Rewind with Alice Cooper, 10/31/02

METAL SLUDGE REWIND WITH…

Alice Cooper

Happy Halloween! We couldn’t think of a better person to do a Halloween Rewind with than Alice Cooper! We first talked to Alice exactly a year ago, on October 30, 2001. At the time he was out promoting his Dragontown CD and a year later he’s still at it! So sit back and enjoy our Halloween treat, a Rewind with Alice Cooper!

1. What are you currently up to? This is your chance to plug whatever it is you’ve got going on.
I’m in the middle of the Dragontown tour with a deluxe re-release of the album. And having fun chopping off Britney Spears’ head every night.

2. What’s the main difference between this year’s and last year’s tour? Or are they the same thing?
Some different songs…lots of different staging.

3. What’s next for Alice Cooper? Will there be another studio album in the works any time soon?
Yes. Going into the studio in January.

4. Your daughter Calico did backing vocals on your last CD, and has been an active part of your stage show on the last few tours. Does she have any plans to branch out on her own?
She wants to act and is currently taking acting school in Los Angeles. And is quite capable of upstaging me.

5. You’ve been in all kinds of movies throughout the years. Give us your fondest recollection of your appearances in the following films:
Diary of a Mad Housewife = Can’t remember. Totally drunk.
Sextette = Still drunk…but not as. Not easy since Keith Moon was there.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band = Drunk, actually in the middle of rehab. Literally. They let me out for 3 days to do it.
Roadie = Meatloaf and I could have been the next Laurel and Hardy.
Monster Dog = My Clint Eastwoodesque squint was brilliant. Can’t believe I wasn’t nominated.
Prince of Darkness = Working with John Carpenter, who I think is great. The impaling scene was actually inspired from the Alice Cooper stage show.
Freddy’s Dead = Getting to play a character other than Alice Cooper
Wayne’s World = Never really meeting Mike Myers and Dana Carvey because they were always doing all their characters the whole time.
The Attic Expeditions = Should have had a bigger part.
Mayor of Sunset Strip = What? Was it ever released?

6. If you could go back in time and re-live any one year of your life, what year would it be and why?
1975 which was actually the hardest working year I’ve ever had in my life doing the whole Welcome To My Nightmare production, tour, project. It was 12 hours a day of work.

7. Give us a breakdown of the last 24 hours of your life.
Wake-up early. Diet Coke. Breakfast in the hotel. TV. Diet Coke. Go to local shopping mall. Chinese food at food court. Diet Coke. Go to a movie. Go back to hotel. Do phone interviews. Take a one hour nap. Wake up and go to show. Get ready for show and watch bad kung-fu movies backstage. Diet Coke. Do show. Kill audience. Get on bus. Eat bad pizza. Drive to next city. Caffiene-free Diet Coke. Go to sleep.

8. It’s been a year since we last interviewed you. Give us 5 new “little things” that are currently bothering you?
Hotel maids that can’t read “Do Not Disturb” signs.
Drunk guys backstage at my shows that try singing my own songs to me.
People that try to take a picture with me and don’t know how to work their cameras.
People that insist on me signing an autograph with a silver paint pens to autograph stuff because those things never work.
And still coming in at #1, people talking in the movies.

9. If you could have your own reality-based TV series, what would you call it and what would its premise be?
“Life Of A Roadie”. They live a much more bizarre life than rockstars.

10. Rate the following chicks on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a bucket of pig entrails and 10 being a bonafide hottie.
Gwen Stefani = 9 plus
Kylie Minogue = 8 minus
Courtney Love = 5
Nancy Sinatra = Which era?
Ann B. Davis = 7, for cleaniness
Britney Spears = Well, come on…how many real 10’s are there?
Alice Faye = She gets a 7. The gorilla gets a 3. Together, they’re a 10
Bea Arthur = Well, come on…how many real 3’s are there?
Mae West = As a man or woman?
Miss Piggy = Off the charts.

11. Who takes out the garbage at your house? Sheryl or Renfield?
I do.

12. Which do you prefer and why:
John Carpenter or Wes Craven = John for Halloween and The Thing. But Wes because of Freddie
Dick Wagner or Al Pitrelli = Dick Wagner since I wrote a lot of my classic songs with him. Al has flat feet.
Zipper Catches Skin or Raise Your Fist And Yell = Raise Your Fist because it was much more more focused. Zipper was done during a blackout…but I really liked it.
Guillotines or Electric Chairs = Guillotines. Electric chairs are not as dramatic.
Justin Guarini or Kelly Clarkson = I have no idea what you are talking about
The Sopranos or The Larry David Show = Wow. A tough one. But the nod goes to Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) (Unless of course, they want to offer me a part on The Sopranos)
Ratt or Enuff Z’Nuff = Ratt because “Round N Round” was a pretty good Alice impersonation
Guns ‘N Roses 1992 or Guns ‘N Roses 2002 = 1992. Have to go with the classic.
Steven Gaines or Bob Greene = Bob Greene since he proved himself to be more of a deviant than we ever knew.
Andy Warhol or Salvador Dali = Dali. Loved them both but Dali because he was an alien from another planet
Boris Karloff or Robert Englund = Gotta stick to the classic. Karloff.

13. What’s the best concert you don’t remember performing?
The 1974 South American tour. 158,000 screaming Brazillians at an indoor venue. Too drunk.

14. Who, among the following, is the more formidable enemy:
a) Slobodan Milosevic
b) Mullah Omar
c) Saddam Hussein
d) Osama Bin Laden
e) Donny Osmond
Donny is past his prime so you have to with Bin Laden who is still riding the top of the charts.

15. Recently, WASP cancelled their tour for their brand new CD because they said, “Due to the enormity and the complexities of what will be a concept/opera, the band feel that they will need as much time as possible in effort to make this forthcoming release everything that it can possibly be. These records will be released as a two part set with the first album being released on Halloween 2003 and the second album Christmas of 2003.” Being that you’ve done concept albums in the past, do you really think WASP needs a year to record a “concept album?”
Who’s Wasp?

16. The Last of Alice Cooper:
Last celebrity you had dinner with = Rob Zombie
Last concert you watched from the audience = Paul McCartney
Last book you read = Terror Inc.
Last horror movie you watched = Red Dragon
Last time you fired someone = That’s it! YOU’RE fired
Last time you talked to Dave Mustaine = At a hockey game in Phoenix at the end of the last season
Last time you cut yourself on your sword = Last night
Last time you hit someone with your cane = Last night
Last time you scared a small child to tears = Last night
Last time you golfed under 80 = Almost every day

17. Have you ever thought about coming up with your own magazine which does nothing but show pictures of yourself with other stars and just promote your merchandise?
Yeah. Maybe I could call it “Nose”

18. Are those your real teeth?
Yes. The pointed ones only come out at night.

19. In October 1999, you briefly reunited with the surviving members from the original Alice Cooper Group for an impromptu jam in Phoenix. What brought about this event and had you been drinking anything when you agreed to do that?
Everyone was in Phoenix at the same time and most importantly, it was a tribute to Glen Buxton. It was really the first opportunity that we had truly had to do it. The ol’ boys sounded pretty good that night for no rehearsal or anything.

20. Time for Metal Sludge’s Word Association. We mention a name, and you give us your thoughts.
Mike Myers = Comedy genius
Rob Zombie = Creepy genius
Dennis Dunaway = Oldest friend
Danny Wexler = Should play more
Lizzy Borden = I prefer the orginal one that killed her parents
Axl Rose = Phantom genius
Jack Ponti = Weird little genius
Clive Barker = Would like to work with
Kid Rock = Trailer trash genius
Don Dokken = Road rat
Mick Mashbir = Memory too hazy
Renfield = Cynical, sarcastic, acidic genius

Thanks to Alice for always being a good sport and sending back his answers rather fast!

For more info on Alice, such as tour dates and various things like that, you can visit his website at www.alicecoopershow.com

Hungry? Sure you are. So if you are in Cleveland or Phoenix, stop by Alice’s restaurant Cooperstown. You can visit the website for more info at www.alicecooperstown.com.