[Susan Foreman]

New article from the Herald Sun

"Why Alice Cooper is a Michael Buble fan

Alice Cooper is using his Australian tour to raise money for the bushfire appeal.

“It’s the least I can do,” Cooper told Confidential.

“I feel like the fourth pestilence. You guys have got fires, floods, the virus and now Alice Cooper.”

The OG shock rocker is donating 10-per-cent of profits from his tour merchandise to bushfire charities and will perform at Fire Fight Australia concert in Sydney on Sunday.

Cooper will play Department of Youth, I’m Eighteen, Poison and School’s Out at the event.

“It’s a really diverse bill,” Cooper said.

“When are Olivia Newton-John, Alice Cooper and Michael Buble ever going to be on the same bill together again? People who come to see Alice Cooper have probably never seen Michael Buble, the guy’s a great singer, he’s like a Sinatra. It’s good they’ll get infected by a lot of different people.”

At his own headline shows – including Rod Laver Arena tonight, Qudos Bank Arena Saturday and Brisbane Entertainment Centre Tuesday – Cooper gets local firefighters on stage.

”We’ve heard stories as we’ve toured across Australia about people whose houses were wiped out by the fires, it was like an atomic bomb. So I get some firefighters up to take a bow, they’re the real heroes.”

Cooper, born Vincent Furnier, turned 72 just before the start of his Australian tour.

“It used to be that we all tried to get to 30. Most of my friends didn’t make it: Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix — they all died at 27. We all thought you’d retire at 30. Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, all those 70s hard rock bands are still playing. Nobody expected me to be in this good shape at 72.

“I’m in two bands now, the Hollywood Vampires (with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry) and Alice Cooper. Both high energy shows. At 72 I’m the only guy up there not breathing hard. Physically I’m the guy in the best shape. I didn’t smoke cigarettes, that has a lot to do with it. I was a long distance runner at school. I quit drinking 37 years ago, I’ve been happily married for 44 years, I think all that has a lot to do with your stress levels. I have no stress. I don’t have any financial problems, all my kids are great, I have grandsons now.”



The rock icon is continuing his tradition of playing golf every day while in Australia – he has an impressive handicap of five.

“When you do anything six days a week you’re going to get pretty good at it,” Cooper says.

“We hijacked golf basically. It used be an old man’s game. I had to find a new addiction because all the other ones were killing me. I used to drink two or three beers before I got out of bed. Now I’m at the golf course at 6.30 in the morning. But golf and Alice never meet. The two are so far apart. In the morning, I never think about Alice. At night, Alice the character hates golf. If you had golf clubs on stage he’d think they were weapons.”

Fire Fight Australia will screen on Foxtel and Channel 7 on Sunday from 1pm.

Will there be an Alice Cooper movie, ala Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman?

“I’m up for it. My story is even more diverse than anybody elses. When we came to LA we were introducing hard rock and theatrics. Other bands didn’t like it because they saw the future. We can’t just stare at our shoes anymore. Then everyone jumped on the bandwagon, you had a Bowie and an Elton. Everyone was waiting for that door to open. We just have to find someone to play me in the movie.”

What about your bandmate Johnny Depp?

“If only he was just a little better looking. Johnny Depp is the nicest person on the planet. Everything you read about him is so titled the wrong way. He’s the healthiest he’s ever been, he’s so generous, it’s amazing how opposite he is to how the media portray him. Certainly he’s very eccentric, but could not be nicer to everybody. And he’s a great guitar player. The night Joe Perry got sick Johnny played all his leads. He was a guitar player before he was an actor. He loves being in a band more than he loves doing movies. I said don’t quit your day job though, we can’t pay you $25 million a show.”

Have you met his dogs Pistol and Boo?

“They were at every session when we recorded. They were like our mascots. As I said when all the problems came up with the Australian politician, they’re terriers not terrorists.”

Elton and Kiss are retiring, have you got an end date in mind?

“The day they quit showing up is the day I quit. I’ll go on as long as I can go on. I talk to bands who say they aren’t doing more albums. What about your fans? Your fans deserve to hear new music.”