Rolling Stone Q&A: Alice Cooper Plans Classic Rock Covers Album
Our master Alice Cooper chats with Rolling Stone about old friends, the upcoming tour with Marilyn Manson, drinking, and an upcoming covers album. Go on.. read all about it below!
Alice Cooper has always incorporated covers into his live show, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has never done an album of other’s people music. He plans to change that soon by recording an album of songs inspired by his legendary onetime drinking club, the Hollywood Vampires, a group that included John Lennon, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson and more.
Cooper himself has been sober for three decades. Thinking back to those early days of rock & roll excess he says, “It was another life.” But he remembers it well, reflecting here on trying to save Jim Morrison, his healthy rivalry with guys like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and David Bowie and his thoughts on young artists such as Justin Bieber. Cooper spoke with Rolling Stone at the John Varvatos charity event in West Hollywood last weekend.
You were just talking to Joe Perry earlier. I know you guys are old friends. We did some writing together back in the Eighties for a movie and it happened to be at [manager] Shep [Gordon]‘s house, which was one of the most haunted houses ever. And in the end, it’s not like the movies, where you hear stuff in the basement and you say, “Let’s go see what that is” – we both ran out of the house. We took off because it sounded like somebody moving furniture in the basement. And then Shep goes, “Oh, they wrote The Amityville Horror there.” I went, “Oh, thanks, that’s information I could’ve used before.”
You have dates coming up with Marilyn Manson. Have you toured together before? No. In fact, the very first time I met him was in Transylvania. It was the weirdest thing. We had jousted in the press before a little bit ,and we realized we were doing a show together in Transylvania, a big outdoor show, two miles from Dracula’s castle. He walked by the dressing room and I said, “Hey, come here.” We finally met face to face, and what we talked about was marriage, which was interesting. I’ve been married 37 years.
And after the tour you start the covers album? We do a thing in our show, which is a tribute to Hollywood Vampires, my drinking club. And it was Keith Moon, John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Micky Dolenz – a very eclectic bunch of drunks. Half of them are dead, so we do four songs in the show in tribute to them. We do “Break On Through,” “Revolution,” “My Generation” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxey Lady.” I just kind of said, “We’ve never done a covers album, let’s think about that.” So [Bob] Ezrin and I are kind of bouncing it around right now.
What are some of the wish-list songs? I would keep it right to about ’73, ’74. I don’t want to just go anywhere. I want to keep it right in that sort of drunk era, so it’s specific. I would say “Break On Through,” that’s a really good rock track there. The other ones, think of it – Harry Nilsson, there’s a lot of good stuff there that could be rocked out. I think of songs as being clay. Take a song like “Jump Into the Fire” and take that to a harder level, and that’ll work.
When will the album be out? I think it’ll be out next year. When the tour’s over in December then we’ll go right in the studio.
Can you look back on that time now with perspective? It was another life, honestly – a different life. Bernie Taupin and I are best friends, and Bernie was a vampire. He was a last-man-standing, good British drunk. And we sit and talk about it, both of us. I’ve been sober now 30 years, and I go, “It was another life.” But it was all artists, and that was the cool thing about it. It was all guys that were competing with each other in a really good way. I wanted to hear Bowie’s new album, I wanted to hear Iggy’s new album, I wanted to hear Lou Reed’s new album. To me, it was almost more of a theatrical movement than it was competition.
I had a conversation a couple of years ago with Nick Cave, and we were talking about people having to make their own mistakes. I feel sorry for young bands. They don’t have a chance to make mistakes. One strike and they’re done. We got to make mistakes. We got to make albums that bombed right along with albums that were the Number Ones.
You also got to fuck up in public, but now the pressure is so great. Look at Justin Bieber – who didn‘t see that “rough week“ coming? He came into Phoenix, comes up on stage, turns his back to the audience and throws up. I said, in the press, “Justin, just as a note of professional rock & roll, never turn your back when you throw up. Let the audience see you throw up . . . Because that’s a moment they’re gonna remember.” Make sure the lights are on you when you throw up. If he rides this thing out and still makes records, he’s gonna be a seasoned artist in about 10 years, ’cause he makes good records now, but he’s got to survive the next 10 years. The excess is gonna come at him so quick.
You got to make those mistakes. You survived it. But with so many public tales of those that didn‘t make it, what are your thoughts when you see someone like Amy Winehouse? Hey, Jim Morrison – nobody could talk Jim Morrison out of dying. I was a drunk, but I was a lightweight compared to him, and nobody could talk him out of where he was going. Jim was gonna go there and that was it. Same with Amy. I don’t think anybody could’ve talked Amy out of where she was going. The true artists are always out on a limb. They’re always the ones that are just maybe gonna die.
How did you survive? I had to wake up one morning and throw up blood and realize that was a pretty good sign God was saying, “That’s about enough out of you. You could still rock & roll, but you’re gonna have to do it a different way.” Because I was dying. Doctor said, “You got two more weeks before you join Jimi, Jim and all the boys.” I said, “I want to stick around and make records.” So I had to stop. Same with Iggy, same with Lou, same with Steven [Tyler] and Joe. They’re here because they got in the crossroads and made the right choice. If not, we would’ve been dead, all of us.
But, as you say, some of them couldn‘t be stopped. I think the early guys, the Jim Morrisons, the Janis Joplins, just did not want to see 30. Twenty-seven was the expiration date. And it really came up a lot of times, 27, and I guess they said, “That’s too close to 30, I’m just gonna burn out.” First of all, rock & roll and heroin, it’s not gonna work. Anything with a needle involved is not gonna work, and you add that to a little schizophrenia and a little bipolar, you got Syd Barrett and you got Brian Wilson. Two geniuses. Brian’s producing and I’ve always loved him, I consider him a genius, but what could he have been doing now? He would’ve been doing amazing stuff. But on top of being schizophrenic and bipolar he’s doing acid and speed. That’s just like pouring coals on the fire.
Why do today‘s musicians do it? It’s some kind of defiance. “I know it’s gonna kill me, but I’m gonna do it.” I always tell kids, I can’t think of one guy that I know that took a lot of drugs and sat back and said, “That was a good idea.” Now, if they’re still alive they’re going, “OK, I wrote some good songs when I was smashed out of my mind, but I was really lucky to get through it.”
Post subject: [2015-09-11] "Hollywood Vampires" Alice Cooper, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and more - YACA/YATA (Universal)
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:06 pm
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Normally I really don't like covers album efforts because I think they are a waste of time. I mean why hear someone else do a song when you can go straight to the original source and be done with it altogether? That said, this does sound promising "IF" ole Alice keeps to his 73-74 time period limit. That limitation gives me hope because there's a lot of very good "Classic Rock" material that he can draw from in these two years alone. I wonder if he'll attempt to do anything by the long forgotten classic rock group, "Slade"? I'll be keeping an eye out for this!
_________________ I live for classic rock. Accept no substitutions whatsoever. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Alice Cooper to Honor Famous Drinking Buddies on Covers Album
Alice Cooper has long had a habit of including cover songs in his stage show, and now the horror-rock pioneer will finally put his tributes to tape for a forthcoming album of covers. Cooper, who hits the road on a European tour next week, will be drawing on the work of the old pals he used to get blottoed with.
“I had a drinking club called the Hollywood Vampires and we met at the Rainbow Room [in West Hollywood] every night,“ Cooper explained in a recent interview. “And it was Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Mickey Dolenz, Bernie Taupin, myself and everybody else that showed up. Hardcore drinking, last man standing kind of place. Well, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, all those guys dropped in, and [the covers album] is a tribute to our dead drunk friends.”
Okay. Hold on a second. Just take a breath and imagine Keith Moon and John Lennon and Mickey Dolenz and Alice Cooper pounding pints together. Oh to be a fly on that wall!
While Cooper will be honoring casualties of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, he himself gave up his habit decades ago.
“I quit drinking 31 years ago and I never smoked cigarettes,” Cooper said. “I’ve been happily married for 37 years. So my stress level is absolutely zero. I’m in better shape at 65 than I was when I was at 35. I was a mess at 35. So 65 years old, I get up and do two hours on stage, five nights a week, and feel great.”
Post subject: [2015-09-11] "Hollywood Vampires" Alice Cooper, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and more - YACA/YATA (Universal)
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:42 am
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Alice Cooper has revealed that he has completed work on his forthcoming covers album.
“It’s all done,” said Alice told Chad Tyson of the 98.7 The Gater in West Palm Beach, Florida last Thursday. “It’ll probably be coming out in the spring. We’re still adding on certain people; we have a list of people that we want to get and a lot of times it’s scheduled. In a situation like this, you have certain friends you want to put on the record and their availability is really what it is…y’know, finding where they are, what they want to play and when they want to play.”
Pushed for names of the special guests, Alice replied, “I’m just saying…probably the ‘usual suspects’. Put it that way.”
In July, Cooper revealed the focus of the project is a very specific, and personal, time period for him.
"We specified a certain time period and said, 'Let's stay within that. Let's not move it around too much’”, he told Billboard. "We specified a certain time period and said, 'Let's stay within that. Let's not move it around too much.' We don't want to be doing cover songs from the 80s and 90s when the Hollywood vampires kind of thing was more '73, '74, '75."
Alice’s reference to "the time period of the Hollywood vampires" recalls the hard-partying crew of the early- and mid-70s that included the likes of John Lennon, the Who's Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr and "honorary" guests such as T. Rex's Marc Bolan and Keith Allison of Paul Revere & The Raiders.
The set will also include Sunset Strip forebears such as the Doors' Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix.
Bob Ezrin, who produced several of Cooper's 70s best-sellers as well as 2011's "Welcome 2 My Nightmare", is working on the project.
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
Alice Cooper confirms completion of Hollywood Vampires album: Features Paul McCartney, Johnny Depp and Dave Grohl Posted on April 21, 2015 by 12th Street Beat
In an interview with Billboard recently, shock rocker Alice Cooper confirmed that the brand new Hollyywood Vampire record, which features Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Johnny Depp and more, is “done, mixed and ready to go”.
As previously reported, Cooper will pay tribute to the social group he used to drink with in the ’70s, which included John Lennon, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson and Ringo Star. The singer has said that the record is “dedicated to all the friends we’ve lost to drugs and alcohol over the years and getting people to come in and cover the songs their friends wrote.”
0170Cooper said: “The album’s done. It’s mixed, ready to go and I’m very, very happy with it. I’m really happy with all the stuff on it. McCartney’s on it. [Ringo Starr’s drummer son] Zak [Starkey]’s on it. Dave Grohl is on it, [AC/DC frontman] Brian Johnson – and in places where you wouldn’t expect them to be, that’s the cool thing.”
“I can’t really say [what covers will be on the album] right now, but if you think of it, who were the Hollywood Vampires? John Lennon was there. Jim Morrison was an early Vampire. We had Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon of course, Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan. Those guys were all Vampires.” Catch the band performing live at Rock In Rio.
Post subject: [2015-09-11] "Hollywood Vampires" Alice Cooper, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and more - YACA/YATA (Universal)
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 5:14 pm
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Watch Alice Cooper talk working with Paul McCartney on a tribute Album to 'Dead, drunk friends'
Alice Cooper has discussed the album he has made with guests including Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney.
Cooper has recruited some of his most famous friends and recorded an album under the name Hollywood Vampires. Cooper has confirmed that the record features Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Johnny Depp and more.
Cooper will pay tribute to the social group he used to drink with in the '70s on the album, which included John Lennon, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson and Ringo Star on the record.
Speaking to NME about the album, Cooper explained how the concept for the album and the Hollywood Vampires came about.
"We decided to put the band together and, you know, kind of celebrate all of our dead, drunk friends. You know, all of our big brothers died at 27 years old. Jim Morrison, we toured with The Doors, and Jimi Hendrix was one of our best friends, and we drank with these guys, and Johnny Depp and I were doing that movie Dark Shadows, and we decided that one night we were gonna go to the Hundred Club and just be a bar band. No glitz, no glam. Somebody yells out [The Rolling Stones' ‘Brown Sugar’, yeah we’ll play that. [Jane's Addiction's] ‘Been Caught Stealing’, sure, we know that. Just to kind of have fun with it," he said.
"At that time we just kind of had so much fun playing covers that we said, why don’t we do an album that celebrates all of our dead, drunk friends? We started naming them; John Lennon, Keith Moon from The Who, you know, Harry Nilsson, T-Rex, and the list was so impressive and we could pick out songs and we ended up making the album. So it’s not an Alice Cooper album, it’s a Hollywood Vampires album."
On the subject of Paul McCartney, Cooper admits that it was hard to keep cool in the studio, but that the down to earth McCartney helped keep things normal.
"Paul’s a rocker man, you know. If he wasn’t in his band, he would be in a pub somewhere playing with a bunch of guys," Cooper states. "He just loves to play. You’ll look back and you’ll go ‘Jesus, that guy’s a Beatle’, he wasn’t a Beatle, he was the Beatle, you know, and wrote more songs than anybody, and never has gone back on what he believes, on what he does. You know, he’s just one of the guys. He was just one of the guys in the band. So now when I see him I go, ‘Vampire’. He goes, ‘I’m a Vampire’. But John was a Vampire. John Lennon was one of our nightly guys. He was there every night."
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