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
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
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.
Alice Cooper has been announced as the headliner of the ‘Monsters Of Rock Cruise: Operation Monster Beach’
Alice Cooper has been announced as the headliner of the ‘Monsters Of Rock Cruise: Operation Monster Beach’ which is set to take place between May 26th and 31st 2021 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Other bands scheduled to play include Winger, Beasto Blanco, John Corabi, Electric Boys and LA Guns among many others. Tickets for the shows go on sale on December 1st at 2pm eastern time. It’s safe to assume that this is all subject to the pandemic situation in May, and how safe you think it will be by then! For full info on the event check out monstersofrockcruise.com.
The early 70s movie ‘Diary Of A Mad Housewife’, which featured an early film appearance by the Alice Cooper band, is due to be officially released on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 15th. While there have been unofficial releases in the past (apparently taken from an old VHS copies) this seems to be the first proper release on DVD and Blu-Ray. It comes with a audio commentary track.
Ultimate Classic Rock has a short chat with Calico Cooper about the period of time she joined the ‘Brutal Planet’ show in 2000.
‘Rock Meets Classic’ have released footage of Alice and Tommy Henriksen performing ‘Bed Of Nails’ back in March, before the tour collapsed due to the pandemic.
Ryan Roxie was on ‘TalkCulture’ earlier today and you can watch the hour long show on YouTube.
Beasto Blanco postpone shows, while Alice confirms he’s finishing new album.
I didn’t think there was very much to report this week thanks to the current Coronavirus situation, but I seem to have found a fair amount including a few links to entertain you while we get through this mess.
Sadly Beasto Blanco have had to postpone the last few dates on their current tour. They hope to reschedule the dates later in the year.
Alice sent an email to Rolling Stone in which he confirmed he will be spending the enforced time off caused by the postponed shows to finish off the new Alice Cooper album. No more details yet of course, and just because it’s nearly finished doesn’t mean they will change any planned release schedule and put it out any earlier, but it’s good to know it’s getting closer. Read the full article here.
Blue Coupe have posted professionally filmed footage of their full Sweden Rock show from last year with guest Ryan Roxie. It’s great and you can watch here.
If you’re looking for something to kill a couple of hours Ryan Roxie has been busy making podcasts. In the first he sits down with bandmate Tommy Henriksen for an interesting chat about Tommy’s career including lots of AC info, and in the latest (today) he interviews Billy Idol/Atomic Playboys guitarist Steve Stevens. The Tommy podcast is already up on Roxie’s YouTube channel and the Steve Stevens one should be there soon as well.
Nita Strauss has been chatting to Kerrang! about working for Alice, and her solo career, which you can read here.
Nita is also taking part in a cool new project put together by Dave Ellefson of Megadeth, called ‘School’s Out!‘. The idea is to help entertain youngsters during the virus crisis by offering "free music lessons and one-on-one mentoring sessions via Skype from major artists to students stuck at home due to COVID-19 restrictions." It’s free, and students aged 18 and under can sign up to get a call. The list of artists also includes former Alice Cooper drummer Jimmy DeGrasso along with various other Megadeth related musicians and friends. Nice one Dave!
There’s a short interview with Dennis and Cindy Dunaway at the Manchester, UK ‘Astroturf’ showing last week. I couldn’t be there but it seems to have been a great success.
The Fire Fight Australia charity show has spawned a double album featuring performances from the concert. It’s out now, and features Alice and the band performing ‘School’s Out’ at the show.
The multitalented Eric Dover (‘Eyes Of Alice Cooper’ etc) has a new band called ‘The Lickerish Quartet’ which sees him hooking up again with a couple of his pre-Alice bandmates from Jellyfish. Their debut EP is out on May 15th and is called ‘Threesome Vol. 1’. They’ve also released a video for the lead track called ‘Lighthouse Spaceship’ which is pretty awesome and you can check it out in this article about the band from PopMatters.
Kerrang! magazine have an article ranking every Alice Cooper album from worst to best. Their order is a little odd to say the least but you can check it out here.
Go Tech Daily have a longish article about the ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ album, however it’s obviously been google translated or something, as you get classic statements like "Bob had labored with us on every single album from ‘Adore It To Demise’ to ‘Billion Greenback Infants’" I must have missed those albums! Maybe worth a read just for a laugh.
Lastly for now the ‘Alice Cooper Solid Rock Teen Center’ is to broadcast a series of concerts on Facebook between March 23rd and 27th featuring different performers each day from the teen center, and "some other surprises". You never know who might show up at some point! Check it out via facebook.
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.
Alice will be a guest at the BottleRock festival in Napa Valley, CA which runs between May 24th and 26th. However he won’t be performing at the festival… rather, it appears he will be a guest on the ‘Culinary Stage’ which seems to be a bunch of chef’s and celebrities cooking while people watch… Limited tickets are available now.
Calico Cooper posted a message on facebook reporting that her stage baseball bat, ‘Suzanne’ was stolen at the Denver Beasto Blanco show on April 23rd. Here’s the full message. If you can help let her know.
Dear Denver- We have a thief among us. Last night my bat was stolen from the show. We have a pretty good idea of the guy who took it, but we want to give them the chance to do the right thing before we take further action. My bat “Suzanne” has been with Beasto since we started. It’s been the same Bat in all the videos, stage shows, and photos. It means a lot to me. We all Make mistakes. We all drink a little too much and make a bad call, but here’s your chance to make it right before it gets worse. Please return the bat, no questions asked by us, to MUDHEN MERCH, 7190 W Sunset Blvd. #1093, Los Angeles, CA. 90046. To the rest of the fans that came last night, thank you for an amazing show, for being a spectacular crowd, and if you see you know who with Suzanne, do what you need to do.
The new issue of Goldmine Magazine has a 6 page feature on Alice Cooper including interviews with Neal, Michael and Dennis separately answering the same questions including their thoughts on the original band split, the early days and the recent get togethers. It’s a good feature and worth checking out. It’s the June issue you want with ‘The Zombies’ on the cover (with Alice Cooper listed a the bottom).
Glen Sobel and the Goon Squad (Glen, Chuck, Tommy and Ryan) will play a ‘pre-show’ at Sub Alpine Club in Turtle Creek, PA on July 18th (the night before the Pittsburgh show). Tickets are on sale now from “Sub Alpine Club, Attic Records, Dave’s Music Mine, Record Connection (Niles, OH), Anthony Lamonde and the Borstal Boys and Lily V. Sixx” or by phone on 330-219-0016. ‘The Borstal Boys’ open and you can see the flyer below.
Dennis Dunaway will be a guest at the ‘School of Rock’ event at Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY (Nr. Woodstock) on July 3rd. Dennis will be speaking and sitting in with the young musicians during an Alice Cooper set. This looks like it’s a private event. Also, if you’re going to the Foxwoods Alice Cooper show on July 4th you might want to keep your eyes open for Dennis and Cindy!
When Blue Coupe play Sweden Rock on June 8th they will have a special guest sitting in… Ryan Roxie!
Geeks Of Doom have posted an article about Alice’s recent appearance at the Philly Comic-com with a few photos, and speaking of the recent comic convention appearances ‘Lucifer’ star Tom Ellis posted the photos of himself with Alice at FanX, stating “So it turns out @alicecooper is not only a lovely man he’s also a big #lucifan I am beyond happy.” There is also an article about the FanX appearance at the HeraldExtra, but they won’t let you read it if you live in Europe..
Good to their word EarMusic have release details of the new Hollywood Vampires album ‘Rise’ which will be released on June 21st. The video for the first single can be seen below, with the full album press release undeneath.
The Hollywood Vampires – return with new music from their explosive second album, “Rise.” Rock and roll royalty Joe Perry, Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp and shock rock icon Alice Cooper join forces once again for the unmissable rock album of 2019.
Seconds into the opening track “I Want My Now,” it’s clear this supergroup has created something special – the chemistry between the individuals is unmistakable when they come together on stage or in the recording studio. Forget the star-studded lineup’s individual reputations, “Rise” is some of the purest, unapologetic and most enjoyable rock and roll of the year, made by masters of the craft and true fans of the form.
Unlike their 2015 debut record, the new album “Rise” consists mainly of original material, written by the band. There are however, in the spirit of the Vampires’ original mission, three covers of songs originally written and recorded by some fellow rockers who died far too young: an intimate and intense version of David Bowie’s “Heroes”, beautifully performed by Johnny Depp; the late Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died,” and Johnny Thunder’s “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory,” sung by Joe Perry. Raucous rock anthems like “The Boogieman Surprise” and “Who’s Laughing Now” (the first single from the new album), capture the natural, raw, celebratory attitude of Hollywood Vampires displayed in their rowdy shows around the world. But the album shows off their range as well with tracks like “We Gotta Rise” – a tongue-in-cheek politics song in the the tradition of Alice’s “Elected” – to the psychedelic gothic epic of “Mr. Spider.”
“‘Rise’ is not only a totally different animal than the first Vampires album, it is unique to anything I’ve ever been a part of. I approached it very differently than I usually do when working on an album. Each of us; Joe, Johnny, Tommy and myself have written songs on this album. What is different though is that I didn’t try to change any songs to be more “Alice-like.” Because each of us has different influences, the sound of this album is very cool. I think that with this album, we are establishing what the Vampires’ sound really is, whereas with the first album we were more tipping our hats to our fallen rock n roll brothers.” – Alice Cooper
“’Rise’ came from pure creative energy, which is just like playing live with the Vampires. The record showcases everyone doing what they do best without anyone looking over our shoulders. There was no pressure or deadlines, allowing us to write and record an album that is one of the freest and most honest sounding records I’ve been part of. I can’t wait to perform some of these tunes live for our fans.” – Joe Perry
earMUSIC, the global independent rock label of Edel Germany GmbH, is proud to announce the worldwide signing of Hollywood Vampires. Following the release of Alice Cooper’s 2017 studio album “Paranormal” on earMUSIC, his best chart-performing work in decades, the label is proud to welcome the band to their family.
Produced by Tommy Henriksen and the Hollywood Vampires, “Rise” will be released on June 21st, 2019 on earMUSIC as CD Digipak, 2LP+Download (various color vinyl) and Digital.
TRACK LIST
I Want My Now
Good People Are Hard To Find
Who’s Laughing Now
How The Glass Fell
The Boogieman Surprise
Welcome To Bushwackers (feat. Jeff Beck & John Waters)
It’s only February but Alice is already being booked for 2020! He and Tommy Henriksen will be performing as part of the ‘Rock Meets Classic’ show which will happen March 2020 in Germany. Also on the bill are Joyce “Baby Jean” Kennedy of Mother’s Finest and Danny Bowes and Luke Morley of Thunder with two more acts to be announced. The dates are as follows and tickets appears to be on sale now: March 3rd – Dreilanderhalle, Passau March 5th – BigBOX Allgau, Kempten March 6th – Hallenstadion, Zurich March 7th – Arena Nurnberger, Nurnberg March 8th – Olympiahalle, Munich March 10th – Tempodrom, Berlin March 11th – Brose Arena, Bamberg March 13th – S. Oliver Arena, Wurzburg March 14th – Jahrhunderhalle, Frankfurt March 15th – Donau-Arena, Regensburg March 17h – Ratiopharm Arena, Neu-Ulm March 19th – MHPArena, Ludwigsburg March 20th – Messe Halle 1, Dresden
