Upcoming Events

Just popping in to highlight a couple of things coming up. I’ll do a full news update after the tour.

Firstly of course is tonights London premiere of ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ and ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ at the Castle Cinema in Hackney. The first showing is now sold out but there are still a few tickets for the later second showing. Dennis and Cindy Dunaway will be there along with others who worked on the films and it promises to be a fun night! Last minute tickets can be obtained at Castle Cinema, and there is no guarantee there will be any left on the door.

Then there is Ryan Roxie’s guitar clinic at ‘Sixty Sixty Sounds’ in Denmark Street, London, which is also tonight. This starts around 7pm so it’s possible to attend both this and the late film (10.45) showing in Hackney. Again, spaces are now very limited but you can still email info@sixtysixtysounds.com and ask to be put on the list. It’s free!

Lastly, just after the Alice Cooper tour ends in Cardiff Ryan Roxie and ex-Alice/Slash’s Snakepit guitarist Eric Dover set out on their own string of UK club shows as ‘Lost Angels’. It’s not often we get the chance to see the multi-talented Eric Dover in the UK so well worth the trip if you can make a show. The full list of dates appears below. There are also a few VIP packages at £55 still available for each show and you can check availability and get more info at https://lostangelsvip.blogspot.com.
The full line up for these shows is Ryan and Eric on guitar/vocals, Troy Patrick Farrell (White Lion/Gilby Clarke Band) on drums and EJ Curse (Gilby Clarke Band/Silent Rage) on bass. ‘Saints Of Sin’ will open most of the UK shows.

There will be a full news update after the tour when I have time to go through everything!

Original Band Headline Christmas Pudding

Original Alice Cooper Band to headline pudding show

Solid Rock have announced that the original Alice Cooper band – Alice, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce – will headline this years Christmas Pudding show on December 14th in Phoenix. The show will also feature Nita Strauss, Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Joe Bonamassa, and Extreme among others. In the press release, Alice commented “As always, Solid Rock is trying to put together a show with new and classic headliners. The uniqueness of this concert is that you’ll never see this caliber and variety of artists on the same stage again.”
Tickets for the show go on sale October 7th at 10am local time.

The ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ show at the weekend seems to have been a great success and there’s lots of clips and photos being posted to facebook. Probably the best place to go to see them is Dennis Dunaway’s own page where fans have posted tons of images from the show. The setlist mostly included obvious Cooper tracks as well as ‘Black Juju’ and ‘I Miss You’. Original B$B guitarist Mike Marconi joined the band for ‘Under My Wheels’, ‘I Miss You’ and ‘I’m Eighteen’.

On October 30th Alice, along with Jack White (Raconteurs) and others, will be taking part in ‘Devil’s Night‘ at the Shinola Hotel in Detroit raising funds for the ‘Kirk Gobson Foundation for Parkinsons’. There will be various events including a Q&A and a silent auction which includes the chance to play table tennis with Alice! This is a ‘high roller’ event with $350 tickets on sale now.

PRP and Hard Four Productions have posted a 30 second teaser trailer for ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ to Vimeo, and list a full release date as October 26th 2019. The short clip shows Calico Cooper and Dennis Dunaway in a castle accompanied by a short clip of the song. The film will also be shown at the ‘Spooky Empire Horror Film Festival‘ in Tampa, FL between October 31st and November 3rd, and as previously announced Alice will also be at this event.
‘Cold Cold Coffin’ will officially launch at the Chiller Theatre Expo in Parsippany, New Jersey on October 25th – 27th.

NOTE: This will likely be the last news update until after the UK shows as I won’t be home.

Astroturf London Guests Announced

It has been confirmed that Dennis and Cindy Dunaway are flying to London to attend the screenings of ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ and ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ at the Castle Cinema on October 9th. They will be joined on the ‘pink carpet’ by current Alice Cooper band guitarist Ryan Roxie (after his guitar clinic earlier in the evening), Astroturf mastermind Chris Penn and ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ director Brian Cichoki. The Q&A will be moderated by NME and Kerang! writer Ian Fortnam.
There are still a few advance tickets available for both film showings which you can buy directly from Castle Cinema. This promises to be a memerable night so don’t miss out!
The films will also be showing in Hollywood on October 14th which will feature an ‘aftershow party’ at the Viper Room. The Hollywood Q&A will feature Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Cindy Dunaway, and Chris Penn. You can get tickets for this one here.

A reminder that Dennis, Michael Bruce and Neal Smith and special guest Mike Marconi, four fifths of the original Billion Dollar Babies ‘Battle Axe’ band, will be performing this Saturday (28th September) at the ‘Fore N Aft Benefit’ at Ives Concert Park in Danbury, CT. You can still get last minute tickets here. The band are due on stage at 8PM.

1883 Magazine have a new interview with Beasto Blanco/Cold Cold Coffin star Calico Cooper which you can read here.

‘Heavy 1 TV’ have a new interview with Nita Strauss during which she reveals she is already working on a second solo album for release late next year! You can watch the interview on YouTube.

More New Alice Cooper

Ex-Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell has released a lyric video for ‘Swing It’ from his forthcoming solo album ‘Old Lions Still Roar’ which is out October 25th via Nuclear Blast. The song features vocals from Alice Cooper, and you can watch it below. The album also features appearances from Dee Snider, Mick Mars, Rob Halford and Joe Satriani

Flaunt.com have a new interview with Calico Cooper AND a new video from Beasto Blanco. The video is for ‘Solitary Rave’ which is taken from the bands latest album “We Are”.

Michael Bruce, Dennis and Cindy Dunaway and Chris Penn will all be in Los Angeles on October 14th for another screening of the ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ and ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ films. It’s happening at the W Hotel Hollywood, 6250 Hollywood Boulevard, CA (across from Pantages Theater) and tickets are available here.

Sadly we’ve lost two more music legends this week. Firstly Eddie Money, most famous for the hit “Two Tickets To Paradise’, and who toured with Alice back in 1978. Alice Cooper posted the following:

“I first met Eddie when we did some shows together early in his career, and we’ve crossed paths many more times along the way,” he shared with Billboard. “He kept having huge hits, which was no surprise because he seemed to have a voice that was made for the radio. But of the things I can most relate to about Eddie is that like myself, Eddie had his struggles with addiction and he found his way out of it with the help of his family. Another thing about his family is that Eddie brought them all on the road with him. They all performed on stage with him in his band, and that’s the way my family works as well, we have that in common. Eddie Money is and always will be an American icon of Rock N Roll, and I love playing his music on my radio show every night. My condolences to his family and fans around the world.”

Secondly a few days ago saw the passing of The Cars’ Ric Ocasek and again here is Alice’s comment:

“We have lost another great in Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Famer Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Ric and I actually used to be neighbors for a time when we lived in the Hollywood Hills. Ric had a very unique voice for rock ‘n’ roll, there was just nothing complicated about it and that really gave The Cars an edge on the radio. They spearheaded a simplistic new wave of minimalist rock alongside producer Roy Thomas Baker, much to the delight of car stereos and fans everywhere. Condolences to his family and many fans. We’ll miss ya man.”

Alice will be the featured guest at ‘NAIOP Arizona’s Signature Speaker Series’. The event is scheduled for Thursday, October 24th at the Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe. Registration begins at 3 p.m. The event, ‘Alice Cooper “Unplugged’, a conversation moderated by Valley celebrity Mark Cordes, begins at 4:30 p.m. A networking reception begins at 5:30 p.m.

According to this press release Alice provides a voice during the new season (5) of Nickelodeon’s ‘Bubble Guppies’ which begins airing on September 27th in the USA. No information as to which specific episode he is in yet.

Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company and Free), Joe Bonamassa, and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford are the first names announced for this years Christmas Pudding show on December 14th. Tickets are expected to be on sale shortly.

MMH Radio have an article on the ’10 Underrated Alice Cooper Tracks’ which you can check out here. It includes some interesting deep cuts.

‘Live From The Astroturf’ London Event

‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ will receive its UK premiere at the Castle Cinema (First floor, 64-66 Brooksby’s Walk
Hackney, London E9 6DA) on October 9th. Dennis Dunaway’s short film ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ will also be shown. There are showings at 9.15pm and 10.45pm, and tickets are available now from Castle Cinema.

Below you can watch the new ‘official visualizer’ video for Wednesday 13 ‘Necrophaze’ which features a guest appearance by Alice. The song is the title track of Wednesday 13’s new album which is due September 27th.

Breadcrumbs EP Out Today

The new Alice Cooper 6 track EP is released today, with pre-orders actually starting to arrive yesterday in some areas. To mark the release a new lyric video has been released for lead track ‘Detroit City 2020’ which you can watch below. Billboard have a short article about the release as well.

The ‘Lost Angels’ shows with Ryan Roxie and Eric Dover are now being confirmed with only one left to be announced. The dates are as follows:
October 16th – Chinnerys, Southend on Sea
October 17th – Yardbirds, Grimsby
October 18th – Nightrain, Bradford
October 19th – La Belle Angele, Edinburgh
October 20th – Cathouse, Glasgow
October 21st – Robin 2, Wolverhampton
October 22nd – Backstage @ The Green Hotel, Kinross
October 23rd – Layton Club, Blackpool
October 24th – Zik-Zakk, Ittre, BELGIUM
October 25th – TBC
October 26th – Waterfront, Norwich
Tickets are available now from Ents24 but there are also VIP meet and greet packages available for £55 from https://lostangelsvip.blogspot.com. Numbers for these are obviously limited so get in quick!
The full line up for these shows is Ryan and Eric on guitar/vocals, Troy Patrick Farrell (White Lion/Gilby Clarke Band) on drums and EJ Curse (Gilby Clarke Band/Silent Rage) on bass. ‘Saints Of Sin’ will open most of the UK shows.

Ryan Roxie’s guitar clinic on October 9th now has an mail address for you to reserve your place and ensure you get in. You can email info@sixtysixtysounds.com and ask to be put on the list. Be aware that this event seems likely to clash with the ‘Live From The Astroturf’ film event, so it’s unlikely fans can be at both.

lost angels dates

European Tour

Dee Snider joins Alice Cooper on stage and other news this week.

The European ‘Ol’ Black Eyes Is Back’ tour began last week in Switzerland with no changes to the setlist. The opening show did feature a surprise appearance by Dee Snider on ‘School’s Out’, during which the band went into Twisted Sister’s ‘We Not Gonna Take It’ for a few bars much to the surprise of Dee it seems! You can check out video of it here.

Alice was on French TV last week appearing on a show called ‘Quotidien avec Yann Barthès’ and you can watch this on their site. It’s dubbed in French but you can just about hear Alice speaking underneath.

Going by a post to social media Alice will be premiering a track, possibly ‘Detroit City 2020’, on Monday’s ‘Nights With Alice Cooper’. The song is from the new ‘Breadcrumbs EP’ which is out next week on vinyl and download. For collectors there is a (French?) three song promo CD around which features ‘Detroit City’, ‘East Side Story’ and ‘Devil In A Blue Dress/Chains Of Love’.
UPDATE: Check out ‘East Side Story’ from ‘Breadcrumbs’ below.

Chris Penn has posted to Facebook to wan UK fans to ‘Save The Date’ of October 9th, suggesting the announcement of a London showing for ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper!’. This is the day off between the Brighton and London shows, but also the day Ryan Roxie has a solo appearance, so hopefully the timings will work out!! More details once they are announced.

Before leaving the US Ryan and Tommy stopped by News Center Maine for a chat. The first clip is an interview with them, and the second clip is a fun guitar lesson by Ryan.

Dennis Dunaway has a new song on the forthcoming album by country singer Mary Lamont. The song is called ‘What Was Right For You Left Nuthin’ For Me’ and will feature on Mary’s new album ‘Not Far From Here’ which is due September 13th. Dennis doesn’t play on the album, but the connection is that before she was a country star Mary Lamont worked for Alice Cooper at Alive Enterprises, their management company.

In a few days it will be the 50th anniversary of the legendary ‘Chicken Incident’ at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival. Global News has an article about the event, and while it only mentions Alice Cooper in passing I thought the background info they have on John Lennon’s appearance was worth reading as I don’t think I’ve seen it before.

Spooky Empire

It’s been a bit quiet this last week in the space between US and European shows but here’s a few things worth mentioning.

Alice will be a guest at the Spooky Empire event at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, FL on November 1st and 2nd. Other guests include Cassandra Peterson (Elvira), Mia Farrow, Clive Barker, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Ted Raimi among others.Tickets are on sale now

Alice will also feature on the new AXS-TV (US) series of ‘The Big Interview’ with Dan Rather. The new season kicks off on October 1st at 8PM ET/5PM PT with AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, and the Alice Cooper episode is scheduled to air on October 29th.

Road Dog Music Group have posted a new interview with Michael Bruce which you can watch on YouTube.

Arenan in Finland have an interview with Neal Smith and while most of it is in Swedish Neal’s comments are in English. This one is available for the next month only.
UPDATE: Here’s even more on Neal in Finland including video

The New Zealand Herald has a short interview with Alice promoting the recently announced New Zealand shows.

Steve Hunter’s amazing solo on ‘I Am Made Of You’ from ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ made #29 on the Planet Rock “40 Greatest Guitar Solos” listener poll!

It appears that ‘Lost Angels’, a band featuring Ryan Roxie and Eric Dover (‘Eyes Of Alice Cooper’ etc), are playing some shows in the UK in October between Alice Cooper tours. An advert was posted a few times on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, but so far it seems no actual dates or venues have been properly announced! A bit of searching turned up a list of shows on Ents24, but many venue sites or their Facebook pages show no sign of the shows, so it’s hard to know exactly what is going on and if they are happening. There’s also a gap in the schedule on Ents24 suggesting there may be more shows to come (London?). ‘Lost Angels’ last played the UK some years ago, including a great show at the Camden Underworld, playing a set of covers including the odd Alice song of course.

Two More US Dates

Two more shows have been added to the November US tour. They are:
November 22nd – Tilles Center For The Performing Arts, Brookville, NY
November 23rd – Ocean Resort Casino Ovation Hall, Atlantic City, NJ
Tickets for both go on sale this Friday.

There’s another article on the ‘…Astroturf’ New York event over at My Global Mind with some great photos. There’s also a piece at NJArts if you haven’t already seen it.

Alice turns up in yet another music documentary due out soon. This one is Jon Brewer’s ‘Chuck Berry’ and you can see the trailer, with Alice, on YouTube.

Hollywood Soapbox has a review of the recent Holmdel show under the title “As a live act, Alice Cooper has no comparison”, as if there was any doubt. Glide Magazine has a ton of photos from the Camden show.

Big Apple Dreaming

The New York ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ event on Wednesday appears to have been a huge success. As well as seeing the movie and Dennis Dunaway’s ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ film the sold out audience were also treated to a short live performance by the Snake Charmers (Dennis, drummer Russ Wilson, guitarist Nick Didkovsky and Tish and Snooky) which featured ‘Feed My Frankenstein'(Beasto version) with Chuck Garric and Calico Cooper, ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ with Chuck on bass and Dennis singing while Calico danced, a storming ‘Black Juju’ with Ryan Roxie on guitar, and a final ‘I’m Eighteen’ with everyone joining in.
Luckily all four songs were filmed and you can check them out courtesy of Otom Izot on YouTube. NJArts has a review of the evening and there are also lots of photos from the night all over facebook.

Thursday night on tour saw a mini-stage invasion in New Jersey when the band were joined by Halestorm and Chris Motionless (from opener Motionless In White) for ‘School’s Out’. With so many guitars on stage Tommy didn’t even bother to play and instead just sang and threw out picks. Check out this video to see how much fun they’re having this year!

Alice turned up briefly on Australia’s ‘Today’ show promoting the new Australian dates and you can watch that here.

Nita Strauss has announced three guitar clinics next month during the European tour. The dates are:
September 4th – Prima Cordes, Bordeaux
September 6th – Leturagia, Madrid
September 25th – DLX Music, Stockholm
Contact the venues directly for more info on tickets etc.

Solid Rock have announced that this years Christmas Pudding show, the 18th, will take place on December 14th at the Celebrity Theater in Phoneix as usual. Guest will be announced later in the year. They have also announced the date of next years Alice Cooper Golf Tournament which will take place on April 25th 2020. Again no further details this far ahead but keep an eye on the Solid Rock site for updates.