When Alice Cooper Came To Town
Both Bobby and I have been lucky enough to work with many brilliant musicians but playing with your idols is a rare and unique experience. Four years ago we both got to perform Bohemian Rhapsody with Brian May himself as he came in to launch the Vienna production of We Will Rock You. Being part of that 3 guitar harmony was to put it simply, emotional.
Last week I got the chance to perform School’s Out with Alice Cooper. He was in London promoting his tour and the 40th anniversary of School’s Out so he dropped in to Rock Of Ages to play with our band.
Anyway, all I need to say is that he really is one of the nicest, most down to earth people I’ve ever met. The initial ‘Cripes mate, that’s Alice Cooper’ moment when he turned up to rehearse, soon gave way to feeling relaxed chatting with a normal bloke….that I just happened to have been a massive fan of in my teens, and well, still am I guess! We talked about guitarist Pete Friesen, tutor at the ACM and former Alice Cooper guitarist who I played with in a band several years ago. Pete got to say the “Milwaukee” line in Wayne’s world so it was great to hear Alice do his movie quote.
I can’t exaggerate the buzz of thumping out one of the most iconic riffs of all time and running to the front of the stage trying to get in the picture with the man himself..well, you would wouldn’t you? After that it was all a frenetic blur but it’ll be hard to top that one…..even meeting the lead singer of Starship four days later who, lets face it ‘Built this city’ and ‘Nothing’s gonna stop him now’ etc etc..
The bizarre thing about all this is seeing how the modern media works. By midnight it was all over the internet and we had friends from Australia and Germany getting in touch as they’d seen it on the news!
Apart from that, we’ve been filming some really good new stuff. Watch this space for more guitar techniques and lesson videos coming soon…
Have a great week
Nick