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ALICE COOPER TURNS IT UP:

April 9, 2004

Veteran shock rocker stripping down for next record

It’s been a mere six months since Alice Cooper released The Eyes of Alice Cooper, but he’s already planning his next album. While he was happy with the work of producer Mudrock (Godsmack, Powerman 5000), the veteran shock rocker isn’t seeking any outside this time.

“Put the band in a room, turn up the amps and say, ‘Play . . . we’re going to use that take,'” says Cooper in describing his game plan. “If the band comes in and says, ‘We want to go in and fix that,’ I’ll say, ‘No, the band sounds like this.’ It’s the real essence of what rock & roll is.”

The Eyes of Alice Cooper was recorded in Los Angeles, but Cooper is thinking of his adopted home of Phoenix for the next one. “We could do it in any room,” he says.

His current lineup features guitarists Eric Dover and Ryan Roxie, drummer Eric Singer and bassist Chuck Garric. The band kicks off a European tour June 4th in Dublin and then returns to play U.S. dates in July.

“I love Jet, and I love bands like the White Stripes and the Vines because they’re 1968 Detroit garage rock,” Cooper says, “and that’s what I’m going for: real rock & roll.”

As for the shock-rock angle? “I think people are unshockable now,” Cooper says. “Any time you can watch a war on TV and see 500 people get blown up live, hanging yourself isn’t that shocking. So I’ve been off the shock list for quite a long time. I kind of passed that onto Marilyn Manson. I’m now purely into entertaining an audience.”

Karen Bliss courtesy of Rolling Stone