Alice Hits The Road

Alice Cooper hits the ‘Road’ with new album

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.

Too Close For Comfort

The Too Close For Comfort Tour Begins

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.

UK Tour and Catch Up

UK Tour Reviews, New show date and more

With the UK dates now behind us there have been quite a few show reviews to mention, some of which have some really great photos. Check out:

WalesOnline meanwhile catches Alice out on the golf course, while the Daily Mail is more interested in reporting that Alice was seen out shopping in Swansea…

An additional US show show has been announced for October 7th at the Taamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland, CA. Tickets are on sale now.

‘Trash’ co-writer/producer Desmond Child is planning a special show on June 27th at the ‘Odeon of Herodes Atticus’ in the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, and among the promised guests is Alice Cooper, who will perform ‘Poison’ and ‘Bed of Nails’, and Kip Winger. Tickets are on sale now.

Alice shows up in the new issue of ‘Fireworks‘ magazine in the UK which should be on newsstands now.

Blue Coupe have added a show at the Biltmore Theatre in Oshawa, Ontario for July 28th. Tickets are on sale now. Dennis was also a guest on the ‘Bill Kelly Show’ talking about the 50th Anniversary of ‘School’s Out this month and you can listen to that here.

Martin Popoff has two new Alice Cooper books on the way via Wymer Publishing. The first, entitled ‘Easy Action: The Original Alice Cooper Band’, obviously concentrates of the band years, while ‘Feed My Frankenstein: Alice Cooper, the Solo Years’ covers the years since 1975. Both books are due September 9th and available to pre-order now. How these books relate or repeat Martins previous Alice Cooper book ‘Welcome To My Nightmare. Fifty Years Of Alice Cooper’ isn’t clear, as it kinda sounds like he’s split the previous book in half to make two books.Time will tell how they differ. In the meantime you can currently get that first book direct from Wymer for just £12.50 which is a pretty good deal.

Steve and Karen Hunter have released a new track called ‘Sweet Love Of Mine’ which you can check out here. Steve was recently interviewed by American Blues Scene which you can read here.

And thanks to eagle-eyed Johnart69 for letting me know Alice Cooper is mentioned in the first issue of ‘Batman: Fortress‘ which is out now. While on a school bus the Joker sings ‘School’s Out forever!’ and is rather distressed when the kids on the bus don’t get the reference! "Really? No Alice Cooper fans? What are they teaching you kids these days?" We’ve all wondered that on occasion!

Back In The UK

News from the UK Tour and other happenings

Back from the UK tour for a bit. It’s a sadly shortened setlist for these shows due to The Cult being co-headliners, so only around 75 minutes or so a night. Chuck missed the opening show in Swansea so Hollywood Vampire bassist Chris Wyse stepped in at short notice to help out. Chuck was back in London though, and Chris joined in on ‘School’s Out’ as well. The show is as expected, with the ‘Nightmare Castle’ set again. ‘Shut Up And Rock’ has been added to the list as well.
If you’re going to any of the UK shows yet to happen try and get there early enough to catch Creeper. We were all very impressed by their entertaining and energetic performances, just a shame their stage time is so short.

Other news to catch up on:

There’s been a couple of show reviews so far from Swansea by The Guardian and Metal Planet.

As mentioned previously the ‘Live From The Astroturf’ movie will finally be seeing a general release on August 26th on CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and four more coloured vinyl – just when you thought they had run out of colours! This time it’s "Curacoa" (whatever colour that is) in Europe, Glow In The Dark (US/Germany), Apricot (Worldwide) and Gold (another Good Records Dallas exclusive with a print and trading card). Each vinyl comes with a DVD while the CD comes with the Blue-Ray. All versions have the bonus of an instrumental ‘Desperado’ recorded during rehearsals which wasn’t in the previous releases.

Good Records are also holding an album launch party on August 27th with a screening of the film and chat with various people behind the project (but not any of the band it seems unless it’s a surprise) followed by local band The Mumbles performing ‘Love It To Death’ in it’s entirety. The evening will close with other Dallas musicians playing a selection of Cooper classics. Tickets are available here.

Ryan Roxie is again offering his "All Excess Pass’ which offers various merchandise and access to a private instagram channel with special backstage videos and message, live guitar lessons and all sorts of other bonuses. Get all the info here. You can also check out a new Roxie interview from Boomerocity.

Super7 are releasing a new Alice Cooper "ReAction" figure which comes with a microphone, a snake and a billion dollar bill. Must admit personally I don’t think this one is that great (and I normally love this sort of thing) but decide for yourself.

And lastly for now, US TV channel ‘Reelz‘ will be showing ‘Alice Cooper: Story of the Songs’ on June 19th with Alice talking about ‘School’s Out’, Welcome To My Nightmare’ and ‘Poison’.

Happy New Year

Catching up on Xmas News

The Xmas break has been pretty quiet in Cooperland but there are a few things to catch up on which you may have missed.

The annual ‘Alice Cooper’s Christmas Pudding’ show went ahead this year without a hitch and raised around $660,000 for the charity. Much of that total came from the auction of a mosaic made from guitar picks that pulled in a cool £120,000 on it’s own. Orianthi stepped in for Nita in the Alice band as the latter was still out on her own tour. AZCentral has a review and photos of the event.

Alice was interviewed in Forbes magazine talking about the time in the 70s when the band were on the Forbes cover in 1973 and being back on the road.

Nita Strauss has released a 10 minute mid-tour recap video with short clips of the various guests she had join her including Alice. You can watch it on YouTube or below.
Nita’s next show in Baton Rouge on Friday has had to be postponed due to a Covid issue at the venue (not connected to Nita or the band). They are looking for a suitable replacement venue, so if you were going to this show keep an eye on Nita’s social media. The rest of the tour should be unaffected.

Sunset Sound Recorders posted a good video interview with Glen Sobel just before Xmas with Glen discussing his career including Alice Cooper and the Hollywood Vampires.

More European Shows Added

Alice Cooper announced more European Shows

AC.com has now listed more shows in mainland Europe for next year. The full list of shows now runs:

4th June – Atlas Rock, Gävle, SE
6th June – KB Hallen, Copenhagen, DK
7th June – Spektrum, Oslo, NO
13th June – Compensa Hall, Vilnius, LT

15th June – Charlotta Festival, Dolina Charlotty, PL
17th June – Stadhalle, Zwickau, DE
18th June – Rock The Ring, Hinwil, CH
21st June – Mitsubishi Halle, Dusseldorf, DE
22nd June – Jahrunderthalle, Frankfurt, DE
24th June – Hellfest, Clisson, FR
25th June – Retro C Trop, Tilloloy, FR
28th June – Stadhalle, Vienna, AT
29th June – Summer Festival, Milan, IT

UK Tour Announced

Alice Cooper announced UK 2022 Tour

Alice Cooper and The Cult have announced co-headline UK arena tour for May/June 2022. The dates are as follows:
May 23rd 2022 – Swansea Arena
May 25th 2022 – London The O2
May 27th 2022 – Manchester AO Arena
May 28th 2022 – Glasgow The SSE Hydro
May 30th 2022 – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
June 1st 2022 – Leeds First Direct Arena
Tickets go on sale on Friday September 17th with the usual presales before.

Also announced is an Itallian show in Milan for June 29th at the Ippodromo Snai San Siro as part of the Milano Summer Festival, and a show in Norway on June 7th at the Spektrum.

UPDATE: And now another show, this time the Legends of Rock festival in Strzelinko. Poland on June 15th with Michael Monroe

Live Band Meeting Saturday

Set aside whatever you were going to do this Saturday, February 27th (8PM UK/3PM EST), as the entire Alice Cooper Band invites you to sit in on their live-stream ‘Band Meeting’ as they catch up on what each of them have been up to, and quite possibly drop some ‘Easter eggs’ of what’s coming up in 2021. And by "entire" we mean Ryan, Tommy, Nita, Glen, Chuck AND Alice and Sheryl Cooper! This promises to be a real "one off" event and you can watch it free on YouTube.

Meanwhile reviews of ‘Detroit Stories’ are now turning up all over the place, so if you need to know what a journalist thinks check out: Charlotte Observer, First Post, Metal Hammer, Vinyl Chapters, Riff Magazine, Wall of Sound, and Ghost Cult to name a few.

There’s also new interviews at the Detroit News, and American Songwriter.

Alice Cooper Court

Detroit to have “Alice Cooper Court”

With just two weeks to go until ‘Detroit Stories’ things are starting to move. During an interview with Detroit station WCSX it was announced that Alice will be getting his own road somewhere in the city called "Alice Cooper Court’. Host Jim O’Brien announced the news as a special birthday present to Coop. The exact location is yet to be decided and they are running a competition to choose the right spot.

There’s a new Alice interview in Spin magazine, and AZCentral has a video of Alice confirming that he and Sheryl have now been vaccinated against the Covid virus, having contracted it themselves late last year. German magazine ‘Rocks‘ (which looks very much like a version of the UK’s ‘Classic Rock’) is another European mag to have Alice on their cover this month.

Variety has a short article about being sober in the music business and it has a few quotes from Alice.

Dennis Dunaway is the star of a new advert for RotoSound strings which should be appearing in musicians magazines any time now. You can see the advert below. DD is also interviewed by Max1on1 which is available via Facebook.

Dennis and Blue Coupe will also feature during the Valentine’s Day virtual tribute show to New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain who died last month age 69. Tickets for the livestream are on sale now here.

Ryan Roxie’s latest ‘In The Trenches’ guest was ex-Alice keyboardist Teddy Zig-Zag, and you can watch what happened here.

Nita Strauss is featured on the January cover of ‘Recovery Today‘ magazine, a "Addiction, Sobriety and Recovery" magazine.

Glen Sobel is interviewed by North Wales Drum Productions which you can watch on Facebook.

Lastly there is a new movie due out on digital platforms in a couple of days called "School’s Out Forever". It’s a comedy horror film which looks amusing, and while the trailer doesn’t feature the song there can be little doubt where they got the title from, so surely it will play at some point?

Social Debris

Alice Cooper posts new track ‘Social Debris’

This morning Alice marked his birthday with the third “single” from ‘Detroit Stories’ which appeared on the official Alice Cooper YouTube account. Written by Alice, Bob Ezrin and Neal Smith, and with an obvious tip of the hat to ‘Elected’, it features original Cooper band members Neal, Dennis Dunaway and Michael Bruce on drums, bass and guitar respectively. ‘Detroit Stories’ is due February 26th, although I’ve heard reports that Amazon in the USA is notifying people who pre-ordered that the special edition box set has been delayed by a week.
UPDATE: You can officially download the song for free here.

In a new interview this week with EW it’s revealed both Alice and Sheryl Cooper were diagnosed with COVID-19 in late 2020 but that both made a full recovery: “We had it at the same time, which was great, because we could commiserate.”

Alice turned up on a new ‘advert’ for Uber Eats, the food delivery. Alice appears twice in the two and a half hour(!) video which features Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, as Wayne and Garth from ‘Waynes World’, watching a list of all the Uber Eats restaurants scroll past on screen, and occasionally doing something amusing. You kinda need to see it to understand, which you can do on Youtube here. This link should take you to Alice’s first appearance, with him turning up again around the 2.20 mark near the end.

Other new interviews have been appearing in the European music press. Alice features on the front covers of ‘Hard Rock’ in both Italy and France (presumably translations of the same article) and ‘Rock and Folk‘ in France. There’s also an article in the new issue of ‘Uncut‘ in the UK.

‘Talkulture interviews drummer Glen Sobel for an hour or so which you can see on YouTube.

Dash Cooper and CO-OP have a new single out. It’s called ‘Lie To Me’ and can be found here, and apparently features a guest appearance from Tommy Henriksen.