We’ve Acquired A File On You options interviews through which artists share the tales behind the extracurricular actions that dot their careers: performing gigs, visitor appearances, random web ephemera, and so on.

Insurgent. Vaudevillian. Surrealist. The Godfather of shock rock. The Captain Hook of rock ‘n roll. Over a five-decade profession, Alice Cooper has been referred to as every of these items, and for good purpose. Each within the shock-rock-architecting Alice Cooper Band and as a prolific (albeit slicker-sounding) solo artist, the entity born Vincent Damon Furnier turned world-famous as a result of he checked out a median stage and noticed infinite prospects — a lot of them darkish, theatrical, and seemingly deranged (see: the “Hen Incident” that wasn’t). Even at this time, Alice Cooper stays as surprising as ever. Simply not fairly within the methods you’d count on.

Spanning seven albums with the Alice Cooper Band (1971’s breakthrough LP Love It To Dying featured the proto-punk growler “I’m Eighteen”) and a whopping 22 solo tasks, Cooper’s profession is a behemoth. In the meantime, his affect throughout music, artwork, and movie is as plain as it’s expansive — he’s impressed everybody from neo-psychedelic pioneers the Flaming Lips to fellow horror fan Rob Zombie to glam rockers Mötley Crüe to punk figureheads the Intercourse Pistols and the Ramones to ’90s no-wave experimenters Sonic Youth.

Paradoxically, Cooper can be an avid golfer, a former highschool monitor and subject champion, and a born-again Christian. He has lengthy credited Christianity with serving to save him from drug and alcohol habit. “My spouse and I are each Christian,” Cooper stated in 2018. “My father was a pastor, my grandfather was an evangelist. I grew up within the church, went as far-off as I might from it — virtually died — after which got here again to the church.”

Even nicely into his 70s, Cooper exhibits no signal of slowing down. Along with his ongoing travels with the Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup additionally comprising Joe Perry and Johnny Depp, Cooper will quickly launch his twenty second solo album, the live-band-driven Highway, which is produced by longtime pal and collaborator Bob Ezrin.

Forward of Highway‘s August 25 launch, Cooper sat down for a career-spanning chat with Stereogum. We talked about his newest output, palling round with Groucho Marx and Salvador Dalí, babysitting a younger Keanu “Ke” Reeves whereas recording Welcome To My Nightmare, and what he, as one of many best-known gender-benders in rock, thinks of the continuing gender-affirming care “debate.”

New Album Highway (2023)

Hey, Alice Cooper. How are you?

ALICE COOPER: I’m nice. I’m in Budapest tonight with the Vampires. We now have tonight off, so we’re going over to see Weapons N’ Roses. They occur to be right here tonight.

Will you get to hold after the present or something?

COOPER: Yeah, nicely, it’s nice to go to a present and never must work tonight. I imply, I like working with the Vampires, nevertheless it’s form of neat to have an evening off and also you go see your previous… They’re previous pals. Weapons N’ Roses are previous pals of ours. I haven’t seen them play in a very long time.

Within the press supplies for Highway, you stated that you just wished your touring band to be concerned within the basis of each music on the report. What particularly did your touring band deliver to the recording course of?

COOPER: I wished to point out this band off. To start with, you all the time encompass your self with the most effective gamers. But in addition, all people within the band are finest pals. There’s no ego. All I hear is laughing backstage. Everyone is the most effective at what they do on stage, they usually give me 100% each night time. So I actually wished to function them and glorify them on this album. And the one means to do this was to say, “Okay, I need you to all write songs in regards to the street, about us being on the street. After which [producer] Bob Ezrin and I’ll form these songs into Alice Cooper songs.”

I wished to play these stay within the studio. I don’t wish to layer it. Anyone can go within the studio and put the bass down first after which the drums on that, after which the da, da, da, da. That’s the way you usually do an album. I stated, “No, I need the viewers to know that these songs we did stay within the studio, after which I put the vocal on afterwards.” And once you take heed to the album, it’s obtained that power. It’s obtained that stay power on it. And to me, that’s me bragging about my band.

It’s fairly troublesome to foster a no-ego surroundings in music and leisure.

COOPER: Oh, yeah. And the humorous factor is, it’s the identical factor with the [Hollywood] Vampires. Johnny Depp and Joe Perry and I, we’ve been collectively eight years. There’s by no means been one argument in that band. It’s nice as a result of all people respects all people. We’re well beyond the ego factor.

I did see that in recording this album, you got here up with a surplus of fabric. In January 2022, you stated in an interview that you just had been engaged on two albums. Can we count on one other for 2024?

COOPER: It’s so humorous. I can usually speak about issues. I can’t speak about that album, however I can let you know it’ll be a shock. It’s a really hard-rock album. Throughout the entire COVID factor, the one factor we might do for 18 months is write songs, and so there’s a glut of songs. So being means forward on the album factor is one thing that perhaps some [other] bands are like that too. I’ve obtained an album sitting within the can proper now, and this one’s not even out but. However it will be a shock album. I can vouch that it’s going to be very… It’ll be a shock.

Excessive Faculty Band The Earwigs/The Spiders (1964) & Basic Alice Cooper Band Lineup (1964-1975)

Your highschool band the Earwigs aka the Spiders and the basic Alice Cooper Band lineup had been primarily made of fellows from the Cortez Excessive Faculty cross-country staff. What was your finest time?

COOPER: It was a really odd factor. I went to a little bit faculty in Arizona referred to as Cortez Excessive Faculty. Now, the strangest factor about this highschool was Rickie Lee Jones got here out of there. Half of the members within the Tubes got here out of there. And Alice Cooper got here out of there, out of this little highschool. I imply, that’s fairly bizarre once you get three main acts that come out of 1 little faculty. However then on high of it, it was a faculty the place we couldn’t win a soccer recreation to save lots of our life. We couldn’t win any sport besides cross nation. I used to be the seventh man on the cross-country staff, and I used to be operating a 4:30 mile in highschool.

We had guys operating 4:10, 4:15, 4:23. We had been unbeatable in cross nation as a result of we had seven guys that might beat me. Being the seventh man, I might often beat their first man, whoever we had been operating towards. So we had been 72-0 in cross nation.

Now, on the similar time, we had been the #1 band in Arizona, the Spiders. It was so uncool to be a jock and to be a rocker on the similar time, so we form of needed to journey each issues. We’d be operating towards a staff, they usually’d go, “Wait a minute, aren’t you guys within the Spiders?” And we’d go, “Yeah, hold it down. Okay?” Dennis Dunaway was an ideal runner. John Speer, our first drummer, was an ideal runner. We had been four-year lettermen that needed to conceal it.

I had the state report in Arizona for the 22-mile run once I was 17, and I ran it in July. I didn’t run it in November when it was cool. I ran it in July.

It has rather a lot to do now with me being 75 and being in two touring bands and being the one man that’s not respiratory exhausting on the finish of a present. I imply, all that coaching, and I nonetheless run two miles an evening. Earlier than a tour, for 2 months earlier than a tour, I’ll exit and I’ll run two miles an evening, and I’ll push it. I’ll push it each single night time.

[In high school], no person wished to run towards us, and no person wished to play towards us. So it was nice. I liked highschool. Individuals assume as a result of I wrote “Faculty’s Out,” [then I must have hated high school]. I used to be Ferris Bueller. I imply, I ran that college. I liked highschool.

Babysitting For A Younger Keanu Reeves (Nineteen Seventies)

Is it true you used to babysit Keanu Reeves in Canada?

COOPER: Yeah, I did. We had been making Welcome To My Nightmare in Toronto. As an alternative of a resort, I used to be staying at… [producer] Bob Ezrin had a pal that had a Victorian home proper throughout the road, they usually had been from Hawaii. They’d this little six-year-old child that all the time wished to return over to the studio, and his title was “Ke.” He had black hair. He turned our mascot. I’d deliver him over to the studio, and I’d say, “Do you wish to go get some ice cream?” “Yeah, let’s go get ice cream.” “Okay.”

Then he would come over, and we had an enormous black canine there, and he liked to play with the canine. However we completely form of took him in as our mascot, and he liked being within the studio.

So I’m watching the Jimmy Fallon present, they usually’re interviewing him. Jimmy Fallon pulls out a Welcome To My Nightmare album. And he says, “What does this imply to you?” And he goes, “Oh yeah, nicely, Alice was my babysitter.” And I sat there, and I went, “What?” After which I believed, “Ke, Keanu. Oh my gosh.” I had no thought. After which I noticed it was him. I used to babysit John Wick.

Did you hear that Ke simply obtained his band again collectively?

COOPER: Yeah. He’s taking part in bass. Dogstar. If I heard they had been taking part in, I would definitely go there. And I’d inform him on the finish of the present, “Do you wish to go get some ice cream?”

Hanging Out With Groucho Marx, Colonel Sanders, Salvador Dalí, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra (Nineteen Seventies)

You’ve frolicked with such a wide selection of well-known personalities. Is there anybody you’ve all the time wished to fulfill however haven’t but?

COOPER: It was humorous. I all the time wished to fulfill Errol Flynn or Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi, however they’d all handed away earlier than I had any alternative to fulfill them. However realizing Groucho meant that you just knew Fred Astaire, and also you knew Jack Benny, and also you knew George Burns and Gracie [Allen]. I imply, [if you knew one, then] you knew all of the vaudevillians. They used to see our present as that. They thought the Alice Cooper present was vaudeville, which it’s. I can see that. Like a really darkish vaudeville.

Whereas Salvador Dalí would come to the present, and he would see it as surrealism. In some methods, he’s proper, as a result of we had been enormous Salvador Dalí followers. We had been artwork majors in class, and so Salvador Dalí was the last word. He was the Beatles of artwork. And so I set to work with him on some tasks.

However the factor that impressed me was the truth that all people I obtained to fulfill, that I wished to fulfill, I used to be by no means dissatisfied. I obtained to fulfill the Beatles, and I obtained to be pals with all of the Beatles, they usually had been the nicest folks I’d ever met. The identical with the Rolling Stones. They had been identical to your brothers. I met Elvis. Elvis was nice, a really humorous man. And Sinatra was cool.

I noticed that every one the blokes that had been the most effective of their subject had been the nicest guys as a result of they’d nothing to show. They’d already achieved the whole lot you may obtain, and so there was actually no ego concerned in it. I used to be very impressed with that. Groucho and I obtained to be actually good pals. I imply, Groucho Marx and Alice Cooper collectively, what a loopy mixture that’s. We used to hang around on a regular basis.

I all the time discovered it was the folks on their means up that had a sure measure of success that had been those that had the ego issues. They didn’t actually know who they had been. They hadn’t digested the truth that, okay, I’m very, very lucky to be in a enterprise that acknowledges me as being a superb actor or a superb singer or no matter it’s. Now I can relaxation. I don’t must show something.

It’s attention-grabbing how basic artists of very completely different mediums all felt that the Alice Cooper expertise was reflecting their work.

COOPER: I used to be so proud of that as a result of it actually was part of them. I wished the present to be vaudevillian. I liked these guys. I wished some surrealism in it. I wished a little bit little bit of West Aspect Story within the present. I wished a little bit little bit of RKO horror motion pictures within the present. All of that blended all collectively became Alice Cooper.

The “Blackout Albums” (Early Nineteen Eighties)

You’ve referred to Particular Forces, ‘Zipper Catches Pores and skin, and DaDa as your “blackout” albums as a result of they had been made in a haze of substance abuse. You haven’t performed any of those songs in live performance for a very long time, if ever. Are there any songs from this era you’re keen on although?

COOPER: Nicely, that is the odd factor about it. [To] my actual hardcore Alice followers, Zipper Catches Pores and skin, DaDa, Particular Forces, the albums I don’t bear in mind writing or recording or touring with are all their favourite albums. I feel it’s as a result of I used to be, in fact, in the course of the good cocaine blizzard in Los Angeles. From 1977 to 1983, I used to be proper in the course of that. I pay attention again to these albums now, and I am going, “Oh, that’s actually good.” They weren’t produced very nicely, and I didn’t spend sufficient time on the songs. However I take heed to these albums, and I’m not in in the least ashamed of any of them. I feel they represented a interval of my psychosis proper then. A few of it was actually creative, whereas I didn’t go in and attempt to make them hit data. I used to be simply form of babbling incoherently, they usually ended up being these albums.

If it could’ve been any person else, I’d’ve stated, “That’s an ideal album, or that’s an ideal music.” I can’t consider any of the songs on there that I’m ashamed I’ve written. All of them had been actually distinctive little numbers. And the one factor now, [being] sober, I’d go, “Wow, perhaps I ought to return to these albums and select 5 songs on every album and rerecord them.” [But] then I feel I’d lose the allure of these songs in the event you tried to make them higher.

Being An Arizona Division Of Transportation Mascot (2022)

Final 12 months, ADOT held a Identify-A-Snowplow contest, and the successful entry was “Alice Scooper.” This summer season, ADOT launched a specialty “Alice Cooper’s Rock Strong” automobile license plate. What would you wish to see subsequent? Perhaps an airport terminal?

COOPER: It’s so humorous. I’m a snowplow. I used to be a lotto card, a scratch card, and now I’m a license plate. I feel that they need to at the very least title a psychological establishment after me.

I’ll let you know what I do have in Phoenix. I’ve the Strong Rock Basis. We now have two buildings proper now. Any teenager can are available in and be taught any instrument or dance or vocals or recording or something like that, and it’s all free. So we get children from gangland. We get children from the richest a part of city. All of them are available in there, they usually’re all in danger. Each teenager on the planet proper now could be in danger as a result of the world is a lot extra harmful for youngsters now than it’s ever been. It’s a Christian nonprofit, and what we do is we simply go, “Hey, come on in and discover your expertise.” It’s simply that easy.

So we get children that had been in all probability going to be in jail, or they had been going to be heavy customers. And I stated, “You will get simply as hooked on being in a band as you’ll be able to to being in a gang.” So now we have 100 children a day in there, and so life. And it actually modifications their life. It completely modifications their life as a result of all we’re asking them to do is are available in and check out the whole lot and discover out what you’re good at. Now, children that had been going to be in gangs at the moment are in bands, they usually’re not going to go to jail, they usually’re not going to OD.

Ideas About Sexuality And Gender (1974-)

In a 1974 interview with SPEC, you gave actually forward-thinking responses to questions on sexuality and gender. You stated “Sooner or later, everybody shall be bisexual,” and also you precisely outlined pansexuality, amongst different issues. You additionally stated, “A number of males who carry out put on make-up – that’s a theatrical custom, it has nothing to do with sexuality.”

Lately a few of your “theatrical” rock friends have commented about gender identification, with Paul Stanley and Dee Snider calling gender-affirming care for youths a “unhappy and harmful fad.”

As somebody who performed round with gender expectations early on, do you could have any ideas on what a few of your contemporaries have stated earlier than they walked these feedback again?

COOPER: Yeah. I’m understanding that there are instances of transgender, however I’m afraid that it’s additionally a fad, and I’m afraid there’s lots of people claiming to be this simply because they wish to be that. I discover it unsuitable once you’ve obtained a six-year-old child who has no thought. He simply needs to play, and also you’re complicated him telling him, “Yeah, you’re a boy, however you may be a woman if you wish to be.”

I feel that’s so complicated to a child. It’s even complicated to a teen. You’re nonetheless looking for your identification, and but right here’s this factor occurring, saying, “Yeah, however you could be something you need. You could be a cat if you wish to be.” I imply, in the event you establish as a tree… And I’m going, “Come on! What are we in, a Kurt Vonnegut novel?” It’s so absurd, that it’s gone now to the purpose of absurdity.

The entire woke factor… No person can reply this query. Perhaps you’ll be able to. Who’s making the foundations? Is there a constructing someplace in New York the place folks sit down day-after-day and say, “Okay, we will’t say ‘mom’ now. We now have to say ‘birthing individual.’ Get that out on the wire proper now”? Who is that this person who’s making these guidelines? I don’t get it. I’m not being old fashioned about it. I’m being logical about it.

It’s attending to the purpose now the place it’s laughable. If anyone was attempting to make some extent on this factor, they turned it into an enormous comedy. I don’t know one person who agrees with the woke factor. I don’t know one individual. Everyone I speak to says, “Isn’t it silly?” And I’m going, “Nicely, I respect folks. I respect folks and who they’re, however I’m not going to inform a seven-year-old boy, ‘Go put a gown on as a result of perhaps you’re a woman,’ and he’s going, ‘No, I’m not. I’m a boy.’”

So I say let any person at the very least develop into sexually conscious of who they’re earlier than they begin fascinated about in the event that they’re a boy or a woman. A number of occasions, I have a look at it this manner, the logical means: If in case you have these genitals, you’re a boy. If in case you have these genitals, you’re a woman. There’s a distinction between “I’m a male who’s a feminine, or I’m a feminine that’s a male” and desirous to be a feminine. You had been born a male. Okay, in order that’s a reality. You might have these items right here.

Now, the distinction is you wish to be a feminine. Okay, that’s one thing you are able to do in a while if you wish to. However you’re not a male born a feminine.

I don’t assume mother and father are encouraging doubt of their children’ identities. I’d simply hope that they pay attention to their children and discover pediatricians that present acceptable care.

COOPER: Nicely, I can see any person actually benefiting from this, although. A man can stroll into a girl’s toilet at any time and simply say, “I simply really feel like I’m a girl at this time” and have the time of his life in there, and he’s not in in the least… He’s simply benefiting from that state of affairs. Nicely, that’s going to occur. Any person’s going to get raped, and the man’s going to say, “Nicely, I felt like a woman that day, after which I felt like a man.” The place do you draw this line?

One thing’s going to lift its ugly head, and swiftly, persons are going to start out going, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. We’ve obtained to get this below management.”

It’s virtually like that with AI. Individuals would say, “Nicely, what about AI?” And I stated, “The one person who shouldn’t have AI is Paul McCartney.” It’s harmful.