Alice Cooper will be taking part in ‘Rock The Plaza‘, a benefit show to save the historic Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs which will take place on November 11th. The show will also feature ex-Alice guitarist Orianthi, Paul Rodgers (Free, Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age), Matt Sorum (Hollywood Vampires) and others. As a benefit show the tickets for this aren’t cheap, starting from $175, but are available now.
WIVB4 have a report and quotes from the recent Buffalo University appearance by Alice and Shep Gordon. Unfortunately they don’t want anyone outside the US to see it so you’ll need a VPN or proxy to check it out.
Metal Rules review the first night of the current tour with some cool photos.
Louder Sound have a new article exploring the period around ‘From The Inside’ and Alice’s alcohol problems in the late 70s.
You can now see the second SiriusXM advert, ‘Scoop’, via YouTube, and if you missed it the first ad can be seen here.
Alice Cooper will appear at the ‘Rock In The City‘ festival in Kuopio, Finland on June 10th. Tickets appear to be on sale now. Also appearing on the same day are Uriah Heep, Lordi and Michael Monroe among others. UPDATE: This seems to have been changed to the 11th.
Alice will also be the subject of the next episode of ‘Frontman’ on the Reelz channel in the US which airs on Sunday at 9ET and 11PT.
You can watch Alice’s Q&A from last weeks ‘Monsters Of Rock’ Cruise over at Blabbermouth. The MOR show saw some differences to the normal tour shows, in that there was no castle stage set and it appears no guillotine either!
There’s a new interview with Alice from BBC Radio Scotland which you can check out on YouTube.
I haven’t seen many reviews from recent shows but Creative Loafing have covered the Clearwater show with some great photos.
Shep Gordon is the subject of the Gibson TV ‘Icon’ web show which you can watch here. There’s plenty of Cooper coverage.
Nita Strauss is on the bill for this years Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, CA on October 7th. Also playing are Kiss, Judas Priest and Lamb of God.
Alice has teamed up with the ‘Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.’ "to scour the nation and identify three talented American garage bands.” The three band finalists were asked to submit an original song, plus a cover of ‘Under My Wheels’ and you can check out their versions at the official site here. Alice also recorded a promo video for the event which is quite amusing. Not quite sure where they originally advertised this thing as this is the first we’re hearing of it and they are already down to the final three… There’s also an Alice-hosted free livestream performance from Evanescence on May 13th at which the winner of the competition will play an opening set.
The annual Detroit Music Awards named ‘Our Love Will Change The World’ as "best national single" and ‘best major budget video’ at last weeks ceremony, while ‘Rock’n’Roll’ was also nominated. Alice briefly appeared on the livestreamed show at around the 1.46 mark, after which Suzi Quatro announces ‘Rock’n’Roll’ as winning the ‘national single’ award! The awards website however confirms it was
‘Our Love Will Change The World’.
Alice will be a guest on ‘Liz Kershaw’s Legends In Their Own Lunchtime’ on BBC Radio 6Music on April 25th at 1PM. Afterwards you will be able to listen to it here.
There’s another new Alice Cooper book just out but this one is different. It’s a ‘Where’s Wally’ style book with cool Cooper themed colour illustrations for you to search out Uncle Alice. You can see illustrations here, and it is listed on AmazonUK but so far they don`t seem to have any available.
Dennis Dunaway and Blue Coupe were guests on ‘Talk Shop Live’ on the Rock’n’Roll Channel last Thursday and you can watch the hour long show now here.
Alice and Dennis Dunaway’s appearance on ‘Keith Roth’s Electric Ballroom’ has been postponed to Sunday April 25th at 8pm EST, and will be repeated May 2nd. You’ll find it here.
Ryan Roxie was a guest on the Envy Marshall Show which you can watch here.
Shep Gordon is in the Hawaii news again at KITV with a short interview and photos.
This week Alice has been doing quite a few interviews. He was on WNNX-FM which you can listen to here, the ‘Mistress Carrie Podcast’ which is here, and the ‘Neil Jones Rock Show’ on TotalRock which is here at around 1.03 mark. There’s also a new print interview at Grammy.com, and Alice picks his favourite 80s tracks for the BBC which you can find on YouTube.
Two new magazine covers to watch for in the UK are the new issues of ‘Viva Le Rock‘ and ‘Powerplay‘.
Dennis Dunaway was interviewed last week on the ‘Modern Problems Show’ which you can listen to here. Don’t forget you can ask Dennis your own questions by heading over the to forums!
KITV Island News have a story and photos of Shep Gordon and his young baby son Benjamin Robert Gordon.
Nita Strauss was interviewed on ‘The Sessions Panel’ which you can listen to here.
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.
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.
It’s been a pretty quiet couple of weeks in Cooperland but in the last couple of days things have started to happen again.
Firstly the official Alice Cooper social media has put out the following statement in regards to a insert included in some German copies of the new ‘Don’t Give Up’ single. It goes as follows:
"A special news flash for everyone…. It has come to our attention that the German-released “Don’t Give Up” on vinyl by Alice Cooper had an unauthorized inserted message. Neither Alice, his management, nor the record label had any knowledge that the German distributor inserted an anti-covid statement using offensive language into the new vinyl release. Alice apologizes if you were offended as this does not reflect the personal lifestyle nor verbal language of Mr. Cooper [End Transmission]"
Speaking of ‘Don’t Give Up’ the single is currently #1 on the official UK vinyl single chart!
Don’t forget Alice is due to appear on the Forbidden Planet 42 online event this Saturday. You should be able to watch it live here.
Alice has released a promotional video for the special chocolate milk bottles now on sale around the Arizona area. Danzeisen Dairy now have presumably empty bottles on sale via their website for those outside the area. $10 from each sale will go to Alice’s Solid Rock Teen Center.
He’s also been talking to AZCentral about the milk project and confirmed that the Christmas Pudding show will go ahead this year in some form, although it’s unlikely to be the normal live show. This years ‘Proof is in the Pudding’ young band competition has also been postponed until February.
Ryan Roxie’s guest on ‘In The Trenches’ this week was ex-Cooper guitarist Orianthi talking about her time with Alice. You can check that out here. Next up is Warrant and Dad’s Porno Mag drummer Mike Fasano.
Nita Strauss was at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday playing to an empty stadium during to mark L.A. Rams ‘first scrimmage’ at the new stadium. She played a bit of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ to become the first musician to ever play in the new complex. You can see footage Nita posted via Blabbermouth.
On August 20th Shep Gordon took part in a ‘Pollstar Live Session’ which you can watch now on YouTube.
Damon Johnson was on the ‘Talking Metal’ podcast talking about his solo career and working with Alice. You can listen to that one here.
The 2020 Hollywood Vampires tour now has rescheduled dates as listed below. Tickets for previously postponed shows should be valid for these new dates. In the UK it seems Killing Joke will be replacing Primal Scream as the opening act.
5th August 2021 – Birmingham Arena, Birmingham, UK (w/ Killing Joke)
6th August 2021 – First Direct Arena, Leeds, UK (w/ Killing Joke)
7th August 2021 – SSE Hydro, Glasgow, UK (w/ Killing Joke)
9th August 2021 – The 02, London, UK (w/ Killing Joke)
12th August 2021 – Charlotta, Charlotta Valley, PL
14th August 2021 – Summer In The City, Mainz, DE
15th August 2021 – Olympiahalle, Munich, DE
18th August 2021 – Citadel Music Festival, Belin, DE
22nd August 2021 – Emsland Open Air, Lingen, DE
23rd August 2021 – Olympia, Paris, FR
25th August 2021 – Stadtpark, Hamburg, DE
26th August 2021 – Konig-Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, DE
28th August 2021 – Riverside Open Air, Aarburg, CH
29th August 2021 – Clam Castle, Klam, AT
1st September 2021 – Armeets Arena, Sophia, BU
4th September 2021 – Lifepark Open Air, Istanbul, TR
In addition to these changes it appears the Alice Cooper shows in Thackerville, OK and Topeka, KS on October 30th and 31st respectively have now been cancelled according to the venue websites. Sadly it looks likely there will be more cancellations to come.
UPDATE: The Regina, Edmonton, Penticton, and Abbotsford shows are now also listed as cancelled on venue sites.
Ryan Roxie’s chat with legendary Elton John/Alice Cooper guitarist Davey Johnstone last night can now be seen on YouTube. If you missed the last few ‘In The Trenches’ broadcasts you can catch up at Roxie’s YouTube channel.
Shep Gordon will be taking part in a ‘Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp’ class on July 26th. As with Alice’s class this is is open just 25 people but is rather cheaper at $100 per person. Details here.
Something Else Reviews look back to the ‘Brutal Planet’ album here.
Dennis and Cindy Dunaway have confirmed they will be attending the Manchester, UK screening of ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ on Saturday March 14th at the ‘Odeon, Great Northern’ where it will be shown as part of the Manchester Film Festival. They will take part in a Q&A session after the film with autograph and photo oportunities. You can still get a ticket for just £6.75 here.
‘From The Inside’ and ‘Flush The Fashion’ period Alice Cooper guitarist Davey Johnstone made a surprise appearance at the Auckland, New Zealand show a couple of days ago, the first time Davey has appeared on stage with Alice for decades! He was apparently at a loose end after his long time boss, Elton John, canceled shows due to illness, so joined the band for ‘School’s Out’. You can currently see footage of the show here.
There have been a few more reviews from the recent shows including ‘The Music‘, ‘Scenestr‘ and ‘Stuff‘
Midweek has a new interview with Shep Gordon although there isn’t any Alice Cooper content.
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.
