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Alice Cooper

Longevity: a word that conjures up many images. Some people and things were never intended for longevity, whereas others seem destined to carry on to the ends of time. 2017 sees Powerplay celebrating 20 years of rock and metal, developing from a fanzine at the beginning to the globally available magazine it is today. The 200th issue is in your hands as you read this and who better to discuss longevity with than a man who has more than five decades of rock sitting on his resume. Often referred to as the Godfather Of Shock Rock, Alice cooper returns this year with his 27th studio album, 'Paranormal'. Alice's first album in six years features a wealth of guest musicians, all of whom can also use the word longevity in their career profiles.

As an artist who has been present in the rock and metal scene for so many years, Alice has of course seen and heard it all and remains one of the foremost concert draws when he comes to town. The reason for that ongoing attraction with the fans, both young and old, is not only to do with his own persona but also the state of modern musicians and the industry as a whole.

"People now aren't born to be performers. Everybody has some creativity in them. If everyone had an easel, then everyone would paint. That doesn't necessarily mean the painting will be good. Everybody now has the ability to make an album, they have friends who can play and they make private albums. When we started, it was like you had to go through an apprenticeship to even get a record contract and be ready to tour, because you'd played in bars for four years. Nowadays it feels like you can work at, say, McDonalds and then when you get home, work on your album. The bands that have the longevity we are talking about are, those choose to make it their life: The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ozzy, myself. That was going to be our life for the rest of our lives, no two ways about it. Until the lifestyle caught up with us, until rock 'n' roll killed us or whatever." With a chuckle he adds, "We're lifers, just like an army career."

Looking at where the next generation of rock stars might come from, Alice is less than certain that they even exist. "It's down to the way music is served to us now. It's almost like we've traded gourmet food for fast food. Now we 'settle'. You have to decide that this is going to be it. You have to decide not to go to college any more, not to work here, roll the dice and choose to be a musician no matter what. That's the commitment that we had to make!"

The commitment to the persona that Alice brings to the stage is still just that, a persona. Alice Cooper the musician turns into Alice Cooper the stage persona and it's a wholly different character to the one talking to me on the phone this evening.

"When I'm on stage I turn into Alice for two hours. I don't know what Alice is so angry about. But he is absolutely angry, he turns into the element, the essence of Alice Cooper. He turns into this arrogant villain on stage and I think the audience likes that. They like the idea of that Alice and they get this arrogant villain, until the end of the show, and then he lets it go. When I designed that in Alice, it was because there was no remarkable villain out there. We have a tonne of Peter Pans but no Captain Hook. We didn't really have a Dracula and I want Alice to be that, you know? And that's exactly what I want from the band as well. When the Alice Cooper Band first started, it was a great dangerous band. I always tell the guys [in the band today] when I joined the band, I said three things: 'You'll get paid, you'll see the world and you're gonna get stitches.' At some point they're gonna get stitches 'cause I don't use rubber swords, I don't use rubber knives. Every once in while it just gets a little too close."

To ensure that the journey continues and the longevity remains with this timeless artist, Alice approaches each release with the strict viewpoint of 'never say this is your best work'. To do so would render the artist obsolete. Why continue to wait for a new release if it's never going to be as good as the track or album they've just labelled as their best?

"If you think that you've written your best song, you shouldn't be making albums. If you don't think that your next song or your next album is going to be your best one, then get out of the business. If you don't think your next show is gonna be the best show you've ever done, then get out of the business. I can't imagine Salvador Dali sitting there at, say, the age of 86 looking at his work and saying 'well that's my best painting ever.' Every time he put a brush to the canvas he would try and make that his best piece of work. If you don't have that, then I really don't know why you're doing it. Look at me: financially I don't have to do this. I'm making records and touring because I want to. I could have retired thirty years ago, but that would have been the most boring thing ever. I always try to make the next album better than the previous one. I sit with Bob Ezrin, listening to material for the album, and we can decide we love one or perhaps another doesn't make it. The process of writing these songs and making them come to life, and listening to them and being excited about them, that's really fulfilling for me. I really hope I make twenty more albums!"

With that goal in mind and the desire to find the greatest song in the world, rather than just a tribute, the first of the next 20 albums is the new release, 'Paranormal', the title track suggesting the mysterious, the unexplainable and perhaps an underlying theme on the album.

Laughing, Alice admits that every single song and situation had an abnormal or paranormal theme to them until they were all complete. "I was listening to it only last night and I could almost write down the paranormal problem that was going on at that point. I should get a psychiatrist to write down what's wrong with these characters. I start with a title, like 'Paranoiac Personality'. I then look at the character and start to think, well what makes him like that? Why is he paranoid? Why is everyone against him? Why does he have a bullseye on his back? I try to write characters that people recognise and probably even know in their lives."

ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, U2 drummer Larry Mullen, and Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover all appear on the album, each bringing their own unique take to the tracks. "I wanted Larry on every track. The only way to change the texture was to change the bass and drums. I really wanted the drums to be different from something that's been on every other album. I couldn't think of anybody more suited that plays so differently to the way Larry does. He just doesn't play like a normal drummer. He's going to choose different things to do, I wanted him to just be Larry Mullen. I wanted him to 'do what you do, over what I do.' Same with Billy Gibbons. The song he plays on is a pure Texas roadhouse blues tune. He heard it, recorded his piece in one take and then sent it back."

For the fans, the icing on the cake is the highly anticipated mini­reunion of the original Alice Cooper band members on a very special bonus CD. The disc, importantly, contains some brand new studio songs, written and recorded together with Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce [original guitarist Glen Buxton died in 1997] and six live versions of some of the band's greatest hits.

"It's like 30 years did not go by, you know? The great thing about the original band was when we broke up we didn't break up with any bad blood; there was no lawsuits, we were all best friends. It's just that we kind of hit a block with the creative process. We worked on seven albums together, we never took a break; we made albums and we toured, we made albums and we toured. At that time we made two albums a year and then toured the rest of the time. There was no time off, so I think we just got to a point of exhaustion and creatively we were just out of gas. We just separated a little bit and then I came up with the idea, 'Welcome To My Nightmare' and at that time I'd already put that into motion as a solo project, having no idea it was going to take off like it did. But we stayed in touch all the time. When I called them up, I said, 'got any songs?' 'Genuine American Girl [one of the new tracks on the bonus CD], Neal brought that one. And initially it was, 'I Want A Genuine American Girl' I said, 'Neal, what would we have said in 1972? 'I Want To Be A Genuine American Girl'. He said, 'oh yeah.' So that changed to what we have now. 'You And All Of Your Friends' is a Dennis Dunaway song."

The British audiences get to see the band perform with the remaining original Alice Cooper Band members later this year. The shows they intend to play are limited in number, but Alice hints that they may play elsewhere if this goes well.

"I think specifically we said we'll do this again, but let's just do it in Britain, because the British audiences were the very first people who really supported Alice Cooper. Before the Americans did, the British did and I said that I think there's a chance to go back fifty years and they would love to see the original band up there. So let's do it, you know, that would be a real plus for the British audience."

For the majority of the main show, we get the current Alice Cooper touring band. "The band that we're bringing over here, no doubt they are the tightest band I've ever worked with," says Alice with more than a hint of pride in his voice. "Our drummer [Glen Sobel] just got voted the number one hard rock drummer in 'Drum! Magazine's Drummies readers' poll. I've got Ryan Roxie [lead guitar, backing vocals], Chuck Garric [bass, backing vocals], Tommy Henriksen [rhythm guitar, backing vocals] and Nita Strauss [rhythm guitar, backing vocals] who's actually related to the Johann Strauss. Except that she's 28 years old, she looks like a model and she plays like Steve Vai. And she just kills it, she just shreds up there, and she's very theatrical."

Keeping it all in the family, Alice's wife, Sheryl, plays three characters in the show: she plays his insane nurse, a very dysfunctional nurse. She plays a rag doll that does a ballet dance, only to be killed off at the end of that performance, and then she kills Alice right after that. Laughing, Alice offers advice on martial harmony. "It's great having my wife in the show. She's been in show business as long as me. She started at the ballet when she was fifteen years old. When we got married, she was eighteen, I was 27 and she was already a stone cold pro on stage. 41 years of murder and fame on display."

Looking at how the show will be put together for the upcoming UK events, Alice is keen to explain how the new dynamic will work and how the original band are likely to feature.

"For England I can tell you this: after they cut my head off, I don't know how many times, the curtain comes down and when the curtain comes back up, it's the original band, Dennis, Neal and Mike, and we do five songs at the end with the original band, which we didn't do before, because the original band plays differently than the touring band. They're a little heavier, a little dirtier and a little nastier, and I sing differently with them. I don't know why, but when I get that band, I suddenly have this different attitude about singing. They play a little bit slower and a little bit heavier, and everybody says, 'you know, when you play with them you sing totally different'. I don't try to, it's just that I played with them for years and years and years, so it's brilliant fun having the original guys out there."

So when the tour is over, what next for Alice Cooper? What about the long mooted Broadway version of 'Welcome To My Nightmare'?

"You know, I've seen eight different scripts for Broadway Alice Cooper. The show is already written. It just needs someone to put the money behind it. You do 'Welcome To My Nightmare' and the next hour are all the hits that weren't in 'Nightmare'. It's theatrical enough to be on Broadway without being a Broadway show. If it does happen, I'd love to be in it. If I'm too old, then just let me direct it."