Alice Cooper says he thrives on proving people wrong: ‘I am defiant about this'
Alice Cooper has admitted that he didn't think he'd live to see past the age of 30, but is now determined to keep going for as long as possible.
The shock rocker recently announced that the Alice Cooper Band's original lineup would reunite for the first time in over 50 years to release a new album, The Revenge of Alice Cooper, which will feature work by late guitarist Glen Buxton.
Scheduled for release on 25 July, the record was produced by Bob Ezrin, who worked with the band on some of their classic Seventies albums including Love It To Death, School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies.
'I am still touring full blast at the age of 77 like I always have,' Cooper said in an interview with The Times. 'Although none of us thought [in the beginning] that we would even get past 30 years of age.
'But I haven't had a drink in 42 years, I'm not taking any drugs, I never smoked cigarettes and a lot of this has to do with being happily married for 50 years and having a great family where everybody has married the right people.'
Joining him on the album are original members Michael Bruce (guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass), Neil Smith (drums), and Gyasi Hues (guitar), with contributions from Buxton, who died in 1997, on the song 'What Happened to You' and a remix of 'Return of the Spiders' from their 1971 album Easy Action.
As he prepares to embark on a series of shows this year, including at London's O2 Arena and the Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Cooper explained that he thrives on proving people wrong.
'Everybody asks what keeps you going and everybody expects at 77 for Alice to get up there and phone it in because he's not able to move around very much,' he said.
'And hey, Mick Jagger is four years older than me and he is still killing it up there. I am defiant about this: I want Alice to get up there and when they get in I want them to say, 'Are you kidding me? He can't be 77'.
'That is what drives me forward. If I can't play Alice the same way I played Alice 40 years ago I shouldn't be up there. But I don't think Alice Cooper is done having his day yet.'
'None of them has changed much as a person,' Ezrin told Billboard of his experience recording the band's new music.
'Obviously everyone's older and more mature and more settled, but when we all get together and I watch the interplay between them, it's like they just walked out of high school and were hanging out in the local cafe.
'They just revert to type. They revert to who they were as kids when they first got together… and make music together like they did 50-some years ago.'
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