Episode 113: Alice Cooper

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·12m 35s·held·Mar 9, 2018

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Alice Cooper discusses his new Spooky Pinball machine and continued creative pursuits.

Summary

Jeff Lee interviews Alice Cooper about his upcoming pinball machine 'Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle' by Spooky Pinball. Cooper discusses his continued touring at age 70, his recent album 'Paranormal,' his work with the Hollywood Vampires side project, and his upcoming role in a live production of Jesus Christ Superstar. He reflects on his career philosophy, creative partnerships, and the appeal of pinball as a physical game.

Key Claims

Alice Cooper has a new pinball machine called 'Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle' being released by Spooky Pinball
high confidence · Jeff Lee and Alice Cooper discuss the machine's imminent release; Alice states 'I've seen the machine, and it's really, really out there.'
Alice Cooper recorded his album 'Paranormal' with producer Bob Ezrin, marking 47 years of recording history together
high confidence · Alice Cooper: 'last year you put out the album Paranormal and worked with Bob Ezrin once again. That 47 years of recording history with Bob'
Alice Cooper pinball machine features voice call-outs recorded by Alice Cooper himself
high confidence · Alice Cooper: 'when you're playing it you actually get Alice talking to you' and 'I talked with Charlie Emery of Spooky Pinball a few weeks ago and he said he sent you a ton of scripts for pinball call-outs.'
Alice Cooper is performing in a live production of Jesus Christ Superstar on Easter Sunday, playing the role of Herod
high confidence · Alice Cooper: 'John Lenton is playing Jesus in this, and I'm playing Herod, of course.'
Alice Cooper recently completed 105 cities on tour and will tour for another month and a half
high confidence · Alice Cooper: 'We just finished 105 cities at the end of last year, and we're going out for another month and a half on this one.'
The Hollywood Vampires project originated from a drinking group at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in LA that included John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, and Keith Moon
high confidence · Alice Cooper: 'we would meet every night at the Rainbow Bar and Grill, and it would be me and Harry Nilsson and John Lennon and Keith Moon'
Alice Cooper recently survived a fake nuclear attack in Hawaii and a head-on collision in Phoenix
high confidence · Alice Cooper: 'being in a fake nuclear attack in Hawaii, and then a head-on collision in Phoenix, and somehow I walked out without a bruise.'

Notable Quotes

“my mom is 93, and she's probably cleaning the garage right now. And her theory is if you retire, you expire.”
Alice Cooper @ ~8:30 — Explains his motivation to continue touring and creating at age 70 despite peer retirement trends.
“If you think you've written your best song and you think that you've done your best show, then you should retire. But I don't feel like I've done either one of those yet.”
Alice Cooper @ ~9:15 — Core philosophy driving his continued creative work and touring.
“when you're playing it you actually get Alice talking to you. And pinball is maybe a lost art... You get done playing pinball after about an hour and you tired because you standing up and you you know you physically actually getting a workout”
Alice Cooper @ ~26:00 — Endorsement of the pinball machine and appreciation for pinball as a physical, engaging game format.
“I got addicted to golf when I got unaddicted to alcohol and drugs. So I believe that if you're going to get addicted to drugs and alcohol, why can't you get addicted to something positive?”
Alice Cooper @ ~32:00 — Reveals personal recovery philosophy and current lifestyle priorities.
“I play golf in the morning and rock and roll at night, and the two never meet.”
Alice Cooper @ ~34:00 — Summarizes his life balance between hobbies and career at age 70.

Entities

Alice CooperpersonSpooky PinballcompanyCharlie Emeryperson Alice Cooper's Nightmare CastlegameJeff LeepersonBob EzrinpersonParanormalproductHollywood VampiresorganizationJoe Perryperson

Signals

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product_launch: Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle pinball machine by Spooky Pinball is imminent, described as 'about to be released in a few weeks' at time of interview.
high · Alice Cooper: 'the Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle is about to be released in a few weeks.' Jeff Teels: 'I have wanted to see this pinball machine for so long.'
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design_innovation: The Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle machine features voice call-outs recorded by Alice Cooper himself, providing in-game commentary and interaction.
high · Alice Cooper: 'when you're playing it you actually get Alice talking to you.' Reference to Charlie Emery sending 'a ton of scripts for pinball call-outs.'
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gameplay_signal: The game's core mechanic involves players navigating through 'Alice's nightmare' as the central gameplay objective.
high · Alice Cooper: 'it goes through the nightmare. You know, you have to get through Alice's nightmare.'
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content_signal: Pinball Profile podcast features exclusive interview with Alice Cooper discussing the new pinball machine, generating promotional content for the release.
high · Full episode dedicated to Alice Cooper discussing machine design, gameplay, and Spooky Pinball partnership.
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licensing_signal: Alice Cooper authorized and actively participated in voice script development for pinball machine, indicating strong collaboration between artist and manufacturer.
high · Alice Cooper confirms seeing scripts, recording voice work, and seeing finished machine: 'I've seen the machine, and it's really, really out there.'

Transcript

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0:00

It's time now for a special Pinball Profile. I'm your host Jeff Teels. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com and please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play.

0:30

School's out for summer No more Mr. Nice Guy No more Mr. Clean I've been waiting so long to sing my song You're poison running through my veins You're poison With 27 studio albums and millions and millions sold, he is a rock legend and a little pinball machine about to be released by Spooky Pinball. It's a thrill to be talking once again to Alice Cooper. Alice, how you doing? Thanks, Jeff. I am doing great. We just finished 105 cities at the end of last year, and we're going out for another month and a half on this one. And then I do Jesus Christ Superstar, and then I go out with the Vampires. It is a busy year. For a guy who just turned 70, you're not slowing down. And getting to 70 was a little scary for you, wasn't it? Yeah, it was, you know, being in a fake nuclear attack in Hawaii, and then a head-on collision in Phoenix, and somehow I walked out without a bruise. So, you know, my guardian angel is working overtime on me. Well, thank God for that. And I see some of your rock contemporaries doing some farewell tours. Elton John and Ozzy Osbourne doing another one, by the way. That's not you. You're not slowing down, are you? Not a bit. You know, my mom is 93, and she's probably cleaning the garage right now. And her theory is if you retire, you expire. So, you know, I've never felt better in my life. I'm in perfect condition, you know, so there's absolutely no reason to retire. I think if you think you've written your best song and you think that you've done your best show, then you should retire. But I don't feel like I've done either one of those yet. a lot of people say all the great songs have been written. And my idea is that if you think you've written your best song, if you think you've done your best show, then you should retire. You know, I don't really think I think I've still got my best songs in me. And I still think my show I can do better shows than I did before. I think that's what drives you. If you ask Paul McCartney right now, have you written your best song? He'd probably say, no, I'm still writing my best songs. So, you know, there you go. You have to stay, that's what drives you forward. Alice, last year you put out the album Paranormal and worked with Bob Ezrin once again. That 47 years of recording history with Bob Does time fly or what You know it so funny because I don really live in the past at all I not one of those guys that goes hey remember when When I talked to Bob Ezra it always about what next You know, we might refer to certain things that we did in the past. Like, they'll say, remember that song we did on, you know, Go to Hell? Yeah. Let's get something like that. But, you know, this version of it. Oh, yeah. Our reference points may go there, but we never really go back to what we did. And, you know, on Paranormal, it was more like, let's do stuff we haven't done. Getting Larry Mullen Jr. on drums was something that was really exciting for us because it was so different. It was so, you know, unpredictable to use U2's drummer. And he was perfect for what we were doing. It was so much fun to work with, a guy that's such an artistic drummer. and then bringing the original band back on for three songs. That was great. Billy Gibbons lent his guitar to one of the songs that we'll be doing tomorrow night in the show here. So everything just kind of worked out.

Jesus Christ Superstarproduct

Larry Mullen Jr.person

Rainbow Bar and Grillvenue

industry_signal: Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle joins a trend of rock musician-themed pinball machines (referenced: AC/DC, Metallica) and aligns with celebrity machines by Joe Perry and Johnny Depp.

high · Jeff Teels: 'When ACDC came out and Metallica and other pinball games of rock legends, I thought Alice makes perfect sense.' Alice Cooper notes Joe Perry and Johnny Depp have machines.

community_signal: Pinball enthusiast and podcast host Jeff Teels expresses long-term anticipation for this machine, indicating high community interest and demand.

high · Jeff Teels: 'I have wanted to see this pinball machine for so long.'

event_signal: Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle will be publicly available at Texas Pinball Festival, serving as a major launching event for the machine.

high · Jeff Teels closing: 'Enjoy Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle at Texas Pinball Festival, and congratulations to Charlie and Spooky Pinball.'

design_philosophy: Alice Cooper's theatrical concert elements (guillotine, snakes, hanging) inspired machine design concept, though logistical constraints limit physical implementation on touring machines.

medium · Jeff Teels: 'I see what you do on stage, being hung, the snakes, the guillotine, so much more.' Alice Cooper discusses logistics of touring vs. residency theaters.

4:14

The whole idea behind this album was, let's write 12 songs that get this all off. And if these songs get us off, then it should be a pretty good album. Well, I look at your career, and music aside, some of the things you've done have blown me away. In fact, it is the 30th anniversary of when you ran for the wild party in Arizona to be the governor. Some might say you'd be better than certain politicians. Are you going to run again? No. I mean, I hate politics with every ounce of my body. When I run, it's always a satire, of course. And, you know, if you're going to be a politician, you have to have a certain amount of indictments. I just don't have that many indictments. My job is to take you as far away from the political arena as possible. you know i mean we all sit and we watch cnn and we go oh my gosh really really and then you go to an alice cooper concert you're not going to get any of that we're going to take you as far away from that as you can be for two hours so i kind of look at myself as a relief from what's going on in the world when i'm with the alice cooper band it's very theatrical you know it's very very produced and and rehearsed and it's like a it's like a broadway show almost except that it's alice Cooper and it's hard rock. When you're with the Vampires, it's much more of being like a bar band, you know, because you've got Joe Perry on guitar, you've got Johnny Depp on guitar, both of them are lead guitar players. And basically, anybody that yells something out from the audience, we could play it. So we're the world's most expensive bar band. And it's just really fun to not have to be Alice Cooper when I'm with the Vampires. You know, I talk to the audience. I don't necessarily play Alice the way I play Alice in my show. Well, from the stories I've heard, the Hollywood Vampires came from a kind of a drinking game in LA, isn't that correct? It was. Well, we would meet every night at the Rainbow Bar and Grill, and it would be me and Harry Nilsson and John Lennon and Keith Moon you know Mickey Dolan Bernie Taupin a bunch of guys that would meet there every night and drink And you know the bar kept they said well we only see you at night and you drink all night so you like vampires So we became the Hollywood Vampires When I told Johnny about this, I was doing Dark Shadows with him in London, and he said, well, it'd be great to put a band together and just do songs from all of our dead, drunk friends, all of the guys that we used to drink with that died. And I said, that's a great idea. So, I mean, it's just sort of a side project, but it ended up being bigger than that. It was great seeing you in Dark Shadows doing the Ballad of Dwight Frye and a lot of fun, too. I love seeing you in movies, and we'll get to Jesus Christ Superstar in a little bit. But you mentioned Joe Perry and Johnny Depp. You're about to have something in common with those two guys. They have pinball machines, and the Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle is about to be released in a few weeks. How fun is that to have a machine made after you? You know, and the cool thing is, is I've seen the machine, and it's really, really out there. You know, it's really a fun machine to play because it goes through the nightmare. You know, you have to get through Alice's nightmare. And really, really cool. You know, I used to say that you know you've made it. This was in the 70s. If you're a joke on the Bob Hope Christmas special, if you're an answer on Jeopardy, or if you're a Pez dispenser, maybe now it's if you have a pinball machine named after you. Well, you're discrediting the fact you were great on the Muppets too, but back to that pinball machine. I have wanted to see this pinball machine for so long. When ACDC came out and Metallica and other pinball games of rock legends, I thought Alice makes perfect sense because of all the possibilities that you can do. I see what you do on stage, being hung, the snakes, the guillotine, so much more. You should see the notes for our show, some of the things that we go, oh, that's a great idea, and then we go, let me see let's look at the logistics of that okay that might not be able to travel you know because you have to think about what's going to be able to get from louisville to st louis in one night and uh some of it you really can't do it unless you go into a theater and have a residency somewhere where you can set a theater up then it can work so and that's always a possibility too You know, I wouldn't mind going to Broadway and taking Welcome to My Nightmare and doing it as a Broadway show, you know, but not watering it down, making it as hard rock as it's ever been, you know, but putting it in one place so you can affect, you can do a lot more things. You can have the audience, you can even put a smell into the audience. You can put like little electric shocks in the seat, you know, just so they get a little jolt once in a while. You can do all kinds of things if you're set into a theater. whereas you can't do that when you're doing arenas every night. I talked with Charlie Emery of Spooky Pinball a few weeks ago and he said he sent you a ton of scripts for pinball call-outs. Was that fun to do and have you seen the game yet? Yeah, I've seen it. I've seen it and we did that.

9:15

That's what makes it really fun is that when you're playing it you actually get Alice talking to you. And pinball is maybe a lost art I don know With all the video games and everything pinball is a physical game You get done playing pinball after about an hour and you tired because you standing up and you you know you physically actually getting a workout You don't have to sell me on pinball. I'm a huge, huge fan. In fact, I know that you've done a lot in the past with the gridiron greats for some of the NFL veterans. Yeah. Well, you know, I mean, most rock guys are sports guys. and when you get to do these, I play a lot of golf tournaments with the retired guys. You know, a lot of these retired guys from the 60s and 70s did not have the kind of pay that the guys have now. And so they're barely able to walk and, you know, they didn't have that financial backup that the guys would have now. So, yeah, you try to support those guys because, I mean, geez, you had their football cards and their baseball cards and everything like that. So it seems like it would be a good idea to support them now that they're older and can't really take care of themselves that much. Alice, for me, pinball is definitely my escape, my number one hobby. Is golf still yours? Oh, yeah, I play golf every day. I mean, I got addicted to golf when I got unaddicted to alcohol and drugs. So I believe that if you're going to get addicted to drugs and alcohol, why can't you get addicted to something positive? And golf ended up being that. I mean, I was, you know, I'm from Detroit. I used to tell people we only had three sports. We had baseball, football, and Grand Theft Auto. You know, those are the three things that we had in Detroit. So golf was not on the list. But living in Phoenix, it's right there. And, you know, it is addictive. It's one of the most addictive sports on the planet. So, yeah, I got way addicted to it.

11:05

But, you know, I play golf in the morning and rock and roll at night, and the two never meet. So that's good. So Easter Sunday, you've got a big event. You're going to be in the live production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Now, that's one of my all-time favorites. I remember Ian Gillen of Deep Purple in that in Broadway, and such a great soundtrack. You have to be looking forward to that. Well, John Lenton is playing Jesus in this, and I'm playing Herod, of course. They've always got me as the bad guy. But it's really going to be a really good production because I've gone down. I just got back from New York where I just did a big press junket with all of them. And it's going to be a very cool version of it, almost a rock concert version of it. Alice, thank you very much for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you on tour and that great Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle pinball machine. Okay, thanks a lot, Jeff. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Enjoy Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle at Texas Pinball Festival, and congratulations to Charlie and Spooky Pinball. I'm Jeff Teolas.