Feature

By Ashley Toland Editor

It’s not just about blood and gore. But about theater and art and most of all, the music, says Alice Cooper, who is rightfully credited with being the father of the shock/theatrical rock genre.

From his very first show at Cortez High School in Phoenix to his upcoming performance at the Saenger Theatre, the 59-year-old singer/performer has been delivering productions worthy of any Broadway stage for the past 40 years, and he took a little time out last week to tell me what he would be bringing to the one on Joachim.

AT: We’re excited to get you down here in Mobile. You guys have been on the road quite a bit?

AC: We’ve been on this tour since May, and finish up in December in Moscow, so we’ve been all over the world. All over the place. I think this is about my 20 or 25th world tour. It’s a neverending tour.

AT: I was just reading your bio, and I see you and the band met on your high school newspaper staff in Phoenix?

AC: Yeah, that was probably going to be my major if I had gone on further in college. I got a bachelor’s in fine arts but I probably would have gotten more into journalism because being a lyric writer I think that goes in hand in hand with journalism, you know?

AT: Well, I don’t know about that. Sadly, I’ve yet to write any Top 40 hits.

AC: Well I would have been in some sort of creative wrting arena.

AT: I read where your column at your paper was called “Get Out of My Hair.” What was that about?

AC: Yeah, I was expelled six times that year for having hair longer than what your dad’s hair was probably back then.

AT: You guys started back in high school and college, so how did a bunch of newspaper geeks end up starting a “shock rock” band?

AC: Well, we were all a bunch of arts students, too. Like I said, I have a bachelor’s in fine arts, and so did my bass player. And I think that art background and especially being a big Salvador Dali fan and fan of surrealism showed up in the performance. I always kind of looked at the stage and said why isn’t anyone using any visuals up there. We’re a rock band, and I said “we could just go up and play like everyone else but, why, why do that?” Why not do something that no one’s ever seen? Something that’s going to make the stage come alive?

AT: So you started off with that kind of performance from the very beginning?

AC: Yes, it was the very first show. The very, very, very, very first time we ever stepped on stage, there was all this stuff going on and to me, I said, “Let’s make this exciting. Anybody can be in a band.”

AT: And what was the crowd’s reaction? I’m sure they weren’t expecting that?

AC: They loved it, because it was something new.

AT: Do you remember where that show was?

AC: Yeah, it was at my high school. Cortez High School (in Phoenix, Ariz.). I was a sophomore in high school. I mean, we were just horrible, but we were still fun to watch. In those days, you went home from school, went straight to the garage and practiced with your band, then you did your homework. And we were all track and cross-country, so we were all runners, so we would go work out after school, then we go to the garage and rehearse, then we would do our homework.,but it was definitely third or fourth on the list.

AT: Well, it must not have hurt you too much, since you ran for president (against Richard Nixon)?

AC: Well yes, I did, as a joke, of course. The same way Elvis did; the same way everyone else did.

AT: Well how many votes did you get?

AC: Well I had a number one song in Europe called “Elected” and it was big in America; it wasn’t a number-one, but it was a Top 40 hit, and it was John Lennon’s favorite song.

It was just a total parody and satire on the elections, because Nixon was in at that time. And it was just like who is the biggest antithesis of Richard Nixon? Well, it was Alice Cooper. And I just thought that would be funny, because you have to remember we were Marilyn Manson times 10. So I was the least likely to be the president of the United States and that was just my sense of humor. But who would even want that job?

AT: So would President Alice Cooper have had a First Lady? First Man? First What?

AC: No, I think I would have had a First Chimpanzee. That would probably have been it.

AT: So the story is that the name Alice Cooper was chosen by a Ouija board. True or False?

AC: Oh, no. That’s another great urban legend. I chose the name Alice Cooper because I thought it would irritate every parent in America?

AT: Because it was just so sweet sounding? Such a common name?

AC: Well, I just thought every parent would say, “I don’t want my son to grow up like this.” You have to remember we were extremely subversive at the time. Picture 1968 and picture this band that’s got hair down to their waists, smeared with make-up, a little bit of blood, a little bit of violence and there is no hippy involved in this thing. And it’s very theatrical on stage – like a horror movie. Trust me – the parents were having none of it. Of course, that’s what makes you. As soon as we got banned in England, we went right to number one.

AT: Yeah, you’re like “please ban me worldwide.”

AC: Absolutely. You can’t buy publicity like that. And everyone operated on that premise after that happened to us. You know, the Sex Pistols kind of realized that was the way to go.

But really it always came back down to how good the music was. You can have all of the press stories, and all of the urban legends and sensationalist stuff about the band and that was great but what people kept forgetting was that we had 14 Top 40 hits. And they were real, as much as like Creedence Clearwater’s. We had hit singles; that was our niche back then.

AT: Well, that’s true and it seems like Bob Dylan agreed. I read where he said, ” I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter.”

AC: Yeah, that was one of the great compliments of my life. The fact that he even knew I was alive. That was very nice.

AT: So which song is your favorite; which one is the best?

AC: Well, I think every band gets one song that they’re known for forever, and ours would be “School’s Out.” It’s the one that will live forever; it’s sort of the anthem.

AT: So what do you do these days when you’re not touring?

AC: Well, I’ve been married for 31 years. I have never cheated on my wife. We have the happiest relationship on the planet. We have three kids. I have a radio show. I’ve got an ongoing Christian charity that I’m pretty much the chairman of. And we’re building a place that’s an alternative to guns, gangs and drugs. Everyday I put a different hat on.

AT: So are your Christian brothers and sisters a little shocked by your shows?

AC: I’ve been Christian for 15 years now, and I take it very seriously. I’m at Bible study every Wednesday morning. I kind of balk when I get that problem from the far right. And the reason is if I were a Christian actor, and I was doing Macbeth – Macbeth is so much darker, so much more occult, so much bloodier than anything I do, and that would have been totally acceptable to them.

AT: Yeah, if you’ve got blood at your shows, I think your automatically labeled Satanic.

AC: Macbeth is totally Satanic and what I do would be more like vaudeville. So it is a different standard. And I’m not saying every Christian circle is like that. There are many Christian circles who totally get it. But there is always that far right – the samee people who won’t let their kids celebrate Halloween. There’s always going to be that level, and you just have to deal with them. That’s all.

AT: You’re going to be performing in a beautiful theater. So what can

everyone expect from the show?

AC: Our show is built for a theater. The guy who directed this show directed “Beauty and the Beast” and he directed “Lestat” and “Aida” and I gave him full reign on this one and I said, “Let’s invent a new show that’s going to work on a big festival level and in a theater. The great thing about a theater is you can see the details of the show. And our show is full of details – there are 28 songs, and there is some sort of theatrical device in every single song. That’s just the way I’ve always done it.

AT: I guess touring with you must involve a million buses?

AC: Yeah with all the stage props. You know, when you’re carrying a full-size gallows..

AT: That must be fun to get through customs when you’re touring overseas?

AC: Actually, the great thing about that is that all those customs agents are fans. They usually want to take a look at it and get a picture with it.

AT: So you mentioned bands like Marilyn Manson and I guess maybe also GWAR, do you think they are carrying the torch well?

AC: Well I call them my disobedient children. If there is any music in the world that’s theatrical, it’s rock-and-roll. I don’t understand why more bands aren’t more theatrical. Sometimes it’s laziness; sometimes it’s just lack of imagination, but a lot of times, it’s just, “well we just want to play our music.” They really just don’t care about the show. I mean, I guess it would probably be silly for Bruce Springsteen to do a theatrical show.

But you take a band like Marilyn Manson, and you may not like the music but generally, the show is going to be a production. The same thing with Panic! At the Disco and other new bands. It was unheard of when we started doing it; in fact, it was really looked down on because everyone just went, “well we don’t need this.” And it was just them denying what was going to happen in the future.

AT: Well anything else you’d like to say to the folks coming to your show?

AC: I think it’s going to be great. And if you’re sitting in the first two or three rows, don’t wear your best clothes.

Ashley Toland is Lagniappe editor. Contact her at ashleytoland@lagniappemobile.com.

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