Month: April 2019

R.I.P. David Winters

R.I.P. David Winters

British-born choreographer, actor, producer, screenwriter and director David Winters has passed away at 80. Winters, who played A-rab in the original ‘West Side Story’ film as well as working with Elvis (on ‘Viva Las Vegas’), and The Monkees,  had a long friendship with Alice and Sheryl Cooper, and directed the ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ concert film in 1975. You can read more background about Winters here. Alice posted the following to social media earlier today:

“David Winters realized what we were trying to do in 1975 with with our rock production of “Welcome To My Nightmare.” He saw the potential of merging hard rock Alice Cooper with theater. We chose him as director/choreographer because he portrayed A-rab in the classic film “West Side Story.” That film was a huge influence on us as a band. But most of all, David selected an 18 year old ballerina out of hundreds of top notch auditioning LA dancers to dance on the ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ concert tour.  That dancer (Sheryl) and I are still happily married after 43 years. I could not have found a more kindred spirit than David.”- Alice Cooper

Ultimate Classic Rock have a new interview with Alice talking about the new Hollywood Vampires album, the next show, a new solo album and other stuff.

There’s also a new interview at AZCentral promoting this weekends Alice Cooper Golf event (which also features Neal Smith) and ‘The Rock’ teen center. It also mentions the upcoming albums.

If you are on the fence about getting tickets for any of the forthcoming US shows Live Nation have announced its fifth annual ‘National Concert Week’, set for May 1st to 7th. This offers fans the chance to purchase $20 tickets (all-in, including fees) for over 2000 different shows, and the offer apparently includes the Alice Cooper/Halestorm shows.

Fan footage of Alice’s full Q&A session from the FanX event in Salt Lake city is now up on YouTube.

The University Of Buffalo has a new interview with Shep Gordon about his career with a few interesting stories.

See Alice Cook.. Live!

Alice appears at Bottlerock

Alice will be a guest at the BottleRock festival in Napa Valley, CA which runs between May 24th and 26th. However he won’t be performing at the festival… rather, it appears he will be a guest on the ‘Culinary Stage’ which seems to be a bunch of chef’s and celebrities cooking while people watch… Limited tickets are available now.

Calico Cooper posted a message on facebook reporting that her stage baseball bat, ‘Suzanne’ was stolen at the Denver Beasto Blanco show on April 23rd. Here’s the full message. If you can help let her know.

Dear Denver-
We have a thief among us. Last night my bat was stolen from the show. We have a pretty good idea of the guy who took it, but we want to give them the chance to do the right thing before we take further action.
My bat “Suzanne” has been with Beasto since we started. It’s been the same Bat in all the videos, stage shows, and photos. It means a lot to me.
We all Make mistakes. We all drink a little too much and make a bad call, but here’s your chance to make it right before it gets worse. Please return the bat, no questions asked by us, to MUDHEN MERCH, 7190 W Sunset Blvd. #1093, Los Angeles, CA. 90046.
To the rest of the fans that came last night, thank you for an amazing show, for being a spectacular crowd, and if you see you know who with Suzanne, do what you need to do.

The new issue of Goldmine Magazine has a 6 page feature on Alice Cooper including interviews with Neal, Michael and Dennis separately answering the same questions including their thoughts on the original band split, the early days and the recent get togethers. It’s a good feature and worth checking out. It’s the June issue you want with ‘The Zombies’ on the cover (with Alice Cooper listed a the bottom).

Glen Sobel and the Goon Squad (Glen, Chuck, Tommy and Ryan) will play a ‘pre-show’ at Sub Alpine Club in Turtle Creek, PA on July 18th (the night before the Pittsburgh show). Tickets are on sale now from “Sub Alpine Club, Attic Records, Dave’s Music Mine, Record Connection (Niles, OH), Anthony Lamonde and the Borstal Boys and Lily V. Sixx” or by phone on 330-219-0016. ‘The Borstal Boys’ open and you can see the flyer below.

Dennis Dunaway will be a guest at the ‘School of Rock’ event at Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY (Nr. Woodstock) on July 3rd. Dennis will be speaking and sitting in with the young musicians during an Alice Cooper set. This looks like it’s a private event. Also, if you’re going to the Foxwoods Alice Cooper show on July 4th you might want to keep your eyes open for Dennis and Cindy!

When Blue Coupe play Sweden Rock on June 8th they will have a special guest sitting in… Ryan Roxie!

Geeks Of Doom have posted an article about Alice’s recent appearance at the Philly Comic-com with a few photos, and speaking of the recent comic convention appearances ‘Lucifer’ star Tom Ellis posted the photos of himself with Alice at FanX, stating “So it turns out @alicecooper is not only a lovely man he’s also a big #lucifan I am beyond happy.” There is also an article about the FanX appearance at the HeraldExtra, but they won’t let you read it if you live in Europe..

 

Astroturf Film Wins Second Award

Astroturf film wins second award in Dallas.

Following the screening at the Dallas International Film Festival this week ‘Live From The Astroturf’ won the ‘Audience Award for Documentary’, the second award the film has won after the ‘Best Documentary Short’ award in Phoenix. Dennis and Cindy Dunaway, Chris Penn and director Steve Gaddis were again on hand to accept the award. More festival screening are hopefully on the way.
Dennis and Chris were also on local radio station Lone Star 92.5 promoting the film and you can see video from that on Facebook.

A reminder that Alice will be at the FanX Comic Convention in Salt Lake City this Friday and Saturday to sign autographs and take part in a Q&A. You can get more details here.

‘The Well‘ has part 1 of a new golf related interview with Alice and while it’s starts with golf there is other stuff in there as well.

‘Rise’ Album due June 21st

Hollywood Vampires 2nd album details released.

Good to their word EarMusic have release details of the new Hollywood Vampires album ‘Rise’ which will be released on June 21st. The video for the first single can be seen below, with the full album press release undeneath.

The Hollywood Vampires – return with new music from their explosive second album, “Rise.” Rock and roll royalty Joe Perry, Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp and shock rock icon Alice Cooper join forces once again for the unmissable rock album of 2019.

Seconds into the opening track “I Want My Now,” it’s clear this supergroup has created something special – the chemistry between the individuals is unmistakable when they come together on stage or in the recording studio. Forget the star-studded lineup’s individual reputations, “Rise” is some of the purest, unapologetic and most enjoyable rock and roll of the year, made by masters of the craft and true fans of the form.

Unlike their 2015 debut record, the new album “Rise” consists mainly of original material, written by the band. There are however, in the spirit of the Vampires’ original mission, three covers of songs originally written and recorded by some fellow rockers who died far too young: an intimate and intense version of David Bowie’s “Heroes”,  beautifully performed by Johnny Depp; the late Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died,” and Johnny Thunder’s “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory,” sung by Joe Perry. Raucous rock anthems like “The Boogieman Surprise” and “Who’s Laughing Now” (the first single from the new album), capture the natural, raw, celebratory attitude of Hollywood Vampires displayed in their rowdy shows around the world.  But the album shows off their range as well with tracks like “We Gotta Rise” – a tongue-in-cheek politics song in the the tradition of Alice’s “Elected” – to the psychedelic gothic epic of “Mr. Spider.”

“‘Rise’ is not only a totally different animal than the first Vampires album, it is unique to anything I’ve ever been a part of.  I approached it very differently than I usually do when working on an album.  Each of us; Joe, Johnny, Tommy and myself have written songs on this album.  What is different though is that I didn’t try to change any songs to be more “Alice-like.”  Because each of us has different influences, the sound of this album is very cool.  I think that with this album, we are establishing what the Vampires’ sound really is, whereas with the first album we were more tipping our hats to our fallen rock n roll brothers.” – Alice Cooper

“’Rise’ came from pure creative energy, which is just like playing live with the Vampires. The record showcases everyone doing what they do best without anyone looking over our shoulders. There was no pressure or deadlines, allowing us to write and record an album that is one of the freest and most honest sounding records I’ve been part of. I can’t wait to perform some of these tunes live for our fans.” – Joe Perry

earMUSIC, the global independent rock label of Edel Germany GmbH, is proud to announce the worldwide signing of Hollywood Vampires. Following the release of Alice Cooper’s 2017 studio album “Paranormal” on earMUSIC, his best chart-performing work in decades, the label is proud to welcome the band to their family.

Produced by Tommy Henriksen and the Hollywood Vampires, “Rise” will be released on June 21st, 2019 on earMUSIC as CD Digipak, 2LP+Download (various color vinyl) and Digital.

TRACK LIST

  1. I Want My Now
  2. Good People Are Hard To Find
  3. Who’s Laughing Now
  4. How The Glass Fell
  5. The Boogieman Surprise
  6. Welcome To Bushwackers (feat. Jeff Beck & John Waters)
  7. The Wrong Bandage
  8. You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory
  9. Git From Round Me
  10. Heroes
  11. A Pitiful Beauty
  12. New Threat
  13. Mr. Spider
  14. We Gotta Rise
  15. People Who Died
  16. Congratulations

Hollywood Vampires Announcement

Hollywood Vampires Announcement

EarMusic will be posting “Audio premiere and first album information” on their YouTube channel at 11pm UK time, 6pm EST for the US. You can set a reminder if you’re signed into YouTube.
I’ve embed it below, but don’t know whether it will work watching live directly on this page.

Nita Strauss was on Youtube the other day answering fan submitted questions which you can watch here.

The new ‘Hellboy’ movie, a ‘R’ rated reboot for the franchise which isn’t getting the greatest reviews, apparently features ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ on the soundtrack.

Kip Winger makes some nice references to Alice in a recent interview.

New Roxie Single

Ryan Roxie Releases New Single.

Ryan Roxie releases a new single today from his ‘Imagine Your Reality’ album. This time it’s ‘Look Me In The Eye’ and you can check out the video below. Roxie is currently in the road in the US as part of the ‘Planet Axe’ tour.

With the ‘Live From The Astroturf’ movie hitting the Detroit Film Festival this week there’s more press to promote it including articles in Detroit Free Press and Music Radar.

Alice was in Phoenix on Wednesday (10th) at the ground breaking ceremony for a new ‘White Castle’ restaurant and was briefly interviewed by a local news channel KGUN. The restaurant chain has a “Hall Of Fame” and Alice was inducted a few years ago. In is honour the new outlet will have an ‘Alice Cooper Corner’ where a photo of Alice will be hung.

Beasto Blanco will release a new promo video for ‘The Seeker’ on Monday. It’s the opening track of their new album ‘We Are’ and the promo was directed by Calico Cooper herself! There’s a short preview on her Facebook page.

Talkhouse has an interview with Chainsaw Kittens frontman Tyson Meade talking about the influence Alice Cooper and ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ has had on his life and career.

New Show – Knoxville

Alice Cooper adds Knoxville show.

Alice Cooper and Halestorm have added a show in Knoxville, TN on August 3rd at the Thompson Boling Arena. Tickets go on sale tomorrow via AC.com.

‘Live From The Astroturf’ won an award for ‘Best Documentary Short’ at the Phoenix Film Festival this weekend. Dennis and Cindy Dunaway, Christopher Penn and Steve Gaddis accepted the award.

Beasto Blanco Album Details

Beasto Blanco release new album details

Rat Pak Records have released full details of the new Beasto Blanco album “We Are” which will be released on May 24th. The full press release is as follows:

Beasto Blanco, the band comprised of Chuck Garric (long time Alice Cooper bassist) on guitars and vocals, Calico Cooper on vocals, Brother Latham on guitars, Jan LeGrow on bass and Sean Sellers on drums, will release their 3rd studio album ‘We Are’ on May 24, 2019 via Rat Pak Records.  ‘We Are’ is the follow up album to their highly successful 2016 self-titled sophomore release ‘Beasto Blanco’. Produced by Ryan Greene, the new album is available for pre-order in various bundle configurations at: www.ratpakrecords.com/BeastoBlanco.
Regarding the new album Chuck Garric comments, “We spent a lot of time channeling, dissecting and arranging the songs from our new album. The idea was, “Let’s make ‘our’ record – not necessarily what’s popular now or what we think other people will like. We said, let’s make a record for us and our fans. Our fans are loyal and our sound is our sound.”
Guitarist Brother Latham adds “We Are” is a novel record for us.  It shows maturity in the band, without surrendering our reckless abandon and love of rock n’ roll!”
Calico Cooper adds, “This record has teeth. It’s got a bite to it that I love. It’s message is from the people we see around us every day, it’s heartbeat is so loud. It says We are strong. We are indestructible. We are here. We Are!”
The track listing for ‘We Are’ is as follows:
01 The Seeker, 02 Solitary Rave, 03 Ready To Go, 04 Down, 05 Perception Of Me, 06 Let’s Rip, 07 Half Life, 08 We Got This, 09 Follow The Bleed, 10 I See You In It, 11 Halcyon (Bonus-track CD & Download versions).

AZCentral has a long article about the premiere screening of the ‘Live From The Astroturf’ film tonight at the Phoenix Film Festival. Expect some special guests at the screening!
UPDATE: All four surviving members of the original Alice Cooper line up – Alice, Neal, Michael, and Dennis – where at the premiere.

Ryan Roxie could be a guest on the ‘Electric Crush’ radio show on April 9th between 7pm and 9pm. You can listen in to the show here.

While we’re still awaiting any details about either Hollywood Vampires albums set for release this year, you can now welcome fellow vampires to your home with HV doormats!

Shep Gordon is interviewed on ‘Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast’. which you can listen to here.