Alice Cooper Appears On Kesha Podcast and other news
Alice will be at guest on the first episode of pop star Kesha’s supernatural podcast ‘Kesha and the Creepies‘. Alice and Kesha first came together one ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ and have appeared onstage together a couple of times. The podcast launches today via iHeartMedia.
Goodyear has partnered with Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers for a live streamed concert tomorrow, November 21st, between 5pm and 9pm local time. For local bands will take part, and it’s always possible Alice will make a brief cameo appearance as well.
In other Solid Rock news the opening of the second teen center in Mesa, AZ has been delayed due to the pandemic and is now hoped to open in late January.
A few posts ago I mentioned that Alice shows up singing on a children’s record by ‘Splash & Boots’ called ‘Heart Parade’. Well now there’s an article in The Star explaining how it came about with quotes from Bob Ezrin.
‘Nights With Alice Cooper’ has a new video in which Alice chats to Jimi Hendrix producer Eddie Kramer and Hendrix bassist Billy Cox about the new Hendrix film "The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live In Maui" which is out soon.
The Marc Bolan tribute show which Dennis Dunaway took park in a couple of weeks ago will be repeated on November 29th at 8PM eastern time (1AM UK time) at iheart.com. Dennis chats about the legendary Morgan Studios jam session near the end of the show.
Rolling Stone gets Alice to name his top 10 albums of all time in a new video.
Local Spins recalls the night Alice Cooper played the Civic Centre in Holland, MI in 1972.
According to an article in the Worcester News UK Cooper fan Chris Sutton has a book about "Alice Cooper in the 70s" on the way via publisher ‘Sonic Bond‘. It’s due in March 2021 and seems to part of a series of books concentrating on bands at their peak in the 70s.
Since posting yesterday the official announcement of ‘Detroit Stories’ has appeared. Here’s what it says:
Named for the city that launched the original Alice Cooper group on the road to success, “Detroit Stories” follows last year’s “Breadcrumbs” EP as a modern-day homage to the toughest and craziest Rock n Roll scene there ever was.
In 1970, fledgling producer Bob Ezrin walked into a farmhouse on the outskirts of Detroit to work with the Alice Cooper band. Abandoning flower power Los Angeles, because they were the opposite of the hippie peace and love ideal, Alice had brought his decidedly darker gang back to his birthplace to the legendary rock scene that gave birth to hard rock, garage rock, soul, funk, punk…and more.
“Detroit Stories” will be available on CD, CD+DVD Digipak, CD Box Set (including CD, Blu-ray, T-shirt, face mask, torch light and 3 stickers), and 2LP Gatefold on earMUSIC.
The DVD and Blu-ray will show the incredible live performance “A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris” for the first time on video.
"Detroit was Heavy Rock central then,” explains Alice, “You’d play the Eastown and it would be Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, the Stooges and the Who, for $4! The next weekend at the Grande it was MC5, Brownsville Station and Fleetwood Mac, or Savoy Brown or the Small Faces. You couldn’t be a soft-rock band or you’d get your ass kicked."
“Los Angeles had its sound with The Doors, Love and Buffalo Springfield,” he says, “San Francisco had the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. New York had The Rascals and The Velvet Underground. But Detroit was the birthplace of angry hard rock. After not fitting in anywhere in the US (musically or image wise) Detroit was the only place that recognized the Alice Cooper guitar driven, hard rock sound and our crazy stage show. Detroit was a haven for the outcasts. And when they found out I was born in East Detroit… we were home.”
Tomorrow (Friday) will see the release of the first single from the album. Called ‘Rock’n’Roll’ it’s a cover of an old Velvet Underground song that Lou Reed supposedly wrote in Detroit.
Needless to say the news of a new album has been covered by all the major outlets, all unavoidably repeating the same information. You can check out the following for the occasional unique quote. NME, Ultimate Classic Rock, Consequence of Sound, and Rolling Stone.
Alice is among the names announced for Joe Walsh’s virtual ‘VetsAid’ show on December 12th. The online event is the fourth ‘VetsAid’ but obviously the pandemic has prevented a proper live show. The bill includes a diverse list of artists and tickets to watch the stream are available now from vetsaid.org.
Rolling Stone have posted a long interview with guitar legend Steve Hunter which hits on all the major working relationships Steve’s had over the years including Alice Cooper and Lou Reed.
Beginning on November 29th Ryan Roxie officially launches his ‘System-12’ twelve week guitar challenge. ‘System-12’ is Roxie’s guitar tuition course which aims to get even novices playing real songs in a matter of days and includes videos, transcripts and live lessons from Ryan and his team. Get all the information of how to join here.
Nita Strauss has partnered with D’Addario strings to release the ‘Nita Strauss Guitar Maintenance Kit’ which includes the same products Nita uses to keep her guitars show ready. Included in the kit are a "string height gauge, flashlight, 9V battery, multi-tool, Eclipse tuner, hydrate fingerboard conditioner, XLR8 string cleaner and lubricant, fret polishing system, micro-fiber polishing cloth, pro-winder, travel case and instructional manual."
Legendary Cooper photographer Bob Gruen has a new book out called ‘Right Place, Right Time: The Life Of A Rock & Roll photographer" which is sure to contain some Cooper related anecdotes. It’s out now via Abrams Press.
Lots more ‘Detroit Stories’ info has been surfacing over the last 24 hours or so. AmazonUK and AmazonUS have now added pages for various editions of the new album to be released on February 26th. The first single will be ‘Rock’n’Roll’, a Velvet Underground cover, which will be released on Friday. There seem to be the following editions (so far and subject to change):
A double album on red vinyl
A double album on black vinyl
A double album on purple vinyl (Townsend exclusive)
A double album on blue vinyl (JPC exclusive)
A double album on clear vinyl (500 copies)
1xCD edition
1xCD+1xDVD edition which adds the previously unreleased film from ‘A Paranormal Night At The Olympia, Paris’
1xCD+1xBlu-ray box set including t-shirt, face mask, torch light and 2 stickers. Blu-Ray is the previously unreleased film from ‘A Paranormal Night At The Olympia, Paris’
Strange things have been happening this week, and I’m not talking about the election. On November 1st Amazon.com posted a page for the forthcoming ‘Detroit Stories’ album (vinyl and CD) which included an album cover illustration. It also appeared to confirm they are aiming for a February release date, as mentioned by Alice in the recent AirB&B Halloween webcast. February 26th to be precise, although of course this could still change. The cover image featured the album title and the Alice splatter logo over a industrial scene, clouds filling the top half of the cover outlining the spider eye make up.
The following day the page was gone.
And in the last hour or so the official Alice facebook page has posted a short 15 second, silent video of clouds or smoke. Could this the start of the ‘Detroit Stories’ promotional campaign? Don’t forget the cool cryptic videos earMusic posted before ‘Paranormal’ was released. Could they be planning something similar for the new album?
Update: Today (sunday) they’ve just posted another cryptic silent clip, this time with the buildings in front of the clouds.
Dennis Dunaway is featured on ‘American Blues Scene‘ promoting last weeks ‘Love Potion #9’ single and his appearance tomorrow evening in a webcast talking about his career and book. More details about the webcast can be found here.
Alice has turned up on a new single by ‘Splash n’ Boots’, a childrens record by Canadians Nick Adams and Taes Leavitt. You can here the song ‘Heart Parade’ now on Spotify.
Alice has released a short "fact video" on ‘Elected’ which you can check out here.
NME have announced that Alice will take part in a forthcoming ‘Reunion’ video with the cast of ‘Waynes World’. No date is set for the event but previous reunions for the casts of ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘lord of the Rings’ have been popular. ‘Nights With Alice Cooper’ posted that Alice would be there.
Just in time for Halloween Alice has launched a new horror themed card game. From the press release:
“This is 2020, which means all things are upside down and backwards. You’re going to be staying home a lot, so why not play HorrorBox. It’s something totally new, fun for everyone. I helped write a lot of the stuff in it. You will become The Addams Family, if that’s a goal in your life.” -Alice Cooper
Just in time for Halloween, the Godfather of Shock Rock himself, Alice Cooper, has partnered with FITZ Games to launch ‘HorrorBox’, a first-of-its-kind, haunted comedy card game with a focus on all things horror. Co-written by a team of horror fanatics, with help from Alice himself, the game prompts players to select from question cards like “Pennywise tricked me by…..” and “The tenth circle of hell is for….” Entertaining answer cards such as “Setting up my haunted house as an Airbnb” provide countless pairings for endless laughter. To kick things up a notch, dare cards are sprinkled into the question cards, cueing players to “drink something that looks like blood” or “knock on your neighbors door and say you’re next.”
Alice has even posted a video launching the game which you can see here.
There’s a base game box available, and various expansion packs, or you can get everything in one big package. So far it seems this is only on sale in the US. but it’s likely somewhere over here will stock it soon and save us the likely horrific postage charges.
Also announced this week is a new talent show, with a difference. Alice will be one of the judges on this new talent show which will involve real musicians playing their own original songs! What a concept! The new show will be called ‘No Cover’ and Alice will judge along with Lzzy Hale and Gavin Rossdale (Bush). The show is being launched by ‘Hit Parader’ magazine and Sumerian Records (Nita’s record company) and will be filmed at the legendary Troubador club in West Hollywood in December (covid permitting). No info about when or where we’ll be able to watch it yet though. If you have a band you can apply to the show now via their website here.
““I can’t wait for No Cover,” says Alice Cooper. “To me, a band really isn’t a band unless they are writing their own material, and if you know anything about me you know that I have a very high standard for not only the songs but also the performance. I’m looking for the band who has it all – the one who can not only write it and play it, but perform it and make me BELIEVE it.”
Alice’s Rock’n’Roll Fantasy Camp interview on November 28th will be gatecrashed by none other than Shep Gordon. Get these too together and you never know what will come up. Tickets are still available at Universe.com.
The last Record Store Day of 2020 has been and gone, and the long awaited ‘Live From The Apollo Theatre Glasgow, Feb 19, 1982’ live album is finally out (along with yet another version of ‘Dirty Diamonds). Sadly they haven’t put much effort into the sleeve, no gatefold with photos etc, but it’s still a terrific recording of a legendary show. A bit of advice: if you missed getting a copy at the weekend make sure you do a google search before paying inflated prices on eBay, as last time I looked there will still online stores with copies for normal price.
Alice’s appearance on AirB&B’s ‘Spooky time’ last week was actually a lot of fun, at least for the kids who joined in! Alice was in costume and make up as was Sheryl who popped in a few times as well. You can still watch the broadcast on YouTube.
And speaking of Sheryl Cooper, she was Ryan Roxie’s guest for ‘In The Trenches’ this week and this is one you don’t want to miss. Lots of chat about the 1975 tour, meeting Alice and falling for him, and daughter Calico dropped in as well. Definitely check this one out on YouTube. If you are waiting for Ryan’s interview with Michael Bruce which was announced a few weeks ago, it’s been delayed, but is still coming up. Keep an eye on Ryan’s social media channels for news of a new date.
And as I mentioned Calico, there’s a new interview with her in ‘French Fries’ magazine that you can read here. Calico, Chuck and Beasto Blanco will be on the haunted ship ‘Queen Mary’ on Halloween night for a ‘virtual haunt and music fest’ including a special performance by Beasto. Calico let slip on the ‘Trenches’ podcast that they’ll be playing a Motorhead cover, but with her singing it not Chuck! Should be interesting. You can get all the info about this special event and buy tickets to join in here.
Yahoo still seem to be getting content out of their interview with Alice from a couple of months ago. They’ve just put up an article with Alice talking about ‘The Muppet Show’ which you can check out here.
On October 30th there will be a special Halloween release of “Love Potion No. 9” by Fiona Silver which is of interest to us because it features Dennis Dunaway! The songs currently being played on Song being played on Sirius XM, WRAT New Jersey, CFMU Hamilton, Ontario, WJCU Cleveland, and more. No link for the video yet but it should appear on Fiona’s YouTube channel here.
Update: and now you can see it below
Also on October 30th – Signed copies of Blue Coupe’s ‘Eleven Even’ re-release will be available at participating independent record stores across the US with the option of hosting virtual in-store meet and greets with Blue Coupe. I originally announced that this was happening on Record Store day but I was mistaken, so check you local store tomorrow!
The ‘Daughters of Noise’ have released a new version of ‘Clones (We’re All)’ which isn’t half bad. Check it out here.
The legendary James Randi, better known to Alice Cooper fans as ‘The Amazing Randi’,
sadly passsed away yesterday from "age-related causes", He was 92. Randi was hired by the Coopers to design the special effects for the ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ tour, and joined the Alice Cooper group on both the ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ and ‘Billion Dollar Babies Holiday’ tours in 1973. He played the mad dentist during ‘Unfinished Sweet’ and the executioner during ‘I Love the Dead’, operating the original guillotine he built for the show.
Away from the Cooper world Randi was a scientific investigator who debunked paranormal and occult phenomena, going as far as offering a million dollars to anyone who could demonstrate paranormal abilities under scientific testing conditions. Over 1000 people have applied over the years but no one has ever managed to win the money. In 1996 he founded the James Randi Educational Foundation, a non-profit group that encouraged and educated the public and media on vetting unverified and outlandish claims, something much needed in this day and age. If you haven’t watched the James Randi biography film ‘An Honest Liar’ it’s highly recommended.
“I am so proud to say that for a brief time the greatest of them all, The Amazing Randi, was a part of our traveling troupe. He was our illusion guru and taught me everything I know about how magic could meet rock and roll. His genius helped the Billion Dollar Babies show become the spectacle no one had ever seen. He was rock and roll’s Gandalf.”
– Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper has released a new “campaign” video for the classic track, “Elected.” The new video features call-backs to the original 1972 music video, in which Alice Cooper first announced his “candidacy” and the formation of the ‘Wild Party’. There’s also a range of ‘Elected 2020’ merchandise available now.
In addition to Alice’s Fantasy Camp chat the legendary Shep Gordon is also holding a ‘Rock’n’Roll Fantasy Camp Masterclass’ on October 20th with a portion of the proceeds going to the ‘Maui Food Bank’. There’s only 25 places available to join in live, which have sold out, but you can still join the live stream for this special event and you can get tickets now here.
Alice has teamed up with Airbnb to offer a chance to spend a (virtual
) hour with Alice on October 21st and listen to him tell a spooky Halloween story. The event will last an hour with up to 10 families able to listen in to Alice reading the story in full costume. All money raised will go to ‘North Star Reach’, a camp that provides experiences for children with health challenges.
“Love a good scare?” says Cooper. “Me too. With Halloween all but cancelled, we’ll have to take our penchant for terror to the scariest place I know — the Internet. Join me for a spooky story session to celebrate the season. We’ll read about spiders and spirits, goblins and ghosts and monsters and mutants — all of my favorite things, really. And we’ll do it in full costume. It’ll be a scary good time. (And suitable for children ages 6+ with an appetite for fright.)”
“Let’s suit up and make this a spooky story time to remember.”
Tickets go on sale today and you can get more info here.
Alice will also be taking part in an online Q&A for the KLOS and the ‘Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp’ on November 1st. 25 rich people will be able to interact with Alice live during the interview but anyone can get a ticket to watch live. All the details are over at Universe.com.
Dennis Dunaway can be spotted around 25 minutes into this John Lennon tribute video marking his 80th birthday.
Dennis will also be taking part in a virtual chat with ‘Louder Than Words’ on November 8th which is open to fans to take part. This is a ticketed event and you can get tickets now via Eventbrite.
Beasto Blanco are taking part in another live streaming event. They will be playing as part of the ‘Virtual Haunt and Music Fest’ via ‘The Dark Zone’. This is a cool four day event that takes you aboard a virtual haunted ship and you can find all the details here.
The latest episodes of Ryan Roxie’s ‘In The Trenches’ podcasts have featured Joe Satriani and Desmond Child, and if you missed them you can catch up here.
Finally, you may have seen on the facebook page that Sickthing Paul Forsyth is trying to raise money to help a friend get a much needed new wheelchair, and to that end he is offering the very last unworn ‘Nation of Ovine’ t-shirt (size XL) via ebay. This is the last "sheep shirt" in this design ever, and all money raised will go towards a good cause. There’s just three days to go so check out the auction here, and the just giving page here for the full story.
It’s still pretty quite, but there is a little news to cover before it’s too out of date.
Alice has launched his own brand of hot sauce in the US via ‘United Sauces‘. There are three strengths – mild, medium and hot – and they go by the names ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ (mild), ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’ (medium) and ‘Poison’ (hot). You can also buy a three pack with one of each but unfortunately they want a $36 to ship outside the USA, more then the cost of the sauce!! Is it even legal to ship hit sauce internationally? A shame as they look cool.
You know it’s close to Halloween when you can download your own official Alice Cooper pumpkin stencil. Check it out at AC.com. You have to fill out the AC mailing list form, but you should be on that already.
Cherry Red in the UK are reissuing the old Billion Dollar Babies ‘Battle Axe’ triple CD and apparently it’s semi-legitimate this time. From a quick look it seems to be exactly the same content as before (album, demos and live discs) but with new packaging so if you missed it the first time now’s your chance. It’s out November 27th and you can pre-order now.
Ryan Roxie’s guest on ‘In The Trenches’ tomorrow is none other then Joe Satriani! Check it out from 5pm UK time tomorrow here.
Alice tribute act ‘Billion Dollar Alice’ are hoping to go ahead with a Halloween party on October 30th at Stone Prior Covern, Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. Support comes from Damned tribute ‘Smash It Up’ and other acts and you can get more info at sonicrocksolstice.com. The club will have limited capacity due to social distancing measures, and it will entry by ticket only so get one in advance.
