ALICE COOPER Talks HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES - “We’re Not Going To Let Them Just Die, We’re Going To Raise The Dead”

September 11, 2015, 8 years ago

By Martin Popoff

feature hard rock hollywood vampires alice cooper paul mccartney joe perry

ALICE COOPER Talks HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES - “We’re Not Going To Let Them Just Die, We’re Going To Raise The Dead”

Alice Cooper has been known to cook up a concept or stunt or two in his time, and in 2015, he’s conjured another elaborate one. Celebrating the original “Hollywood Vampires,” basically his ever-shifting table of rock star drinking buddies from the mid-‘70s, Alice has commandeered an album full of guest stars recording the hit songs of those dead bounce cats.

“The funny thing about drinking, there was basically three clubs,” explains The Coop, currently winding up almost two years playing with Mötley Crüe on that band’s farewell tour. “In London there was Tramp’s, in New York there was Max’s Kansas City and in Los Angeles it was the Rainbow. And it was basically all the rock guys… that was just sort of where they ended up at night, and everybody would, you know, drink. And I think the most important thing was that I don’t think we ever talked about music. Because that’s all we did. We were all at the top of our game at that point, and either you’re recording or you’re touring, and so when you got to the Rainbow, that’s the last thing you wanted to talk about was music. And so you’d sit there with Harry Nilsson and John Lennon and Keith Moon, and if you could imagine, if John got political, the more you drank, how ridiculous it got. Because once you get these arguments started, they just got hysterically funny. I would tell John, ‘John, I’m not political at all.’ I said, ‘I’m here to entertain the country, not to change it.’ And he was very cynical and funny and that was just him. And then there were nights where all you talked about was other stupid things. But the great thing was, we would sit there and we would kind of wait to see what Keith Moon was going to wear. One night he would show up and he would be the Queen Of England and then he would be Hitler and then he would be a French maid. And we had to keep reminding each other, you know, he is the best drummer in the world.”

And with many of the original Hollywood Vampires dead, here’s a record foisting an ale to them, crafted and exacted by a bunch of guys who went to similar soused zones, but lived to tell about it. Duff, Joe Perry, Slash, Johnny Depp... the gang’s all here, and according to Alice, that’s because their “big brothers” already died for their sins...

“You know what? It was always kept light, because that was their personality,” muses Alice, on how this morbid concept was rationalized. “You know, when you’re working with... the first time I ever smoked a joint was with Jimi Hendrix—he turned me on to marijuana when I was like 19 or 20 years old. And I, of course was in awe of Jimi Hendrix. We were just sort of a little high school band trying to make it, and here we are with Jimi Hendrix. Jim Morrison took us on a tour for a while. The Doors took us out to open for them. So they were like our big brothers. You don’t sit down and try to out-drink Jim Morrison or Janis Joplin, because they were professionals (laughs). And so the crazy thing was, if you look at the guys that were the next generation, the Steven Tylers and the Alice Coopers and the Ozzy Osbournes and Iggy Pops, we are all still here. Because I think that we watched our big brothers die, and learned that there is an expiration date. Each generation learns from the last generation. And so you come to that crossroads where you’re either gonna stop drinking or you’re going to keep drinking and die—and join your friends. And I got to that point and just went, okay, I’m ready to stop; you know, throwing up blood in the morning is not fun. And I’m sure Steven Tyler had the same thing, and Joe Perry, and all these guys got to that point where you have to make a decision. You’re gonna live or die.”

Although most of the record is walloping covers of old classic rock chestnuts—i.e. “My Generation” from (and for) Keith, “Manic Depression” for Jimi, “Cold Turkey” for Lennon—there are a couple of originals, with “My Dead Drunk Friends” essentially and amusingly articulating out the concept.

“The very first thing I was thinking about with that song was ‘quarter to three’ (actual title ‘One For My Baby’); you know, ‘It’s quarter to three, there’s no one in the place but just you and me, so set ‘em up, Joe.’ It was sort of a lonely bar song. But in this place, it was Alice, let’s say, at 5 o’clock in the morning at the Rainbow, when there’s nobody there. And there’s really nothing left there but ghosts—and he’s toasting them. And it ends up going into pretty much a pirate drinking song. ‘We puke and we fight and we drink and we fight and we puke and we fight’ (laughs). And that was because I wanted the album to end with a sense of humour.”

“My Dead Drunk Friends” last, co-framing Hollywood Vampires from the front is “Raise The Dead.” Says Alice, “The very first song that we wrote, ‘Raise the Dead,’ we had this idea of getting a very recognizable voice, and Christopher Lee was, of course, the first person we thought of. If he could just read a page out of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and end up with ‘Children of the night, what music they make’ and then we go into the song, ‘Raise The Dead’... and it was the very last thing that he did. So that was really kind of cool to have. I’ve had Vincent Price on records and now I’ve had Christopher Lee. I wish Karloff and Lugosi would’ve lasted a little longer (laughs).”

“But anyways, that song, ‘Raise The Dead,’ I figured we’ve got to start this album out with a blazing rock ‘n’ roll song, and really tell the story that the soul of rock and the heart of rock ‘n’ roll is buried in a hole—but the creatures under there are coming up for air. In other words, we’re not going to let them just die. We’re going to raise the dead, and we’re going to play these songs that they played. And we’re gonna make them harder and give them more life than the original ones had. I like taking a song like ‘Jeepster’ or ‘Itchykoo Park’ or any of these songs, ‘I Got a Line on You,’ and taking it up a gear. You know, rocking it out even more than they rocked it, because those songs were made for AM radio. And I said, well, let’s take them now and add that extra boost of guitar and that extra ounce of energy, and take a pop song and turn it into a rock song.”

And those guitars are super-charged by none other than Joe Perry and... Johnny Depp?

“Well, you know, it’s funny,” explains Alice, “because Johnny, first of all, how we got together was an interesting thing. We were doing Dark Shadows, the movie, in London. And I was in that movie with Johnny Depp, and I’d just met him, first time we’d ever met. But I knew that he was a good guitar player. Because he came from Kentucky with his band to LA. And I knew the story that he didn’t come in as an actor; he came in as a guitar player. And I’ve heard him play on different things with different people, so it didn’t really surprise me when he came up and played on stage with us and he nailed it. But I was a little surprised at how tasty his guitar was—he really did know where to go on that guitar. He’s not one of those flashy, you know, Steve Vai type of players. He’s more of a Keith Richards type of tasty blues rock kind of player. So he fits right in. I mean, we could do ‘Eighteen,’ he knows it, we can do ‘School’s Out,’ he knows it. We could do ‘Brown Sugar’ and he would know that. So you take his guitar playing, and then you take Joe Perry, who is another blues rock kind of player, and Slash, who is a blues rock-type of player, and Joe Walsh, who were all in the same kind of world... none of these guys are Van Halen types. You know, they’re all much more in the mid, middle fretboard, not real high up in the fretboard, you know? And that’s my kind of rock ‘n’ roll right there. That’s where the gutsy rock ‘n’ roll is, is in the middle of the fretboard, not the higher or the low parts.”

As for what the future holds... “Well, we’re out with Mötley Crüe until they finish up on New Year’s. Our last show with them is on the 22nd. But we’ve been on the road with them for two years. What I really like is having two bands that bring it every night. You know, last year there was Kiss and Def Leppard and there was Aerosmith and Slash, Mötley Crüe and Alice Cooper. You know, we’re both bands who get up there and tear it up and bring it every single night. And I don’t care if it’s 250 shows, there’s not one show there that’s a low energy show. And to me, that’s what rock ‘n’ roll should be. I think that’s giving the audience their money’s worth and that’s what we will always do. Now, I don’t know... I’m only doing three live shows with the Vampires—and then I don’t know what’s going to happen. Everybody’s got their own schedule. But they’re all for charity, you know what I mean? We’re not in this for the money, and the album is for charity also. But I can’t imagine that being the only three shows that we’re gonna do...”

(Photo credits Kyler Clark)



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