Released on August 25, 2023, Road is Alice Cooper’s 29th studio album. And it’s not always easy to come up with a fresh idea with so many great albums already in the bank.
Produced by longtime collaborator Bob Ezrin, Road was written, composed, and recorded with his current touring band — Ryan Roxie [guitar], Chuck Garric [bass], Tommy Henrikson [guitar], Glen Sobel [drums], and Nita Strauss [guitar] — about life on the (you guessed it) road.
Listen to the premiere of Alice Cooper’s interview on Hair Nation 9/16 at 11am ET
Speaking with Hair Nation host Mark Strigl, Alice revealed how he and Bob decided to put the concept together.
“The concept’ll be, where do we know’ em? The road. That’s when we see each other all the time,” Alice explained. “I want you guys to write anything about the road. I don’t care if it’s funny, tragic, silly, horrific — it doesn’t matter. And then we’re gonna take it and we’ll mold those songs into an Alice Cooper album. So it’ll be 13 songs, different stories that tell one big story.”
Alice then required the musicians — in order “to show off how good you are,” he clarified — to record the songs together, live in studio.
“I want everybody to play at the same time. No beds. I don’t want to put a bed track here. I said, ‘You guys are good enough to just play it live,’” he recalled. “What this does, though, is it doesn’t give the song a chance to get old.”
Specifically, he said he didn’t want Road to sound like Supertramp or Steely Dan. “Those are great records, and they’re perfect, and that’s why they’re so good. I wanted this to breathe. And it worked,” he said.
Alice Cooper just finished touring with Hollywood Vampires, his rock supergroup with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry, as well as performing on a few dates with Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard. Describing himself as still “in [his] element,” he’s now joining Rob Zombie for their Freaks on Parade Tour and shows no sign of stopping.
“I cannot picture a final [Alice Cooper] show. I really can’t, because I’ve never even thought about what that would be,” he admitted. “It’s just — it’ll go ’til it can’t go anymore.”
He added, “I always said, I will never go on stage as Alice Cooper if I can’t play him the same way I played him in 1975, with the same energy. You know, in all reality, I’m playing with better energy now than I did then. The character’s gotta look like Alice Cooper. I can’t, you know, fall apart, or I can’t stumble, I can’t go up there with a cane. That’s not Alice Cooper.”
Alice Cooper Road Tracklist
- I’M ALICE
- WELCOME TO THE SHOW
- ALL OVER THE WORLD
- DEAD DON’T DANCE
- GO AWAY
- WHITE LINE FRANKENSTEIN
- BIG BOOTS
- RULES OF THE ROAD
- THE BIG GOODBYE
- ROAD RATS FOREVER
- BABY PLEASE DON’T GO
- 100 MORE MILES
- MAGIC BUS
Jackie Kolgraf
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