Alice Cooper

Next week, Alice Cooper is bringing his 'Theatre of Death' tour to the UK. So, when Music News had the chance to chat to him, we asked him about everything from Touring, to Serial Killers, from the weather to appearing on Norweigan Big Brother with Dio. Read on for an insight into the mind of the master of shock rock....


MN: Hi Alice, how are things in Phoenix?

AC: Pheonix is about 88 degrees,and beautiful. It's always Sunny and warm, I don't even know why they have a weather man here!


MN: You're due in the UK in a few weeks for your 'Theatre of Death' tour, are you still enjoying touring 25 albums down the line?

AC: Oh yeah, touring used to be a lot harder, when I was drinking. I used to think that it was easier because the alcohol kind of numbed you out a little bit. In all honesty though, it made it harder because you were always battling a hangover. Where as, now after 28 years of not drinking, I get up on stage as a 60 year old and I feel like I'm 30.


MN: Do you have a particular fitness regime you keep to to stay in shape?

AC: Well, at school I was a 1500 and 3000 metre runner, so I always maintained a healthy slim body when it came to that, that helped me in my touring a lot. And surprisingly I can still go out now and run long distances pretty well.


MN: Can you tell me a bit about your serial killer character, Spider, from your new album. I believe he's got a very gory way of creating a spider?

AC: Well, I wanted to create a serial killer that has flaws, If you think of Hannibal Lecter, well this guy was flawlessly brilliant, he out-thought everybody, well my guy thinks he's that good, but he's not. He decides- "I'll fashion myself after a spider, my victims will have one leg missing, so there's 8 victims, 8 legs, and I'll wrap them in silk 'cos that's what a spider would do"...and that's all fine and well until he get's to the 8th victim and falls in love with her, and that's a sure way to get caught, because he can't kill her, and she knows who he is!


MN: How do you keep managing to keep coming up with these amazing and sick ideas? Do you watch a lot of horror Movies?

AC: Yeah, i guess so, but at the same time I was always a pretty good short story writer. At school I was a feature writer for the paper, I was always a good creative writer. So I'll come up with an idea and then look for a twist on it. So not only does this guy fall in love with one of his victims, he also has a religeous epiphany. He sits there thinking about killing the next person, then he thinks "what if I'm wrong?" Now a psyho killer, even as crazy as he is, never ever doubts himself, but this guy thinks "I wonder if I'm wrong?" and then he starts totally crumbling...


MN: On the subject of horror, Alice, what kind of horror movies are you into?

AC: I don't like things like 'Hostel' and 'Saw', these movies are not scary to me, they're just brutal. I think 'Saw' is clever because the devices are clever. But when it comes to a really good scary movie I prefer things like Dario Argento's 'Suspiria', 'Salem's Lot', 'Psycho' and 'The Exorcist'. I think 'The Exorcist' was scary for one good reason, It didn't speak to your Intellect, it spoke to your soul. It made you feel like you were vulnerable.


MN: I know what you mean, that's one of those films where you wanna check behind the sofa after watching it, right?

AC: Exactly. And you know another thing that's truly scary is when you watch something like 'Ghosthunters' ( paranormal investigation TV show) 80% of the time they debunk whatever it is they're investigating. But about 20% of the time they have something on video or tape that they just can't explain, and you sit there in your house and think "what?"....


MN: Taking you back a few years, when your first solo album,'Welcome to my Nightmare' came out you did a TV special with (Horror Legend) Vincent Price, what was he like?

AC: Well, when you think of Vincent Price, hopefully you think of Alice Cooper on the level that we like to do the scary thing, but we generally play it against comedy. With horror, you have to play it against something, be it romance, or suspense, or whatever, but generally I think Vincent Price played it against comedy, and so does my show.
My show always has a punchline.It shouldn't be taken too seriously though. Alice is the type of villian who will slit your throat one minute and then slip on a banana peel the next. There's slapstick involved in what Alice does,and I hope that the audience gets that. I like to get the audience to jump once in a while, but at the same time I want them laughing at the end of it. It's OK to be scared as long as you can laugh it off.


MN: You've done 25 albums now, and you've done a lot of shows. How difficult is it arranging your setlist before you start your tour?

AC: It's one of the hardest things, because when you've got that many songs, including 14 or 15 top 40 hits, you don't have time to play everything. But as far as I'm concerned, if I go to see the Rolling Stones or the Who, I want to hear all my favorite songs, and I want to hear them sound just like the record. I don't know why that is but I hate it when you go to see a band and they do one of their songs in a reggae version or an acoustic version. When I go and see the Who and they play 'Substitute' just like the record, that to me is great.
So I try to give my audience every one of the hits and make it just like the record. Then I have about 10 more songs in there that are good stage songs, that are also really satisfying songs for the audience. But you're right,it is a hard thing to find that setlist to make everybody happy.


MN: I guess aswell, that because of the theatrical nature of your show it would be difficult to swap and change your setlist every night?

AC: Oh Yeah. Once the show is set, that's it. This show in particular ( The Theatre of Death Tour ),it's directed, it's lit, everything is set up. The only time I really leave for any impovisation is during the encores. Apart from that, If I switch a song it interferes with the lighting etc etc.


MN: Alice, I wanted to ask you about a story I heard about from years ago, when you were on a plane to London and the lady next to you died?

AC: Well, I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny at the time, you know, she was a really sweet old lady. It was my first time flying to England, I was by myself, and there was a seat free next this lovely old lady. She was about 87 years old. So anyway, we got talking and playing cards,Gin Rummy.Then we got about 3 hours away and she said, "If they bring dinner, tell them I'm tired and I'm gonna sleep through" She said she'd been travelling all of her life, and she took these kind of opiate pills that sent her to sleep. So I said OK I won't wake you up.
So we landed, the Stewardess tried to wake her, but she'd gone for the big sleep. It must have been a very peaceful way to pass away though. The thing was,when we landed, they started asking me all sorts of questions,but all I could tell them was she just said she was going to sleep!
As soon as I got off the plane, they were bringing her body off on a stretcher,the press were there and I said "..she was sitting next to me!!". If I would have thought quick enough I would have put two little holes in her neck!


MN: I've been scouring the internet for some clips of you and i chanced accross a video of you and Ronnie James Dio, being suspended in a crane over Norweigan Big Brother Garden, that looked a bit bizarre? ( Dio and Alice both sang along to one of their songs each before aqwardly chatting to the contestants and wondering when they were going to be let down from the crane)

AC: You know,the next day I said "did I dream that?!" It was just the weirdest scenario. I looked at Dio, and he looked at me and we said "what are we doing?" I didn't even know what Big Brother was, they had to explain it all to me beforehand.


MN: I particularly liked the bit when you were hanging around up there waiting to be brought down, and discussing which one you thought it was who'd been sleeping around....before realising you were still mic'd up!

AC: It was really funny, cos I was saying that it was OK 'cos they wouldn't understand english then we realised they'd all been singing along perfectly! It was just one of the strangest nights. Neither of us could figure out why we were even doing this.


MN: So would you ever consider going on Big Brother yourself?

AC: I gotta be honest with you, I absolutely loathe reality television. Everyone seems to love it except me. When I pick up one of your magazines over there in England and it says for example "Spencer and Phyllis splitting up!" I think "Who??". What happened did we run out of celebrities or what?!


MN: We've just got time for one last quick question, Alice, If you are rock royalty, who is the successor to your throne?

AC: I'd have to say Rob Zombie, he could definitely take over after I'm gone. He's the real deal.

MN: Alice, it's been a pleasure talking to you, thanks, and good luck with the tour!

Full tour details:

Tues 24th Nov Manchester Apollo 0844 4777 677
Wed 25th Nov Glasgow Clyde Auditorium 0870 040 4000
Fri 27th Nov Newcastle City Hall 0191 261 2606
Sat 28th Nov Sheffield City Hall 0114 278 9789
Sun 29th Nov Swindon Oasis 0179 344 5401
Tue 1st Dec Wolverhampton Civic Hall 0870 320 7000
Wed 2nd Dec Plymouth Pavilions 0845 146 1460
Fri 4th Dec Nottingham Royal Concert Hall 0115 989 5555
Sat 5th Dec Brighton Centre 0870 900 9100
Sun 6th Dec London HMV Hammersmith Apollo 0844 844 4748


Tickets go on sale on Friday 29th May at 9.00am. Ticket prices are £33.50 in London and £32.50 regionally (all subject to booking fee).