Alice Cooper Working With Surviving Original Bandmates on New LP
Alice Cooper's next studio album could feature fresh contributions from some very familiar faces.
Cooper spoke with the Arizona Republic to discuss his recent show in Phoenix and promote this year's annual Christmas Pudding extravaganza, and at the tail end of the interview, he let slip with some intriguing details regarding his next LP: the record, which he started tracking demos for on Dec. 5, boasts longtime producer Bob Ezrin behind the boards — and the surviving original members of the Alice Cooper Band lined up to perform.
"We’re recording demos right now. We’re writing and recording demos," Cooper told the paper. "We have three songs from the original band that we’re gonna look at and see if we can turn them into something. If not, we tried. But Neal and Mike and Dennis and I wrote songs together. And what we always do, we know the best 10 songs are gonna make the album. It doesn’t matter where they came from."
As previously reported, Cooper reunited with bassist Dennis Dunaway, guitarist Michael Bruce and drummer Neal Smith for a surprise set at one of Dunaway's book signings in 2015, and a special 7" single — produced by Ezrin — was culled from the show for this year's Record Store Day Black Friday. That release appears to have been the catalyst for what Cooper describes as "a pure riff-rock 'n' roll album" that he wants to make "as close to Killer and Love It to Death as possible."
While it's worth noting that it still sounds like nothing is set in stone in terms of the actual reunion, Cooper sounded a positive note when looking toward the sessions. "I’m gonna always write the lyrics. And I’m gonna always arrange it. And Bob’s always gonna produce it," he added. "If the song comes from Neal, Mike and Dennis, great! I would love that. We have those songs sitting there. We just have to see if they fit in."
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