region locked.

Nita Strauss has been talking to Loudwire about touring with Alice and Demi Lovato, plus her new solo album which is due this summer.

Rhino Records have announced new deluxe editions of both ‘Killer’ and ‘School’s Out’ to be released on June 9th and have posted a live version of ‘Be My Lover‘ to promote them. Both albums will come on double CDs or 3LP vinyl sets and feature newly remastered versions of the original albums plus a live show recording, although strangely ‘School’s Out’ includes a show that is also from the ‘Killer’ tour.
AmazonUK has pre-order pages up now for ‘School’s Out’ (CD and Vinyl) and ‘Killer’ (CD and Vinyl).

While the AmazonUS pages are ‘School’s Out’ (CD and Vinyl) and Killer (CD and Vinyl). Below is the official blurb:

KILLER (DELUXE EDITION) introduces a newly remastered version of the original release, which peaked at #21 on the Billboard albums chart. Along with the singles “Under My Wheels” and “Be My Lover,” the record also includes “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” “Desperado,” and the prog-rock-inspired epic “Halo Of Flies.” The bonus material features alternate takes for “You Drive Me Nervous,” “Under My Wheels,” and “Dead Babies.”
The collection also gives fans an [officially] unreleased live recording of the band’s performance at Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico on April 2, 1972. Recorded a few months before the band returned to the studio to make School’s Out, the show previews “Public Animal #9” from the upcoming album. The band played most of Killer during the concert, including “You Drive Me Nervous,” “Under My Wheels,” and “Halo Of Flies.” They also tapped the group’s 1971 album, Love It to Death, for live versions of “Is It My Body?,” “Long Way To Go,” and the smash hit “I’m Eighteen.”

SCHOOL’S OUT (DELUXE EDITION) begins with a newly remastered version of the 1972 original, which peaked at #2 on the albums chart. Essential tracks like “Luney Tune” and “Alma Mater” are joined by “Gutter Cat vs. The Jets.” The latter is an homage to West Side Story, a significant influence on the band. The song incorporates lyrics from “Jet Song” from the 1957 musical, which led to an unlikely songwriting credit for Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim on an Alice Cooper track.
The Deluxe Edition contains rarities like the single versions of “School’s Out” and “Gutter Cat vs. The Jets.” Two previously unreleased tracks are also included, an alternate version of “Alma Mater” and an early demo for “Elected,” a song that would appear in 1973 on the band’s first #1 album, Billion Dollar Babies.
Alice Cooper’s concert in Miami on May 27, 1972, adds even more unreleased music to the collection. The show was recorded a few weeks before the band entered the studio to record School’s Out. The live performance features standout versions of “Halo Of Flies,” “School’s Out,” and “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” a song that gives Cooper a chance to show off his impressive harmonica skills.

The vinyl versions for both Deluxe Edition recreate the original album sleeves down to the smallest detail. For Killer, that means a gatefold sleeve that opens to reveal a detachable 1972 calendar with a photo of Cooper in the gallows. The cover of School’s Out looks like a wooden school desk and opens to reveal the LP wrapped in a pair of panties. The band stopped including the underwear following a controversy as to whether or not they were flammable. Thankfully, the lacy unmentionables in the new Deluxe Edition are not a fire hazard.
Both sets come with booklets that include track-by-track commentary by band members and former Creem Magazine editor Jaan Uhelszki, plus liner notes by Bill Holdship, also a former Creem Magazine editor.

Alice was on SiriusXM’s ‘Hair Nation’ a few days ago and spoke about the new album which is due later this year. According to Blabbermouth it’s still going under the working title of ‘Road’ and he confirmed it’s still an album designed to show off the talents of the current live band – “I said, ‘I wanna show this band off.’ So we did an album in the studio, and very, very, very few overdubs in it, because the band’s so tight. And I wanted them to all do the writing with me. I said, ‘Everybody, bring in songs, ‘cause I want everything in-house.’ And Bob Ezrin produced it. I mean, it’s a great guitar-driven rock and roll album. I’m very, very proud of this album. And it’s coming… It’ll be out this year.”

Alice has also taking ‘Road’ and the new show to Ultimate Classic Rock which you can check out here.

Ozzy’s Boneyard, with Jay Hudson on SiriusXM Ch. 38 in the USA spotlights 50 years of Alice Cooper’s influential album ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ from today at 8am ET through to Monday and 11pm ET including songs and album insights from Alice Cooper and Dennis Dunaway every hour all weekend.

Dennis Dunaway will be hosting at Q&A with Mae Pang at a screening of ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story’, a film based on Pang’s books detailing her relationship with John Lennon. It takes place on April 26th at the Angelika Theater on Houston Street in New York City. Tickets are available now.

The Hollywood Vampires have released another clip from the forthcoming ‘Live In Rio’ album/film. This time it’s their cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation’ which you can check out here or below.

With the start of the new tour rapidly approaching Ryan Roxie is again offering his "All Excess Pass" for the whole 2023 schedule. Buying a pass gives you access to all sorts of offstage videos, Q&A’s, contests and post show livestreams and can be purchased here.

Neal Smith was on the ‘Interviewing the Legends’ podcast last week promoting his new solo album ‘Killsmith Goes West’. You can check out the 46 minute show here.

You can also see video from Dennis Dunaway’s VersoFest Q&A at Westport Library here.

The Hollywood Vampires have added three US shows before their European dates in June. Pre-sales start tomorrow and the public on sale Friday April 7th. The dates are as follows:

May 30th 2023 SNHU Arena, Manchester, NH
May 31st 2023 Wang Theatre-Boch Center, Boston, MA
June 1st 2023 Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, Bethel, NY

Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie have added an extra show to the ‘Freaks On Parade’ tour on September 13th at the Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH. Pre-sale tickets go on sale tomorrow [use code FREAKS23] with general on-sale this Friday.

The Hollywood Vampires have released a clip for ‘I’ve Got A Line On You’ from the forthcoming ‘Live In Rio’ album/film. You can check out here or below.

Alice was interviewed for 96.1 KLPX this week promoting the Coopstock event in Phoenix tomorrow which you can listen to here.

Nita Strauss was on the ‘Appetite for Distortion’ podcast this week talking about her new single ‘Winner Takes All’ which features Alice on vocals. Check it out here.

Dennis Dunaway could be heard on radio WPKN’s ‘Rock Therapy’ earlier this week. You can listen in from around 62 minutes here.

Neal Smith has released two tracks from his new Killsmith album ‘Killsmith Goes West’ which you can find on his YouTube channel.

Designer Ernie Cefalu has released an interesting video interview talking about creating the classic ‘Old School’ box set a few years ago, which you can check out here.

Nita Strauss has released a third single from her forthcoming second solo album and enlisted her boss to sing on it! The song is called ‘Winner Takes All’ and you can check out it out on YouTube or below.

Kane Roberts has been talking to ‘The Shoe’ podcast clearing up some confusion over his role in the last tour and standing in for Nita Strauss. Check it out on YouTube.

Also worth checking out is video of Alice, Ryan, Tommy and Sheryl rehearsing for the recent private acoustic show earlier this month. It’s something you don’t see very often! That’s also on YouTube. The same channel also has a short clip of the Q&A with Alice talking about the Hollywood Vampires, plus clips of Under My Wheels and Eighteen from the show although the sound is poor.

The Hollywood Vampires will release their 2015 ‘Rock In Rio’ show on CD, vinyl and blu-ray on June 2nd. The show, supporting their first album; saw the band play in front of over 100,000 people and includes guest appearances from Lzzy Hale, Andreas Kisser (Sepultura) and Zak Starkey (The Who). You can pre-order via AmazonUK and AmazonUS now. The full track listing is as follows:

1. Raise The Dead
2. My Generation
3. I Got A Line On You
4. Cold Turkey
5. Five To One / Break On Through (To The Other Side)
6. Manic Depression
7. 7 And 7 Is
8. Whole Lotta Love
9. Jeepster
10. I’m A Boy
11. School’s Out
12. Billion Dollar Babies
13. Train Kept A-Rollin’
14. Brown Sugar

Alice has been talking to Ultimate Classic Rock about the forthcoming "Road" album, which features the current band, and also a possible original band album.

"Well, there’s a new album coming out with my touring band right now. I wanted to show off the touring band, so we wrote songs, went in the studio, and I said, “Here’s the deal on this album: No overdubs.” I said, “Everything has to be done in the studio live because the whole idea of this album is showing off how good this band is live.” So when you hear this album, it sounds like a studio album, but it’s actually them playing live in the studio. That album will be coming out, and then, the thing with the original band is when we broke up, we never broke up with any bad blood. We went to high school together, we were on the cross country and track team together, things like that. There was never bad blood between any of us, and we always… I mean, I would ask Dennis [Dunaway], “Dennis, could you come in and play bass on this song?” “Yeah. Could you sing on this song? I’ve got a thing going on with this band that I’m in.” “OK.” So there was never that like, “Oh, I’m never gonna talk to him again,” or “I’m never gonna work with him again.” So we’ve always been writing. “Neal Smith will send me three or four songs and I’ll do some writing lyrics on it and send it back to him, and he has his own band. Dennis is in two or three bands. Mike [Michael Bruce], they’re always working musicians. So when we write 10 or 12 songs, I don’t know exactly what that’s going to be, but I know that those songs exist now. So I’m thinking about in the future, that would be kind of a cool thing."

Tommy Henriksen’s Crossbone Skully has launched a kickstarter campaign for an official comic book, ‘Thing #1’, based on the forthcoming album. There are as usual various levels of support beginning with a simple digital pdf from just $5. You can find all the information here.

Distortions Unlimited, the company that builds many of the props used in the Alice Cooper show, have posted a ‘Behind The Monsters’ video demonstrating some of their creations, including one that has so far not been used on stage. Check it out here. The company also has a couple of old Alice related items for sale online here.

Ryan Roxie is the guest on ‘The Guitar Coach’ podcast which you can watch on YouTube.

There has been a fair amount of speculation as to who would take the third guitarist spot on the forthcoming Alice Cooper dates, especially after Kane Roberts – who played last years Autumn shows – effectively ruled himself out on facebook. Of course, to anyone who had actually read what was said when Nita Strauss "left" the band last summer it should come as no real surprise that it’s now officially confirmed she will be back with the band from next month after playing one more show with Demi Lovato – the only date Lovato has booked for this year. Alice and Nita posted the following announcements:

"She’s Back! Nita asked for a leave of absence to work with someone else, something I always encourage my band members to do. I like them to challenge themselves and try new things. I’m thankful to my old friend Kane Roberts for stepping up and filling in for her, but she’ll be back with us for the new tour that starts up in late April. It’s going to be great to have her back.” – Alice Cooper

“From the studio to the stage, it’s always an immense honor to make music with Alice Cooper!! I’m very excited to be rejoining the band on the road for the 2023 dates, and so I’ll see you on the road in April. Let the nightmare return!” – Nita Strauss

Alice has also been talking about the forthcoming tour and new album on ‘Nights With Alice Cooper. No details, but he confirms the Castle stage set is gone and that there will be a completely new show next month, and that the next studio album is due to be released this year: “There’s another album coming out that’s really gonna knock you out. Everybody really likes it, the people that have heard it so far. It’s just a rocking rock and roll album.”

The Hollywood Vampires have released a new video for “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory” from the ‘Rise’ album in advance of their European tour. You can check it out here or below.

Dennis Dunaway was on ‘The City’s Backyard’ podcast last week promoting the show at Westport Library on March 10th. You can catch up on it here.

Neal Smith was on TalkShopLive last week launching and playing songs from his new album ‘Killsmith Goes West’ and you can watch the whole 80 minute show and purchase copies now here.

Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie have added an additional date to the ‘Freaks On Parade’ co-headline tour in September. They play the Azura Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, KS on September 15th. Pre-sale tickets go on sale on Wednesday using the code FREAKS23 while the general sale begins on Friday.

Last week saw the sad news that the legendary Jack Curtis passed away on Wednesday at the age of 88. Curtis was the man who "discovered" the Spiders – who became Alice Cooper – booking them for regular shows at his VIP Club in Phoenix and helping them record their first record. But beyond that Jack was a hugely influential figure in the Phoenix music scene for decades. Dennis Dunaway posted the following tribute:

"Jack Curtis was like Arizona’s Dick Clark. His clubs allowed no drinking and he hired good local bands and paid them fairly, you might even say generously. On occasion, he brought in national and even international acts.
There was a main [VIP Club] stage at one end of the rectangular room. And at the other end of the room was our stage, The Spider Sanctum (named by Jack). The concept was non-stop entertainment. When band’s like The Byrds would finish their set, the Spiders would start playing and the crowd would simply turn around.
Jack’s wholesome personality made him a prime target for our shenanigans. We could make him blush, and we could make him want to strangle us. But we knew he wouldn’t fire us because the VIP Lounge had a 900 capacity but we were packing in 1,000 to 1,100 kids each night.
The Spiders rehearsed at the VIP and Jack was usually doing paperwork. One day, as he was leaving, we knew it was his birthday, so we all followed him out to his car so we could see the look on his face when he discovered we had filled his car with balloons. He was in such a hurry to get to a dinner engagement that we only had time to remove enough balloons for him to fit into the driver’s seat. He drove off that way.
He was fun to tease but, like all Phoenix musicians, we respected him.
He once said, I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is, you guys have it. That meant a great deal to us."

Neal Smith is releasing a new Killsmith album next month called “Killsmith Goes West”. The album will include 10 new songs and Neal will be launching the album via a live appearance on TalkShop.live on March 2nd at 7PM ET (Midnight UK Time). You can pre-order signed copies of the CD now via Talkshop.live.

In addition to Blue Coupe’s show at the Westport library on March 10th Dennis Dunaway will be returning there on April 2nd for a book signing featuring the famed ‘Snakes Museum of Rare Alice Cooper Artifacts’ and a screening of ‘Live From The Astroturf’. You can get all the details here.

There’s another new book on Alice Cooper coming out on March 28th. This one is Sickthing Chris Sutton’s sequel to his “Alice Cooper in the 1970s” and is called “Alice Cooper in the 1980s.” As the title suggests, this book will concentrate on Alice’s career between ‘Flush The Fashion’ in 1980 and the mega-hit album ‘Trash’ in 1989, a period often given little if any space in other AC books. Chris has interviewed many of the key players from the period including Mike Pinera, Jan Uvena, John Nitzinger, Graham Shaw, Ken Mary, Kip Winger, Kane Roberts, John McCurry and Al Pitrelli so there promises to be lots of new stories to enjoy. You can pre-order the book now via AmazonUK and AmazonUS

Alice Cooper has added a show at the start of the ‘Too Close For Comfort’ tour. He’ll be at the Souring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, MI on April 28th and pre-sale tickets go on sale tomorrow via AC.com with general public on-sale on Saturday.

This years ‘Coopstock’ festival has also been announced. The fundraiser will take place on April 2nd at the Las Sendas Golf Club in Mesa., AZ and will feature Chuck Garric, Tommy Thayer (Kiss), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), and Ed Roland (Collective Soul) amongst others. Tickets went on sale today.

Guitar World has a new interview with Ryan Roxie talking about working with Alice and the gear he uses. He’s also been talking to Rockpages.gr in advance of his solo show in Athens on February 18th.

Blue Coupe featuring Dennis Dunaway, Joe Bouchard and Al Bouchard will play a special fundraiser at Westport, CT library on March 10th as part of ‘VersoFest 2023’ with guests Tish and Snooky. Tickets are available now.

Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie head out on the road together again on the ‘Freaks On Parade’ starting August 24th in Dallas. Support comes from Ministry and Filter. Pre-sale tickets and VIP Packages will be available from tomorrow at 12pm local time with code ‘FREAKS23’. General tickets go on sale Friday, February 3rd at 10am local time. The dates so far are as follows:

August 24th – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion
August 26th – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
August 27th – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
August 29th – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park At Walnut Creek
August 30th – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
September 1st – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
September 2nd – Des Moines, IA – Wells Fargo Arena
September 5th – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre​
September 6th – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
September 8th – Scranton, PA – The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
September 9th – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
September 10th – Hartford, CT – Xfinity Theatre
September 12th – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
September 16th – Englewood, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
September 19th – Ridgefield, WA – RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
September 20th – Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
September 22nd – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion
September 23rd – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center
September 24th – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre

Alice Cooper has announced three additional shows to the ‘Too Close For Comfort’ Tour. Tickets go on sale tomorrow using the usual password of ‘SICKTHINGS’. The new dates are:

April 30th – Hershey Theatre, Hershey, PA
May 5th – Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Prior Lake, MN
May 7th – Tyson Events Centre, Sioux City, IA

Alice Cooper, Sammy Hagar and Kevin Cronin are among the stars to take part in the 26th annual "Power Of Love" gala on February 18th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The event raises money for the Cleveland Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

Ryan Roxie will be appearing at the Birmingham Guitar Show at Cranmore Park, Birmingham (UK) on Saturday February 25th. In addition to this he will be doing a short private acoustic show at a ‘top secret location’ but this is already sold out. You can apply to be put on a ‘waiting list’ in case in case any additional tickets become available. Details here.

Nita Strauss has posted a new video recap about her recent Meniscus repair surgery and her recovery which you can see here.

Music Box in Cleveland, OH are to host a free "Alice Cooper @75′ book event on March 9th to mark the launch of the "Alice Cooper @75" book by Gary Graff. The event will feature author Graff along with legendary concert promoter Jules Belkin, WMMS FM 100.7 program director John Gorman and Alice Cooper superfan Bill Peters. Entry is free but you need to book a table in advance here.

Alice Cooper has announce new shows for this May under the title of ‘The Too Close For Comfort Tour’. Pre-sale tickets (use code SICKTHINGS) go on sale January 17th with a general public on sale on January 20th. The dates so far are as follows:

April 29th Covelli Centre, Youngstown, OH
May 2nd Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, IN
May 3rd Miller High Life Theatre, Milwaukee, WI
May 6th Sanford Center, Bemidji, MN
May 9th State Farm Center, Champaign, IL
May 10th The Louisville Palace, Louisville, KY
May 13th Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, TN
May 14th Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, Spartanburg, SC
May 15th North Charleston Performing Arts Center, North Charleston, SC
May 17th Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, Shreveport, LA

Following the announcement of the sad death of guitar legend Jeff Beck on Tuesday various members of the Cooper Family have posted their own tributes:

Alice Cooper: “”When I was 16 years old, The Spiders, who became the original Alice Cooper band, opened for the Yardbirds. That night I experienced the greatest guitar player I had ever heard. Half a century later Jeff Beck is still the greatest guitarist, PERIOD – The greatest of all time. He was a friend, and there will NEVER be another Jeff Beck. Ever. “

Hollywood Vampires: “We are saddened to hear of the passing of our dear friend and guitar legend Jeff Beck. Jeff’s incredible musicianship and passion for guitar has been an inspiration to us all. His contributions to the industry will never be forgotten. He was a true innovator and his legacy will live on through his music. Rest in peace, Jeff. You will be greatly missed by us all.”

Chuck Garric: “RIP to the greatest. Thank you for all the inspiration and beautiful music.”

Glen Sobel: “RIP Jeff Beck. One of the most innovative and influential guitarists in history who kept reinventing himself over and over. Electronica, rock, fusion, progressive, blues, country, rockabilly, Middle Eastern melodies…he touched on all of it. The list of legendary drummers, bassists, singers, and keyboardists who passed through his band is lengthy. He always brought out the best in his bands and he left us with plenty of amazing studio and live records to enjoy. I’ll be listening tonight to ”Live At Ronnie Scott’s” as well as other records from his vast catalog.”

Cindy Smith Dunaway: “He changed music forever and will stand in history as one of rocks best and most innovative guitarists ever. He was a master, a kind soul and will be greatly missed. Condolences to Jeff Beck’s family and family of friends. Well played, literally sir.”

Damon Johnson: “Devastating and horrible news of Jeff Beck’s death. Love him, love his playing, and am grateful to the gods that we spent some time together on a couple of occasions over the years. I am so sad. We guitar players are always asked: who is the greatest of all time? It’s Jeff. It has always been Jeff. Ask any guitar legend you can think of: Gibbons, Brian May, Clapton, Page, Lukather. And if you would have asked Edward and even Hendrix. They’ll all tell you, “It’s Jeff Beck”. Jeff scratched his name in the back of my Les Paul (thanks to my buddy Andy) when we hung out in Birmingham in Nov. ‘89. I’ve cherished it ever since, and of course now it is priceless. Thank you for everything, Jeff. Rest in power, sir”

Steve Hunter: “There is a bruise on my heart today, and I’m sure, on the hearts of every guitar player on the planet. You see, we have lost our King, Jeff Beck. We all looked up to him as our hero. There have been many beautiful words spoken about him, but all I can say is that Jeff played with sensitivity, power, emotion, humor, sex, and wisdom. Each and every note had value and purpose, and each and every note managed to wrangle its way into your soul. No one will follow in Jeff’s footsteps…that is impossible. It is a sad day for me….”

Press Release:

Alice Cooper guitarist RYAN ROXIE Launches Weekly Show on MONSTERS OF ROCK® Radio

MONSTERS OF ROCK®, the gold standard of hard rock for over 40 years, welcomes Ryan Roxie to the radio airwaves.

Long-time Alice Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie has launched his weekly radio show, broadcasting for two hours on Thursdays from 9-11am PT. The show is accessible worldwide, without commercials and without subscription, at themonstersofrock.com/radio.

MONSTERS OF ROCK® RADIO is home to music’s greatest hard rock & heavy metal. Celebrating over 40 years of all things rock, MONSTERS OF ROCK® is the premiere brand for hard rock and heavy metal worldwide and is currently heard by over 700,000 listeners a day on the Dash Radio Network.

The new weekly radio program – ‘The Ryan Roxie Show’ – shows off a consistent yet refreshing mix of Ryan Roxie’s rock n’ roll favorites, as well as carefully selected album deep cuts. Between songs, Roxie reflects on his real-life encounters with the bands he plays.

Ryan Roxie is no stranger to the broadcasting world. Since the beginning of the pandemic, his weekly YouTube podcast ‘In The Trenches’ has reached a loyal and growing following, as Ryan interviews many of the great names in rock n’ roll in an in-depth discussion format.

“We are excited to bring one of the most authentic guitarists in rock to the most authentic brand in live digital radio”, said Harlan Hendrickson, CEO, MONSTERS OF ROCK®. “Our partnership with Dash Radio gives rock fans globally access to the best rock for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and unencumbered by commercials.”

“Giving artists and brands as iconic as MONSTERS OF ROCK® and Ryan Roxie a 24/7 home to deliver the best audio programming live directly to fans is why we build Dash”, stated Scott Keeney, CEO of Dash Radio. “We are thrilled to welcome Ryan Roxie to Dash Radio.”

Since it’s 2015 launch, Dash Radio has become the world’s largest all-original digital broadcaster, empowering many of the world’s biggest artists, influencers and brands to take radio over the top, directly to fans, without fees or subscriptions. Featuring over 80 curator-championed original stations, Dash is available on 50+ platforms – inside nearly every connected car service, smart home product and IoT device.

Ryan Roxie summarizes: “Performing on rock stages around the world and delivering my weekly ‘In The Trenches’ YouTube podcast are great passions for me, I will never lose the excitement that comes with performing. Now I get to present new audio soundscapes on this different type of stage. I love selecting songs for the radio show, and explaining what they mean to me.”

Ryan Roxie will be on tour with Alice Cooper in the United States this summer, together with Motley Crue and Def Leppard.

You can listen here to MONSTERS OF ROCK® RADIO:
www.themonstersofrock.com

Also available as app at:
www.dashradio.com/monstersofrock

It’s been a pretty quiet New Year’s for Alice and the gang. It appears there was no New Years Eve gig in Hawaii this year, presumably related to the sad passing of Alice’s mother, and very of anything else going on.
However there are a few things to cover before they are out of date.

The Hollywood Vampires have been added to the bill at Hellfest in France on June 15th. They will play second on the bill to Kiss. Four day festival tickets are sold out, but the site says one day tickets will be available at some point.

Ryan Roxie will be flying to Greece in February to play a special solo show with Greek Alice Cooper Tribute band Snakebite. It will take place on February 18th at the Temple, Athens and tickets are available now. Support comes from Scream Collision and Wild Machine with a DJ set from Johnnie Holliday. You can also find the event on Facebook.

For collectors there are two new Alice figures on the way. The first comes via Good Records (the shop behind the ‘Live at the Astroturf’) and is a "Super7 ReAction Glow In The Dark’ figure. From the images it looks a little weird, but maybe it looks better in the dark! You can pre-order this one now via Good Records.
The second figure is slightly more conventional – an 8" "Mego Action" figure in ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ costuming. This one is due in May and can also be pre-ordered now.
With both these items beware of outrageous shipping costs to the UK. In the case of the Mego figure the postage appears to be $10 more than the doll itself!