Gibson Guitars has just posted a decent article entitled Elected! A Brief History of Alice Cooper’s Amazing Guitarists that I mention only because the first two guys profiled are original band guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce. Check it out if you like at This Link. They’ve also posted a terrific video of the band doing “Public Animal #9” from their appearance on Germany’s Beat Club, that actually features “screen time” for other members of the band besides Alice, thank Christ.
Alice Cooper’s latest solo release, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, is getting a lot of attention currently, due in large part to the fact that original Alice Cooper Band members, Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway and Michael Bruce collaborated with Alice on three of the album’s songs. Neal Smith’s writing contribution, “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” is the first single and here’s the video, embedded below for your enjoyment. While this video is a live shoot from Alice’s ongoing tour, the audio track is from the studio recording and features Neal on drums, Dennis on bass and Michael on guitar. In case you’re curious and do not yet own the album, the other two tracks on which original band members collaborated/play are “Runaway Train” (co-written by Dennis) and “When Hell Comes Home” (co-written by Michael Bruce).
Alice Cooper’s long-awaited sequel to his 1975 classic Welcome to My Nightmare comes out on September 13, 2011, but Alice will preview select tracks in their entirety and offer his personal commentary on his syndicated Nights with Alice Cooper radio show on Friday, August 19th. Coop kicks off the program with the world debut of W2MN’s first single, “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” (written by original Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith) and he’ll pick other favorites from the 14-track album, including “Runaway Train” and “I Gotta Get Outta Here” to tease and talk about during the show. W2MN, recorded with longtime collaborator Bob Ezrin (who produced the original multi-platinum Welcome To My Nightmare album in 1975), picks up right where they left off.
Continue reading Alice Cooper Debuts Tracks From Upcoming Welcome 2 My Nightmare CD
Congratulations go out to Michael Bruce, Neal Smith, Alice Cooper and Dennis Dunaway on their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last evening, March 14, 2011, which took place here in NYC at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Alice Cooper was a band, no matter what any historical revisionist wants to tell you these days. The ceremony and performances will air on the FUSE network this coming Sunday, March 20th at 9 PM Eastern /8 PM Central. Check your local listings for the correct channel to tune to in your area.
Alice Cooper in 1972: Neal, Alice, Michael, Dennis and Glen
Hello, Hurray! Fans of the original 1970s band Alice Cooper are about to have one of their long-hoped-for dreams come true. The band’s four surviving members, guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and vocalist Alice Cooper (lead guitarist Glen Buxton passed away in 1997) spent two days in September at a NYC studio recording three original tracks for Cooper’s next solo album. Rumored to be a follow-up to Cooper’s first solo effort, 1975’s Welcome To My Nightmare, the album is due to be released in the fall of 2011. These sessions were the first to feature all members of the original Alice Cooper band since the group recorded its 1974 swan song, Muscle of Love.
At the board for these sessions was studio legend Bob Ezrin, who not only produced the band’s commercial breakthrough, 1971’s Love it To Death (featuring the hit single “I’m Eighteen”), but who was also responsible for producing several of their other classic hits, including School’s Out and their most popular and commercially successful album, 1973’s Billion Dollar Babies. Ezrin has also produced many solo albums for Alice Cooper the individual since the band’s breakup. Ezrin, whose exhaustive body of work includes landmark albums such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall, has been quoted as saying that the work he did with the Alice Cooper Band in the seventies gave him his career. It is also rumored that rock photographer Bob Gruen, who took many photos of the original band back in the day – including promotional shots for Muscle of Love featuring the band dressed in identical sailor suits – made an appearance to visually document the band hanging out in the studio.
Those Alice Cooper band devotees still hoping for a reunion that would see the band perform live can hold out hope that Smith, Dunaway and Bruce make good on rumors that they will join Cooper this coming December in Phoenix, AZ for his annual Christmas Pudding charity concert event.