Alice Cooper Interview
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00:0098.7 The Shark, Jeff Zito, I got to tell you, this could be, this could be great.
00:05This is probably one of the greatest interviews for me.
00:07This could be one of the worst for Alice Cooper.
00:10I hope, Alice, that I don't come off like maybe Wayne or Garth, you know.
00:14No, no, it's okay.
00:15You're not worthy.
00:16It's okay.
00:17There'll be a lot of Waynes and Garths here today, so I think so.
00:20So how have you been?
00:22I know golf is a big part of your life, and I know that you quit drinking
00:27and replaced that addiction with golf.
00:31Funny thing is, golf and Alice never meet.
00:33Golf and Alice never meet?
00:34No.
00:35Really?
00:35I play golf in the morning, and if I'm playing a show that night, Alice, the character,
00:40never even thinks about golf.
00:42You know, they're two separate characters, totally.
00:44So, you know, I'll go play golf in the morning with two or three guys,
00:48and then that night I get on stage, and there's not even a thought of it.
00:51Not even a thought.
00:52Yeah.
00:53How about, do you schedule your tours around, like, some great areas?
00:57No.
00:57No?
00:57No, no, no.
00:58Wherever you go, there's a golf course.
01:00Right on.
01:01I mean, you know, my guitar player plays.
01:03You'd be surprised at who plays golf.
01:05I mean, Iggy Pop plays golf.
01:08Lou Reed played golf.
01:10John Waters.
01:11I mean, guys like most metal bands have got at least two or three guys that play golf.
01:18So, I mean, golf is a rock and roll sport now.
01:20It is.
01:21Yeah.
01:21What is it about golf?
01:23It's addictive.
01:24It's like an addiction.
01:25If you've stopped doing your addictions, like we did.
01:28I did 37 years ago.
01:29I quit drinking and doing drugs.
01:32You find an addiction that's not going to kill you.
01:35Right.
01:36So, golf is that.
01:39And it sounds like something that your dad would play, but one of my best weapons were
01:43when dads would not let their kids go to my concerts, I'd say, tell your dad I can beat
01:48him in golf.
01:50You know, that'll frost him off more than anything else.
01:53Because they don't like that.
01:54Nobody likes that.
01:56I'm from a golfing family.
01:57My brother's the GM of a very prestigious golf course in Tampa called Avala.
02:02So, let me know if you need me to hook you up.
02:04I've played there.
02:04Oh, have you?
02:05Yeah.
02:05You don't need me.
02:07Who am I kidding?
02:09Alice, originally from Detroit Rock City, baby.
02:12That's where I came in from.
02:13I just came in from Detroit.
02:15I'm recording there right now.
02:16You're recording right now?
02:18I just finished a week in Detroit recording with some of the guys in the MC5 and Mark Farner
02:27from Grand Funk.
02:28The whole album is about Detroit.
02:31Didn't you just come out with an album a couple months ago?
02:33Yeah, you've got to keep coming up with albums.
02:35Well, and you know, the Hollywood Vampires, the other band, that's a recording band also.
02:40We've got two albums out with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry.
02:42And so, I'm in two touring bands, two recording bands right now.
02:47Wow.
02:48Yeah.
02:48So, when you started in Detroit, did the band start in Detroit?
02:52No, no.
02:53You started in Arizona?
02:54In Arizona.
02:54We were high school in Phoenix.
02:56But I was born in Detroit.
02:58So, that DNA is still in me.
03:00That hard rock, a lot of horsepower DNA is in there.
03:06So, you're never going to hear an Alice Cooper without three guitars that are blaring.
03:10You know, I'll never do soft rock.
03:13Good.
03:15Yeah.
03:16You know, known as the father of shock rock, paved the ways for guys like Marilyn Manson
03:22and Rob Zombie.
03:25Let me ask you, did you start to incorporate the elements of the makeup and Alice Cooper
03:32right away?
03:33And how long, like, were you a regular band?
03:35As early as high school.
03:36As early as high school.
03:37We were doing that.
03:38We were, we were, I always thought that rock and roll was the most theatrical music.
03:42So, why not bring it to life?
03:44Why not?
03:45If you're going to say, welcome to my nightmare, give them the nightmare.
03:48Don't just say it.
03:49Give it to them.
03:50And that includes, that means you've got to produce it.
03:53You've got to get it on stage.
03:54You have to rehearse it.
03:55You have to have a good idea.
03:56You have to see how it works with the lights.
03:58You know, you really have to learn the whole craft of how to do a show.
04:01And we've been doing it like that forever.
04:04The show we're doing now is like, I mean, it's theatrical as anything we've ever done.
04:08You know?
04:09And, but, I mean, I can't imagine getting up there and just being a, you know, staring
04:15at my shoes, singing songs.
04:17Shoegazer.
04:17You've got to get up there and play and, you know, entertain the audience.
04:20What, what were some of your influences when you were a kid before you got into music
04:26or just getting in?
04:27Well, you know, I mean, like any kid, you know, I loved horror movies.
04:31It was great.
04:32You'd go to the movies every Saturday and horror movies.
04:35And, of course, my generation grew up on television because that was our babysitter
04:40was television.
04:41So the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits and all that stuff, you know.
04:45But, basically, rock and roll and that all just fit together so well with me.
04:49And then you have to wrap it around with a certain amount of comedy.
04:53If you don't have comedy in it, it sits flat.
04:57You have to have some, you have to have, like, a certain amount of romance, a certain amount
05:01of sexuality, a certain amount of comedy to make the horror work, you know.
05:06I mean, if you do something really horrific on stage, I want the audience to be shocked,
05:10but I want them to laugh also.
05:12Right.
05:12You know.
05:12Alice Cooper, our guest here on 98.7 The Shark, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
05:20of Fame back in 2011.
05:23What are your thoughts on the broadness of the Hall's inductees?
05:29And do you think there's anybody that's left out that should be?
05:32Well, of course, there's always, you know, for me, the one that is so obvious is Burt
05:37Bacharach.
05:38Wow.
05:38Burt Bacharach wrote more rock and roll hit songs than the Beatles, you know, and he's
05:44not in the Hall of Fame.
05:45And I wonder why is he in there?
05:46And Randy Newman is in the Hall of Fame and Burt Bacharach wrote 50 times more songs than
05:51him, you know.
05:52Right.
05:53It doesn't make any sense, you know, to keep Burt Bacharach out of the Hall of Fame.
05:57So, that would be like, you know, forgetting to put the Rolling Stones in.
06:02Right.
06:02You know?
06:02Right.
06:03But there are bands, you know, I mean, I think, you know, Judas Priest, you know, I think MC5.
06:09Oh, yeah.
06:11You know, there's so many bands out there that have been around for Iron Maiden, you know,
06:15they've been around, they have an army out there.
06:19There's just so many groups.
06:20There was a long time there where I kept saying, how come the Moody Blues are not in the Hall
06:23of Fame?
06:24Right.
06:24Well, they got it.
06:25They finally got in, you know.
06:27I was a big Paul Butterfield fan.
06:29I was a big Laura Nero fan.
06:31And they all got in, which was great.
06:33But there's some obvious ones that should be in, you know.
06:36So, I got to ask you, I hear you're a big sports fan, probably more of an NHL fan, you
06:44a big Coyotes fan.
06:45Well, I'm born in Detroit, so I'll always be a Red Wings fan, you know.
06:51But when the Red Wings play the Coyotes, I don't go to that game.
06:55You don't?
06:56No, I can't.
06:56Keep it neutral?
06:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:58But I do go to a lot of Coyotes games, and you know, my son plays hockey, and hockey's
07:06just part of the thing, but you know, all sports.
07:09Right.
07:09Most rock and roll guys are into sports.
07:11We get off of the stage, and we get on the bus, turn on TV to see who won.
07:16Right.
07:16You know, did Detroit win today?
07:18Did Oakland win?
07:19Right.
07:20Everybody has their own team, you know.
07:21Well, here in Tampa Bay, you know, our hockey team is the Tampa Bay Lightning, and we, you
07:27know, we love the Lightning, so I brought you a little gift, if you wouldn't mind me giving
07:34this to you.
07:34What size are you?
07:35Are you large or medium?
07:36Well, large or medium.
07:37Either one.
07:37Okay, well, this is, let me show, let me give you the large, because they run small.
07:44This is...
07:44Well, we're sports fans, so I mean, you know, we just go to, if there's a game that night
07:48on the night off, we go to the game.
07:49This is our 98.7 The Shark Tampa Bay Lightning inspired t-shirt, so I wanted to make sure you
07:59had one of these, because, you know, the bolts are big here in Tampa.
08:04The bolts are great, and what about your Buccaneers?
08:07Well, you know, you can't have it all, Alice.
08:09We're big fans of the Bucs, but...
08:11Hey, I'm a Lions fan, okay?
08:12You know exactly what we're going through.
08:14They don't look so bad this year.
08:15No, they look pretty good, actually.
08:16They actually do.
08:16I always thought Matthew Stafford was among the elite.
08:20My wife is from Detroit, big Detroit Lions fan, so...
08:23They're even talking about getting, you know, Megatron back.
08:27Oh, I hope so.
08:28That would be a great target for you.
08:29Unbelievable.
08:30We got our own Megatron here in Tampa Bay.
08:32His name's Mike Evans.
08:33Oh, yeah.
08:33He's just a...
08:34Big boy.
08:34Big boy.
08:35Well, I got to tell you, Alice, I am such a fan, obviously.
08:39Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
08:42I hope I didn't come off like Chris Farley in Saturday Night Live when I said,
08:48Hey, do you remember when you did that song, Welcome to My Nightmare?
08:53Do you really have nightmares?
08:55Stupid, stupid, stupid.
08:58Chris, you know, I got to know Chris after doing Wayne's World.
09:01Right, right.
09:02And he was, that was really one of those guys that I think because he was big, he felt he
09:10had to be funny all the time.
09:11Right.
09:11There was no off button on him.
09:14And I think that has something to do with killing a person, you know, where they just can't be
09:18themselves.
09:19They feel that they have to entertain at all times.
09:22Wow.
09:23Yeah.
09:23That's too bad because he was a great guy.
09:24Funny guy, man.
09:25All those guys, yeah.
09:26Funny, funny dude.
09:27Yeah.
09:27The show is November 7th, Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.
09:33I can't tell you how many bands I've seen there.
09:35Chris Cornell, acoustic, fourth row, dead center.
09:39Yeah.
09:40I'm going to be there.
09:41Same thing for Alice Cooper.
09:43If you're in the fourth row, you're in the blood seats.
09:45Oh, really?
09:46Yeah.
09:46So maybe I got to wear a poncho?
09:47You just call it the blood seat.
09:49Okay.
09:49I'm going to make sure I wear some clothes that I paint with or do odd jobs around the house
09:54with.
09:55Such a great opportunity.
09:58Thanks for meeting me.
09:59And I hope this wasn't a low light of your career.
10:03Not at all.
10:03And you're worthy.
10:04Oh, thank you.
10:06Yes.