Hollywood Vampires--All the latest news

[emma]

Cooper’s been working on a covers album paying tribute to his fallen comrades, with the darkly funny working title “All My Dead Drunk Friends”. The idea came from legendary producer Bob Ezrin, a George Martin style figure who masterminded both Alice Cooper the band, and Alice Cooper the solo artist’s best work.

“We decided … the album would be a tribute to all of our dead drunk friends, all of the guys who used to drink with us back in the day which was John Lennon and Keith Moon, and Jimi Hendrix and all of the guys who were sort of like our big brothers,” he says. “We all just seemed to end up at the same bar every night, at the Rainbow. We all drank and it was sort of last man standing. We became known as The Hollywood Vampires because we stayed up all night drinking and never saw the daytime.”

You can still see the plaque commemorating the club at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, featuring “President Alice Cooper” and “Vice President Keith Moon” among others.

“We started adding it all up and found like 12 really great songs that we could cover,” he says.

Those covers will get their first live outing when the newly formed Hollywood Vampires band play alongside Faith No More at the massive Rock in Rio concert in September.

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry is the chief axeman for the group with Johnny Depp also playing guitar. Depp’s played with Cooper in concert numerous times since they met on the set of Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows.

“Johnny is a really good guitar player,” says Cooper. “He’s a real student of that music so when he comes up and plays with us we just think of him as a guitar player, we don’t really think of him as “Johnny Depp” or Captain Jack Sparrow.”

With John Lennon and Ringo immortalised as members on the drinking club’s plaque, it’s only fitting that at least one Beatle helped out on the new album.

“I’ve known Paul (McCartney) for years and years and years … but you never really think about being on record with a Beatle,” he says. “He’s not just ‘A Beatle’, he’s ‘The Beatle’. But he’s just a guy who sits down at a piano and says: ‘OK well how does this thing go?’. And then you realise you’re in a band with a guy who just happens to be the best in the world.”

[marija]

What a nice article...Thank you emma

[smitten]

I am just turning flips about this new band, the Hollywood Vampires !!! Can't wait to get a copy of their first CD. The article was quite fascinating to me. I want to learn more and more about this new band !!!

[pinkpalace]

Paul McCartney Revives 1969 Track for Johnny Depp Supergroup
Joe Perry details Hollywood Vampires' recording session with the former Beatle
By David Browne | March 5, 2015

Ever since word trickled out that Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry had formed some sort of band, information about that project — called the Hollywood Vampires — has been scant. "We've done a lot of recording together recently," Cooper told Rolling Stone last year. But now, more details are starting to emerge, and these involve a full album, a likely fall tour and a cameo appearance by none other than Paul McCartney.

Spearheaded by Cooper, the Hollywood Vampires take their name from a boys-night-out drinking club at L.A.'s Rainbow Bar in the Seventies, a carousing band of rock brothers that included, at various times, Cooper, John Lennon, the Monkees' Micky Dolenz, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon and Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin. On his website, Cooper recently put out an open call for any Vampires-related memorabilia for a possible documentary he'd like to make about that era: "Where were you in the early 1970s? Los Angeles? The Sunset Strip?? You probably remember more than I do!" he wrote, adding that he's in search of "photos, stories, artifacts and witnesses from this place in rock history." Cooper set up a hashtag, #Hollywoodvampires, for people to submit any memories.

The new version of the Vampires, launched by Cooper and Depp, is more focused on music. Since last year, they've been laying down tracks in L.A. with a distinctive theme provided by producer Bob Ezrin. "The record is dedicated to all the friends we've lost to drugs and alcohol over the years and getting people to come in and cover the songs their friends wrote," Perry says. And, according to Perry, who's contributed to several tracks on the album, one of the friends who popped in was McCartney, who contributed a new version of "Come and Get It," the hit he wrote and produced for Badfinger.

A few years ago, McCartney briefly revived the song onstage with his band, but he's rarely sung or played it since 1969. But according to Perry, little prep was necessary for the Vampires session. Showing up at the studio with his regular drummer, Abe Laboriel Jr., McCartney had not only already picked out the song — a tribute to Badfinger members Pete Ham and Tom Evans, who each committed suicide — but was ready to go. "I was joking with him and said, 'You probably wrote this in 20 minutes,'" says Perry, who had met but never worked with McCartney before. "And he said, 'Actually, I was in bed sleeping and I knew they needed a song for this band we signed, and I went downstairs and played it on the piano and then went to Abbey Road an hour before the rest of the [Beatles], played all the instruments, made the demo and gave [Badfinger, then called the Iveys] the song.'"

As Perry and the others watched, McCartney effortlessly revived his 46-year-old tune. "He knew all the chords, the lyrics, everything," Perry says. "He didn't have any cheat sheets. It was like he'd been playing it his whole life. Me and Alice and Johnny were standing there and looking at each other and I tell you — if there's any ego-lever in a room, it's Paul. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. If Paul's in the room, he's there. It was hard to focus on playing." Cooper and McCartney wound up sharing the lead vocals on the song, Perry says.

As of now, the Hollywood Vampires have only one scheduled show on their calendar — an appearance at Rock in Rio in late September. But Perry says a tour that month is in the works and that he's looking forward to playing onstage with Depp. "Johnny's a great guitarist," he says. "The times I've spent with him, I've always been impressed. To go out and tour with him is going to be a lot of fun. Everybody's really charged about it."

[Joni]

Another very nice article! Thanks pinkpalace, and thanks emma for the first one on this page.

[jruoss]

I didn't know "Come and Get It" was a McCartney tune, but it does sound like something Paul would write. Could easily have been on a Wings album.
It's awesome that Paul's involved, though I personally don't feel he's the be all and end all of music that some of the Vampire quotes make him sound like. Obviously a great song writer and musician with a rich musical history. But when it comes to the Beatles and the era that I'm interested in, 65-69, George is actually my favorite song writer, followed by John, and then Paul. Though if I were forced to pick a favorite Beatle recording, it may well be Tomorrow Never Knows, a Lennon song.

[smitten]

I love that song, "Come and Get It". That song is very typical, McCartney -style of writing. I would love to hear the Hollywood Vampires sing it.

[emma]

The Sydney Morning Herald

19 March 2015

As good as that sounds, there is another Alice Cooper project likely to see the light of day sooner: his covers album dedicated to his former drinking buddies in the Hollywood Vampires Club, called All My Dear Drunk Friends is due out in September.

"I had never done a covers album before so I wanted to make it very specific. I thought, 'how about we honour the guys we used to drink with: Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Marc Bolan. We all drank every night at the Rainbow [Bar and Grill in Los Angeles]."

The idea came from the set of the movie Dark Shadows, where Cooper played himself. He and Johnny Depp played at a nearby club, playing covers of songs like Brown Sugar andBack in the USSR.

Cooper says Depp is on All My Dear Drunk Friends: "Johnny can really play you know". So too is Aerosmith's Joe Perry and one Paul McCartney.

"You look around for your piano player and you see Paul McCartney is suddenly your piano player and you think 'OK, this album isn't my album any more. When you are in a studio with him it becomes a different world."

[Vampgirl]

Two very nice articles. I am looking forward to this album.
Hope Johnny's hand will be all healed so he will be able to play in Brazil.

[smitten]

I am thrilled!!! I will be the first person in line to buy the new album (CD).

[emma]

Alice Cooper Talks Collaborating With Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl (and Even Johnny Depp) on New Album

By Gary Graff, Detroit | April 20, 2015 5:54 PM EDT

Alice Cooper says he's locked and loaded for his next album, a mostly covers collection paying tribute to the so-called Hollywood Vampires crowd he ran with during the early '70s. And the set features an all-star list of collaborations with Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Johnny Depp and others.

"The album's done. It's mixed, ready to go and I'm very, very happy with it," Cooper told Billboard on Thursday night before playing some of the songs at the VIP grand opening of designer John Varvatos' new store in their shared home town of Detroit. "I'm really happy with all the stuff on it. McCartney's on it. Zak (Starkey)'s on it. Dave Grohl is on it, (AC/DC frontman) Brian Johnson -- and in places where you wouldn't expect them to be, that's the cool thing." Aerosmith's Joe Perry has also said he's on the album, which has no set release date yet, although Cooper said he hopes it will come out later this year.

Cooper wrote one new song for the collection, "All My Dead Drunk Friends," with Depp and producer Bob Ezrin, but he played coy about what the specific covers are. "I can't really say right now, but if you think of it, who were the Hollywood Vampires? John Lennon was there. Jim Morrison was an early Vampire. We had Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon of course, Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan. Those guys were all Vampires," the rocker explains.

During the hour-long Varvatos show, Cooper and his band did cover Hendrix's "Foxy Lady," The Doors' "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" and The Who's "My Generation" -- all Vampires-related songs -- as well as The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar." "Tonight we're a bar band -- no guillotines, no snakes," he told the crowd that packed the store. "So anything you want to hear, just yell it out."

To qualify for inclusion on the album, he added with a laugh, "the performers have to be dead. Or mentally dead. Or should be dead."

Cooper was part of a star-studded night at pal Varvatos' party, whose guest list included model Kate Upton and her boyfriend, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, Michael Bolton, Dwele, Scott Morgan of the Rationals, Eddie Baranek of the Sights, Detroit Lions tight end Eric Ebron and graduated University of Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner. Varvatos and Cooper's daughter, actress Calico Cooper, joined the shock rocker -- one of the designer's first endorsers during the early '00s -- on stage for the "School's Out" finale.

Cooper returns to the road as special guest for Motley Crue's farewell tour on May 9 in Australia, heading to Europe in June and returning to North America in mid-July. He said the Crue hasn't yet answered his offer to put each of them in his guillotine when they play their final show on New Year's Eve in Los Angeles.

"I don't even know if we're on that show," Cooper said. "We're doing so many shows with them, but I don't know if we go all the way to New Year's. But I still think they should get their heads chopped off at the end of it. When I said that, everybody laughed -- and Tommy (Lee) went, 'Hmmm...not a bad idea.' So we'll see."

[SnoopyDances]

Emma!

[emma]

Alice Cooper Talks New Supergroup Hollywood Vampires & Touring Australia With Mötley Crüe

Written by Emmy Mack on May 5, 2015

MF: Now, for those who don’t know, Hollywood Vampires is your new supergroup with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry from Aerosmith. What made you guys decide to do an album?

AC: Well, I’ll give you a little history. This is how it all came about. I had a drinking club called the Hollywood Vampires in Los Angeles in 1972 to ’73. And every single night it was Harry Nilsson and Keith Moon, and when John Lennon was in town it was him. And it was all the guys that drank. And we would show up every single night at The Rainbow and we were called the Hollywood Vampires, right? And it was sort of a drinking club.

Well, I watched all of those guys die. I mean, every single one of ‘em, except for John, died from drinking or drugs or whatever it was. So we decided I wanted to do an album, a covers album. I’ve never done a covers album. And I decided that I wanted to do an album that was dedicated to my dead, drunk friends.

And the way that this came about was I did Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp, the movie Dark Shadows, and it was fun. So one night we went out and we decided to go to this bar and play, this little bar called the Hundred Club, and Johnny came with us.

He’s a great guitar player. He’s a really good rock and roll guitar player. And, you know, then we started talking about doing this album, and it was Johnny, myself and Joe Perry from Aerosmith and a bunch of other guys actually started recording this album. So we decided, “Yeah, Hollywood Vampires have an album now.” And that’ll be due out, probably, in September.

MF: And we hear that Paul McCartney made a guest appearance?

AC: Yeah, we did a song. So one night, Paul McCartney drops in, because he knew all those guys that we were dedicating this album to.

When you’re in the studio and you’ve got Johnny on guitar and you’ve got Joe Perry on guitar, everybody in the room is from another band but they’re unbelievable, and there’s a guy sitting at the piano named Paul McCartney?

Believe me, everybody in that room was in awe, because we were on a session with Paul McCartney. You don’t get any better than that.

MF: As you may know, Johnny Depp is here in Australia at the moment, filming the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and he recently got onstage with Marilyn Manson when he was here for Soundwave. What are the odds of another Depp cameo during Alice Cooper’s Australian set?

AC: [Laughs] We never know where he’s gonna show up. You know, we’ll be playing one night on the tour, and we’re in Albuquerque, and I look around and there’s Johnny on guitar.

He just decides to show up when he decides to show up, which is cool ’cause he knows all of our songs! We never know when he’s gonna show up.

Let’s put it this way – I wouldn’t put it past him. [Laughs] He’s a free bird. He’s one of those guys who just does what he wants to do. And he’s the nicest guy in the world, he’s just such a sweet kid.

MF: So Hollywood Vampires are playing their first show at Rock In Rio this September. Any word on the rest of the touring line-up?

AC: We’re just putting that band together now, so we don’t really know. We have Johnny and Joe Perry and myself and now we’re gonna start filling it out with pretty much whoever’s not touring [with other bands], and whoever wants to play is gonna come up and play.

I can’t tell you who the band is right now, but it’ll be a phenomenal band. It’ll be one of those bands that everybody goes, ‘Are you kidding? Look who this is!’

MF: And, dare we ask, any plans on Hollywood Vampires coming to Australia?

AC: Right now, if you asked me what’s happening next week, I wouldn’t be able to tell you, because it changes every week. So right now all I know is that my band is coming there with Mötley and this show.

[Joni]

Really nice interview, thanks emma! I especially love this part:

AC: [Laughs] We never know where he’s gonna show up. You know, we’ll be playing one night on the tour, and we’re in Albuquerque, and I look around and there’s Johnny on guitar.

He just decides to show up when he decides to show up, which is cool ’cause he knows all of our songs! We never know when he’s gonna show up.

Let’s put it this way – I wouldn’t put it past him. [Laughs] He’s a free bird. He’s one of those guys who just does what he wants to do. And he’s the nicest guy in the world, he’s just such a sweet kid.

I love reading tidbits like that.

[SnoopyDances]

Really nice interview, thanks emma! I especially love this part:

I love reading tidbits like that.