How different is it performing now than it was 10 years ago?
Not much at all. I had a different band 10 years ago. This band I have right now is probably the best band I ever had. Musically it’s just tighter than tight, which is great for me because it gives me all the freedom to move around, do all the things I want to do.
What’s one of the most bizarre things to happen to you onstage?
Occasionally, we bring a snake into our show. One time, the organizers wouldn’t let me bring my boa constrictor into Brazil. They said, “We’ll get you a snake!” and just went out there and found a wild snake! Well all the snakes I ever used were in captivity all their lives, so they’re used to being around us. But they went into the jungle, took the snake off the tree, put it in a bag, and when I wanted to take it out, it almost took my hand off. It’d never been held by a human before.
Are there songs you ever get sick of playing?
You’d think that we would get tired, especially when you get songs like “I’m Eighteen” and “School’s Out,” that we’ve been doing for 40 years. But once you get in front of the audience with your makeup on, you become Alice Cooper, the villain. You’ve also got this great band behind you so it’s really impossible to get bored. We do those songs every night, but you have to keep in your mind that the audience is seeing us perform them for the first time in maybe five, 10 years. It’s new to them, so that’s why you have to keep energy up on it and make sure that everybody knows that you’re having fun playing that song. If we look bored, the audience would be bored. So we make sure that that song we play is like the first time we ever played. The energy, every bit of it, your body language speaks very loudly. You have to be projecting it as much as anything.
Let’s talk about tight leather pants. You still perform in them. Doesn’t it get old?
I still have the body for it! Doesn’t get old. Never.
Is there a line between you and Alice?
During the day, I’m me. I’m running around going to the movies and going for dinner. I’m just me. At night, I get to be him; I get to be that Alice character. He’s like very…grrrr, you know. His body language is different from my body language. His posture’s different, his voice is different. We have the same sense of humor – that’s about the same thing that we have. But the rest of being Alice is really taking on the character of a villain. So when I go on stage everybody knows I’m not going to be the same guy they were talking to that afternoon.
If you were to die tomorrow, what would you want to be remembered for?
A really good dad and a really good husband. Thirty-five years and I’ve never cheated on my wife; I’m a bit of a romantic. But I think in music I would go down as being the guy who brought theatrics to rock. That’s fine with me. I don’t mind that. I was before Kiss, before Bowie, before anybody. So we literally did bring the whole theatrical experience to rock ‘n’ roll. Nobody had ever done it before us. And I think that’s what we’ll probably be known as. That’s fine with me, I’ll be the Ziegfeld of rock ‘n’ roll.
Get tickets to see the man himself at his concert, No More Mr Nice Guy.
