PERFORMING AS THE EARWIGS 1964 - 1965

The Earwigs formed in the early to middle part of 1964 to play a Letterman Talent Show at Cortex High School in Phoenix, Arizona. The band simply mimed to a Beatles tape. The band are most commonly known to have consisted of Vincent Furnier, Dennis Dunaway, John Speer, John Tatum, Glen Buxton.

SickThingsUK has discovered that there were actually two Letterman performances. The first, where they mimed to the Beatles tape, was a disaster and they came in last. Peter Williams played drums on this occasion and left the band after this appearance, to be replaced by John Tatum. Only Glen and John Tantum could play at this point, the rest of the band still had to learn. In a Cortez High School newspaper report dated 16th October 1964 the rest of band had only just recently learn to play their instruments. The band performed in bright yellow jackets with black turtle neck sweaters.

1964 Unknown

??: USA - Letterman Talent Show, Cortez High School, Phoenix, Arizona
??: USA - Letterman Talent Show, Cortez High School, Phoenix, Arizona

1964 October

??: USA - Cortez High School, Phoenix, Arizona
A series of Lunch Time performances by the band for fellow students
23: USA - Pit and the Pendulum, Cortez High School, Phoenix, Arizona
A dance sponsored by Cortez High School Journalism Club)

1965

??: USA - Lisa Hawks, Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party, Phoenix, Arizona

1965 February

09: USA - Washington Grad School Talent Show

1965 May

07: USA - Talent Show, Arizona

1965 June

01: USA - Pizza Pub, Phoenix, Arizona

1965 September

??: USA - VIP Lounge, Phoenix, Arizona

1965 November

??: USA - Phoenix Star Club, Phoenix, Arizona

PERFORMING AS THE SPIDERS 1966 - 1967

At this point the band still consisted of Vincent Furnier, Dennis Dunaway, John Speer, John Tatum, Glen Buxton. Although John Tatum left in the Summer of '66 and was replaced by Michael Bruce.

The band recorded two single in the year that they were known as The Spiders. Why Don't You Love Me / Hitch Hike featuring the first line-up, and Don't Blow Your Mind / No Price Tag which was recorded with the second line-up; both singles are needless to say, very sought after. Of interest to those with shallow pockets, the Don't Blow Your Mind single was recently re-released by the Garage Greats, and Why Don't You Love Me was released as a 4-track single in 1998 by Sundazed. The band would perform with a big spider web as their backdrop.

1966 August

21: USA - Thrift City, Tucson, Arizona

1966 September

04: USA - VIP club, Jaycees, Phoenix (support Yardbirds)

1967 March

16: USA - VIP Club, Tucson, Arizona 26: USA - Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California
28: USA - Sunset Strip, Los Angeles, California

1967 Unknown

??: USA - Hullabaloo Club, Los Angeles, California, USA

1967 May

??: USA - Gallup, New Mexico
??: USA - Albuquerque, New Mexico

PERFORMING AS THE NAZZ 1967 - 1968

At this point the band still consisted of Vincent Furnier, Dennis Dunaway, John Speer, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton. Although John Speer was to leave in late '67 to be replaced by Neal Smith. This line-up would remain until 1974, although additonal musicians were brought in to help out when Glen was experiencing problems. The name The Nazz was taken from the Yardbirds song called "The Nazz Are Blue". The name was changed in early 1968 when Todd Rundgeon's band of the same name started to gain some attention. The band recorded one single as The Nazz, Wonder Who's Loving Her Now / Lay Down And Die Goodbye which was released in 1967; another much sought after single.

PERFORMING AS ALICE COOPER (1968-1974)

At this point the band were now a cohesive unit, and there were no more changes to the bands line-up. This would remain until early in 1974 when Alice Cooper the group disbanded to do their own projects and take some time off, never to return. The bands first gig as Alice Cooper was advertised as The Nazz, between the time the poster had been printed and the show was due to start, the band had changed it's name. Their last gig as the Alice Cooper group was on 8th April 1974, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.