Al Pitrelli and Russell Allen of TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA came into the Nights With Alice Cooper studio to talk about their new rock opera, The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve, and the history of TSO, issued Bravewords. They also performed “This Christmas Day”. Watch the video below:
Trans-Siberian Orchestra recently kicked off their 2016 Winter Tour and released a new video, dubbed TSO 2016 Winter Tour In 60 Seconds. Watch below.
The 2016 Winter Tour kicked off at the Covelli Centre, Youngstown, OH. Fan-filmed video of the entire show is available at this location. Some clips from the set are available below.
The video below takes you behind the scenes with the production crew building the lavish TSO set and the musicians rehearsing before hitting the stage.
The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve 2016 Winter Tour is set to hit 61 cities across North America, concluding, after 105 shows, with special New Year’s Eve performances in Seattle and Cleveland (click here for a full itinerary).
Phoenix Hard Rockers CO-OP release their self-titled debut EP today, 12/2, on all digital outlets via EMP LABEL GROUP/THC MUSIC.
The 5 song EP, Produced by Mike Bolenbach and CO-OP at Phoenix’s FULL WELL STUDIO, showcases the band’s aggressive, dreamy, stoner-infused brand of Hard Rock, marked by Cooper’s intense vocal delivery.
CO-OP, Dash Cooper (Lead Vocals), Court Stumpf (Lead Guitar & Vocals), Mark Savale (Drums), Justin Swartzentruber (Bass), and Kolby Peoples (Guitar) have been making noise in, and out of, their hometown of Phoenix for years, honing their craft as a must-see live act. From clubs to theaters to arenas, the band has commanded stages including many shows opening for, and even serving as an impromptu backup band for, Dash’s father, Rock legend Alice Cooper.
Dash Cooper and Mark Savale met early in their childhood and soon became close friends. As they grew up, they each began developing their own individual passion for music. And while vocalist Dash Cooper is a direct descendent of Rock royalty, without a doubt inheriting his father’s talent as a powerhouse vocalist and songwriter, he has developed his own distinct voice as a vocalist and performer.
Says EMP’s Thom Hazaert, “When I first became aware of Dash and the CO-OP guys, obviously, it seemed like a cool fit because of David’s (Ellefson) longtime relationship with Alice (Cooper), as well as the hometown Phoenix connection. I flew out to Arizona and saw the guys open for Alice at a huge outdoor Amphitheater, and it was just pure Rock power. And once I really dove into the band and their music, and got to know the guys, it was all but a done deal. Dash is a tremendous talent, and an incredible vocalist. I was lucky enough to get to jump in the studio with them on this EP and lend a little extra production to a couple tracks, and it really came out killer. ”
EMP President (and Megadeth bassist) David Ellefson echoes those sentiments. “Alice Cooper took Megadeth out on our first big tour, and we’ve always had a great relationship. He wrote the foreword to my book. So when Thom started talking to Dash and the CO-OP guys, and we had the chance to sign them, it was a really cool opportunity to shine a spotlight on some incredible local Phoenix talent. And when I finally heard the finished EP, I was blown away.”
The original lineup played locally around Phoenix, but it wasn’t until they added lead guitarist Court Stumpf in 2012 that the band started building what would eventually become CO-OP. A graduate of Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, Stumpf pioneered CO-OP’s new direction and sound. Taking influence from a wide spectrum of bands and musicians–from AC/DC and Led Zeppelin to Alice in Chains, Queens of the Stone Age, Corrosion of Conformity, even stoner legends Sleep (which a song on the EP is titled as a nod to) –CO-OP is forging a sound all their own, earning them accolades and fans from around the World. (One of those fans is Johnny Depp, who was photographed onstage several times with Hollywood Vampires, wearing his CO-OP shirt, leading to a flood of orders from around the Globe.) Not bad for a band releasing their first EP today.
CO-OP will release their debut full length via EMP in 2017, but for now check out the band at their CD release party tonight 12/2 at Joe’s Grotto in Phoenix.
Sleep:
Tracklist:
1. DESERT DREAMS (6:09)
2. THEME FOR IGNORANCE (5:09)
3. OVERDRIVE (3:33)
4. OLD SCRATCH (4:39)
5. SLEEP (6:59)
During the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES‘ July 10th show at the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, guitarist Joe Perry (Aerosmith) reportedly left the stage two songs into the band’s set and collapsed, reported Bravewords.com. The footage below shows Perry struggling to play before leaving the stage and the EMT’s rushing to help. The show continued without him.
Page Six is now reporting that Perry suffered a cardiac arrest at approximately 9:30pm and was taken to Coney Island Hospital. He is listed in stable condition.
Hollywood Vampires frontman and shock rock legend Alice Cooper later posted the following message:
“Thanks to everyone asking about our brother @JoePerry. He is stable right now, with family & is under the best care”
Thanks to everyone asking about our brother @JoePerry. He is stable right now, with family & is under the best care https://t.co/oxCRUqRAk6— Alice Cooper (@RealAliceCooper) July 11, 2016
Following their wildly successful concerts at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, in front of 100,000 screaming fans at the Rock In Rio festival, and their spectacular worldwide television debut on the 2016 Grammy Awards reaching a global audience of almost 25 million people, fans worldwide demanded more. Hollywood Vampires– Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp – always deliver and arranged their schedules to give their fans what they want.
Joining the Hollywood Vampires on tour are modern day Vampires Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses/The Cult) on drums, Robert DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots) on bass, Tommy Henriksen (Alice Cooper) on guitar, and Bruce Witkin(The Kids) on piano, percussion and guitar. For tickets, visit this location.
“Here is a gang of friends who came together really by chance and over the last year we were finally able to wrangle our schedules and the energy just fell into place. Playing with this line up is like a dream come true. After seeing the reaction at Rock in Rio in front of 100,000 fans, I know this band is going to tear the house down. Hell, I would want to be in the audience to see us rip it up.” – Joe Perry
A super-group comprised of rock royalty and a Hollywood superstar, the Vampires will hit the stage offering fans a non-stop, energetic rock concert like no other, performing their new single “Bad As I Am” from their new deluxe album, as well as renditions of popular classics including “My Generation,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and a “School’s Out”/”Another Brick in the Wall” medley.
Hollywood Vampires released a new digital deluxe version of their self-titled album. This expanded version includes three additional songs, including one original and two rocking covers. The deluxe version includes the scorching new single “Bad As I Am” an original song penned by Johnny Depp, Tommy Henriksen, and Bruce Witkin and features Matt Sorum, Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Johnny Depp. Also included is “I’m A Boy,” a Who original, that was only available as a Japanese bonus track. “7 and 7 Is” is an unreleased track from the album sessions and is the classic song by the legendary Los Angeles band Love, a Vampires special pick and one that Alice covered on his 1981 solo album, Special Forces.
In 1969 on the Sunset Strip at a club called the Rainbow Bar & Grill, the Hollywood Vampires were born in the upstairs bar. It was a gathering place for the rock stars living in or passing through L.A. “To join the club, one simply had to out drink all of the members,” says Alice Cooper, a founding member of the original Vampires.
Cooper and good friend Johnny Depp got together and decided the spirit of the Hollywood Vampires should live again (minus the drinking). Cooper and Depp were joined by Joe Perry, who is an old friend of both, and the recording began: a tribute to the original Hollywood Vampires. An environment was born for great artists to hang, laugh and play together.
Tour dates:
July
12 – Kettering, OH – Fraze Pavilion
13 – Mt. Pleasant, MI – Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
14 – Cadott, WI – Rock Fest
16 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
18 – Fargo, ND – Scheels Arena
22 – Rohnert Park, CA – Weill Hall
23 – Jacksonville, OR – Britt Pavilion
24 – Saratoga, CA – The Mountain Winery
25 – Paso Robles, CA – Mid State Fair
ALICE COOPER says fans who will see AC/DC with Axl Rose have “the golden ticket” and believes the GUNS N’ ROSES man has “the perfect voice” for the job., according to teamrock.com.
AC/DC confirmed Rose as the guest vocalist for their remaining world tour dates at the weekend, replacing Brian Johnson after he was ordered to stop touring or risk going deaf.
And while fans are split on the decision to appoint Rose, shock rocker Alice Cooper is excited by the prospect.
He tells Rolling Stone: “Whoever has tickets to that show has got the golden ticket, because who doesn’t want to see that? I just think that’s such a unique combination.
“At first I thought it was an April Fool’s thing. I went, ‘Oh, come on.’ Then I started thinking about it and said, ‘You know, his voice is absolutely perfect for that band. That might just work.'”
Meanwhile, Cooper has added a further 13 dates to his Spend The Night With Alice Cooper 2016 tour. The new dates can be viewed in bold in the list below.
Spend The Night With Alice Cooper Tour 2016:
Apr 29: Biloxi Beau Rivage Resort And Casino, MS
May 02: Nashville TPAC’s Jackson Hall, TN
May 04: Peoria Peoria Civic Center, IL
May 05: Merrillville Star Plaza Theatre, IN
May 06: Columbus LC Pavilion, OH
May 08: Concord Carolina Rebellion, NC
May 10: New Brunswick State Theatre, NJ
May 12: Port Chester Capitol Theatre, NY
May 13: Wilkes-Barre FM Kirby Center, PA
May 14: Lynn Lynn Memorial Auditorium, MA
May 15: Morristown Mayo Performing Arts Center, NJ
May 17: Warren Packard Music Hall, OH
May 20: Pittsburgh Stage AE, PA
May 21: Rama Entertainment Centre, ON
Jun 09: Pratteln Z7, Switzerland
Jun 11: Novarock Festival, Austria
Jun 12: Ljubljana Hala Tovilo, Slovenia
Jun 14: Milan Alcatraz, Italy
Jun 16: Tel Aviv Bloomfield Arena, Israel
Jun 18: Stone Free Festival, UK
Jun 20: Tilburg 103 Poppodium, Netherlands
Jun 23: Copenhagen Copenhell, Denmark
Jun 24: Halden Tons Of Rock, Norway
Aug 06: Kalamazoo Wings Event Center, MI
Aug 07: Louisville Palace, KY Aug 09: Huntsville Von Braun Center, AL Aug 10: Atlanta Atlanta Symphony Hall, GA Aug 17: New Orleans Saenger Theater, LA Aug 20: Abilene Taylor County Coliseum, TX Oct 09: Bemidji Sanford Center, MN Oct 11: Winnipeg Burton Cummings Theatre, MB Oct 12: Regina Conexus Arts Centre, SK Oct 13: Lethbridge ENMAX Centre, AB Oct 15: Calgary Winsport Arena, AB Oct 16: Penticton South Okanagan Event Center, BC Oct 19: Vancouver Queen Elizabeth Theatre, BC Oct 22: Portland Keller Auditorium, OR Oct 25: Reno Grand Sierra Resort, NV
A documentary starring LEMMY, ALICE COOPER And SLASH will be released on DVD on June 10th according to classicrock.com.
“Louder Than Love – The Grande Ballroom Story”, directed by Tony D’Annunzio in 2012, has been screened at more than 35 film festivals around the world and will be issued on DVD later this year.
The film won Best Documentary at Las Vegas International Film Festival in 2012 and D’Annunzio was also nominated for Best New Film Director at the LA New Directors Film Festival.
Detroit native D’Annunzio says: “The Grande Ballroom era is potentially the greatest untold story in rock and roll history. With everything Detroit has been through in the last several decades, I wanted to let folks know that aside from the automobile industry, the city has some amazing musical history which helped shape American pop culture.”
“Louder Than Love – The Grande Ballroom Story” can be pre-ordered via Amazon.
Alice Cooper and his HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES bandmates will bring some edge to the Grammys next week with a tribute to late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and the premiere of a hard-rocking, brand new song, ‘As Bad as I Am,’ according to rollingstone.com.
“We started this band as a means to toast our ‘dead drunk friends’ at the Rainbow, all the ghosts in the bar, and now I guess Lemmy is involved in that, too,” Cooper tells Rolling Stone. The group – which includes Johnny Depp, Aerosmith‘s Joe Perry and Guns N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan, among others – are set to perform both during the awards ceremony, which will air live on CBS on February 15th.
“Lemmy was one of those salt-of-the-earth guys,” Cooper says. “Find me somebody who didn’t love Lemmy. He’s just one of those guys that’s impossible not to like.
“He was always funny,” he continues. “I’m a ‘healed’ alcoholic and I haven’t had anything to drink in 35 years. A lot of people that drink always feel a little bit like they owe an explanation to me. A couple weeks before his death, Lemmy came up to me and said, ‘Alice, I’ve quit drinking.’ And he’s got a glass in his hand. And I go, ‘Really?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, I don’t drink whiskey anymore. I drink vodka.'” Cooper laughs. “And I went, ‘Lemmy, do you think your liver has any idea what color the alcohol is?’ He said, well it’s a step down from whiskey.’ And I went, ‘OK. Any step’s a good step.‘” He laughs.
Although Hollywood Vampires are still planning what they will do at the Grammys, Cooper wants to sing ‘Ace of Spades.’ Asked if he’d attempt to approximate Kilmister‘s gravely snarl on the song, Cooper laughs. “I might do it more ‘Alice Cooper style,’ but it would still have to have that growl, that guttural voice to make it work. I can’t picture, like, Creedence Clearwater doing that song.”
The Grammys will also serve as the first time people will hear ‘As Bad As I Am,’ which will appear as a bonus track on the upcoming deluxe edition of Hollywood Vampires‘ 2015 debut. The digital release, which will also stream on Spotify, will also contain two previously unreleased covers – the Who‘s ‘I’m a Boy’ (“I did that song once with the Who because it was so obvious for Alice Cooper to sing,” the singer says, “‘I’m a boy, I’m a boy, but my ma won’t admit it‘”) and Love’s “7 and 7 Is” (“I still have no idea what the lyrics mean,” Cooper says with a laugh, “there might have been drugs involved”) – when it comes out on February 12th.
With a scratchy guitar riff and locomotive, Aerosmith-y rhythms, ‘As Bad as I Am’ and its catchy chorus – ‘Here’s to you, as good as you are/ Here’s to me as bad as I am’ – came from Depp. “Johnny says to me, ‘My dad was a bit of a rounder, one of those guys that was in and out of trouble all the time,‘” Cooper explains. “‘During Thanksgiving or Christmas, when we’d toast, he’d say, ‘Good as you are, bad as I am.‘” Cooper laughs. “And I went, ‘Wow, that’s really good.’ That actually sounds like an old, Irish toast of some sort. So once again, almost everyone in the band is a recovered alcoholic and it refers back to alcohol.”
Beyond the theme, though, Cooper‘s just happy with the way it sounds, and he’s looking for an opportunity to share it. “I like that it’s a pure rocker,” he says. “It moves. It’s what I think rock & roll needs right now.”
