#RyanRoxie – SickthingsUK

New Interviews

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.

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:

I’m Alice
Welcome To The Show
All Over The World
Dead Don’t Dance
Go Away
White Line Frankenstein
Big Boots
Rules Of The Road
The Big Goodbye
Road Rats Forever
Baby Please Don’t Go
100 More Miles
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.

Nita Strauss Album Details and Ryan Roxie Events

Nita Strauss Album Details and other news.

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.

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.

Hollywood Vampires Release My Generation Clip

The Hollywood Vampires have released a new live video of ‘My Generation’

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.

New Nita Strauss Single Features Alice Cooper

Nita Strauss releases new single featuring Alice Cooper

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.

Hollywood Vampires Release Rio Show

he Hollywood Vampires will release their 2015 ‘Rock In Rio’ show on CD, vinyl and blu-ray on June 2nd.

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.

Alice for Power Of Love Benefit

Alice Cooper, Sammy Hagar and Kevin Cronin are among the stars to take part in the 26th annual "Power Of Love" gala in Vegas

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.

Ryan Roxie Launches Weekly Radio Show

Ryan Roxie of the Alice Cooper Band launches new weekly radio show.

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

Vampires Play Hellfest and Roxie Plays Athens

The Hollywood Vampires play Hellfest in France, while Ryan Roxie plays special solo show in Athens.

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!