By Mitch Lafon

Keri Kelli is certainly not new to the music scene, in fact, he’s played guitar in every single band in existence with the exception of THE ROLLING STONES and ABBA, but all jokes aside, these days, the multi-talented and multi-faceted guitarist makes a living providing riffs for the King Of Shock, ALICE COOPER. The relationship has lasted five years already and produced one studio album, multiple live recordings (thanks to SimfyLive.com), and the newly released Alice Cooper – Theatre Of Death Live At The Hammersmith 2009 Blu-Ray/CD combo pack. Keri called in to the BraveWords.com offices recently to announce the release of his new Big Bang Babies 3 Chords & The Truth best of CD (available for the first time ever on iTunes) as well as talk all things Alice.

BraveWords.com: For the most part, the material on your new BIG BANG BABIES Best Of CD was recorded in the ‘90s. Have you gone back and re-recorded any parts or altered the songs in any way?

Keri Kelli: “We have not re-recorded anything. It’s basically a greatest hits record called 3 Chords & The Truth. It’s been available on standard CD for a little bit, but this is the first time it’s been released digitally. In the digital age, it has to be released on iTunes and any service that does digital downloads. It’s only a click away (which is much easier) and you no longer have to wait for it to come in the mail. You have to embrace the technology.”

BraveWords.com: Will you be going back in your ‘vaults’ to find ‘goodies’ for another release anytime soon?

KK: “Regarding the BBB (Big Bang Babies) project, there was always a lot of material sitting around (demos and stuff) and I’ve been asked several times about doing a new record. Whether than means putting the demos together for release or even re-recording them I don’t know. I might do something like that, but truthfully the last few years I’ve been too busy with Alice (Cooper) to set aside the time to do something like that. Besides Alice, I do a lot of little side projects, so time is really the problem.”

BraveWords.com: Damon Johnson who is your co-guitarist in Alice Cooper has just released a brilliant new solo album called, Release. Do you want to record a new solo album?

KK: “Possibly. It’s a thing that I have thought about for years. It would be easy for me to do since I have a lot of songs lying around from the last ten years (whether they are demos or even masters). I’ve always been the guy in the band from the old days that had all the recording equipment in his house. I’ve been recording the last ten years in Pro-Tools. I could put out three records right now with all the stuff I have sitting around. Recently, I’ve really started to kick the idea around and I talked to Damon (Johnson) a week ago about it. So, it’s on the horizon, but there are a couple of side-projects I want to do after the run (with Alice Cooper) before I get to it. Again, it’s just a time issue. Between the Alice stuff, the sessions I get paid to do and Aces & Ales (which is the bar I own in Las Vegas)… how can I carve out two, three or more weeks to do a solo album properly? Because if I do it, I want to make sure it’s done properly.”

BraveWords.com: You’ve played guitar with a lot bands (RATT, WARRANT, Alice Cooper). Do you adjust your guitar sound or approach to the music to suit each band or do you simply plug and play and what comes out is Keri Kelli… period?

KK: “To be honest, the one common denominator to all the bands that I have been in is that they are all pretty much straight rock n’ roll. By that I mean that it’s just drums, bass, guitar and a singer. I’m playing the same stuff and the same type of gear. In fact, I’m using the same pedal board today with Alice that I put together in ’98 or ’99 with RATT. There are some different dynamics of course, but it’s not like I left SKID ROW to go play with U2 or THE MUSE. That would require a whole other headspace as far as the approach of the guitar, the amps you’re playing, the effects, the processing that you are using, but for the most part and thankfully the bands I’m involved with are all rock projects. It’s just turn the amp on and go.”

BraveWords.com: I was thinking that Alice would be the exception because he’s had so many guitarists with varying styles over the years.

KK: “We all know, in the band, what is required. Alice is, obviously, more ‘70s tinged so the amps… I don’t run as much gain as I would run with Skid Row (for example). With Alice, you don’t need to have the amps so over-driven. That’s a very small adjustment. It’s literally just turning a knob, but the approach is still the same. We know what Alice wants and we really try to play the songs the way they should be represented. Damon and I got together (when I joined the band five years ago) and we listened to all the original tapes and live versions… we went through every little thing and tried to play it like it was initially played. Through the years some of the things have gotten a little off base and I know Alice has done things with the arrangements depending on the ‘show’ that we are doing because it’s a show production as well as music production. Getting the music sounding right as well as getting the band sounding right was something that I wanted to do and, obviously, Damon did as well and I think we got it back on track. I think the band is sounding great now that Damon is back in the band and we’re having a great time up there.”

BraveWords.com: Were you an Alice Cooper fan growing up?

KK: “I, of course, knew of Alice Cooper. I remember when I was a kid watching him on a USA network show called Night Flight. They would show the new video by whoever and then they’d show that old Alice Cooper psychedelic video for ‘I’m Eighteen’ and I’d be like ‘who the hell is this guy?’ I was intrigued and then I started getting the records. My parents were always into music like The Rolling Stones and stuff like that. They were in to me exploring music. I’d go to the record store and buy all the Coop records, all the THIN LIZZY records, all the LED ZEPPELIN records and, of course, my parents already had all the Stones records. I definitely grew up with Alice and I thought his stuff was awesome. The greatest thing about Cooper, for a guitar player, is that he always, even to this day, knew when a great song was a great song. The songs were very broad. He’d have a nice loving ballad, then he’d have a heavier song like Black Widow, and then he’d have a more of a pop song like ('No More Mr.) Nice Guy' or whatever, but what’s cool for a guitar player is that he always had that ‘riff’. He always had that legendary guitar lick, vocal hook and even legendary little intro parts like on Welcome To My Nightmare. It was cool man and I’m happy to be here.”

BraveWords.com: After five years, you’ve finally made it onto a Cooper DVD Theatre Of Death – Live At Hammersmith 2009. How does it feel to be seen on stage with Alice, and this, forever?

KK: “It’s awesome man. The last record we did a couple of years ago (Along Came A Spider) was very cool and I played on four of the songs (three that I helped write). The record is cool. It’s Alice Cooper and it is what it is and I was very proud of being on that record, but having the DVD where it’s the whole show performance and we’re out there doing our thing… You see it. You feel it. It’s showing us playing all those great songs. It’s an honor… it really is. It’s awesome. We’ve been watching it on the bus for the last little bit and we get ourselves all excited. To be playing with Coop every night is a honor and I’m being honest with you.”

BraveWords.com: As far as I’m concerned this is the best DVD he’s ever put out. I don’t mean that as an insult to previous band members, but the audio and visual quality of this new DVD is outstanding and, of course, the songs are great.

KK: “That has everything to do with Alice and his long-time manager, Shep. This was set up last year and we filmed it in December (2009). They got the HD cameras. They really captured the sound properly and then Bob Ezrin mixed the sound. So, they really did it right.”

BraveWords.com: Well, having Bob Ezrin involved certainly explains why it sounds so good.

KK: “Absolutely. They really did it the right way and we’re excited because it does sound great. Having Bob involved is a really great thing and it’s awesome man.”

BraveWords.com: I interviewed Alice’s original drummer Neal Smith recently and I’ve spoken to (Welcome To My Nightmare guitarist) Dick Wagner. They’ve recently worked with Bob and Alice on his new record. My question is the current line-up going to be on Alice’s new album as well?

KK: “I know they’ve recorded with a lot of the guys from the past history and I hope that we (the new band members) are involved in the recording process of the new record. That would be great for us new guys.”

BraveWords.com: It would be great for the fans too. It would be cool to have every ‘era’ represented on the new album. It would be a sort of ‘here’s where we came from to here’s where we are’ auditory journey.”

KK: “I think that’s a great idea. It would be cool to hear the ‘old’ stuff to middle period stuff to the new stuff. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”

BraveWords.com: Would you like the chance to work with Bob Ezrin? After all, he gave the world KISS’ Destroyer and PINK FLOYD’s The Wall.

KK: “Bob is awesome. He’s a very musical guy and I’ve met him at the few shows he’s come out to. He’s always been very nice to me. I’ve sent him tracks that I’ve been working on and it’s pretty cool to hear him say ‘I like that’ or to make suggestions because he’s such legend. I don’t know what’s going to develop as far as the new Alice Cooper album, but as far as my songs go, maybe he’ll like one enough to bring to one of his other projects. Who knows, but he’s a great guy to know and he’s a legend to me.”

BraveWords.com: You’ve been with Alice for five years, but you’ve also bounced from band to band. Are you here to stay with Alice or is the next thing coming along soon?

KK: “I’m definitely here for Alice. I’ve played guitar my whole life and as a hired gun kind of a guy it’s always a battle to stay afloat and there’s nothing else I would do but play guitar. So, I’m here for Alice and I’m here until he decides to hang it up, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Certainly not with the great reunion that is taking place with Bob, the new record, the new DVD, et cetera. I like to do things in between, but only on Alice’s down time because as soon as they start putting the Alice machine together (and they do every year) – I’m ready to go.”

For more Keri visit Kerikelli.com.

For more about Keri’s bar visit Aces & Ales.