Alice Cooper to Reunite With Original Band Members Again; Talks Dave Mustaine Relationship
Alice Cooper has announced he will be reuniting with members of his original band at a show in Nashville, Tenn., next month. Bassist Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce will join the shock-rocker at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Andrew Jackson Hall on May 14. It will be the only date on this year's Spend the Night with Alice Cooper tour where fans can experience a special mini-set featuring the four original members of the group, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
"We've recorded much of my last album and my new one in Nashville and it's such a great music town,” Cooper says in a statement. “With so many musician, songwriter and producer friends here, as well as great rock fans who come to our concerts, it's special to be performing with Neal, Michael and Dennis in Nashville for them."
Last November, the foursome released a Back to Black Record Store Store Day 7" dedicated to their late guitarist Glen Buxton, limited to 2,500 copies pressed in white, pink, black and pink and white vinyl. One hundred copies of the pink and white version also included autographed prints from the four band members. Titled Live From the Astroturf, the record featured “I’m Eighteen” and “Is It My Body,” both culled from a surprise 2015 reunion performance of the band at Good Records in Dallas.
Dunaway, Smith and Bruce are also slated to appear on Cooper’s forthcoming, Bob Ezrin produced new album due this summer.
In other news, Cooper recently spoke with the Lunchbox podcast about his relationship with Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, which formed when the latter was just starting out and the two were on tour together.
"Dave was a young guy in the business, and had a problem with some recreation pharmaceuticals for awhile," Cooper says. "I was kind of helpful in getting him off that. I sort of became his godfather when it came to getting him off [the drugs] and stuff. He gets up there and he rocks it every night, man -- and that's what I care about."
Earlier today, Megadeth announced a summer tour with Meshuggah and Tesseract, which takes place prior to a slot opening up for the Scorpions this September.
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