ALICE COOPER Wrote 30 Songs For His Upcoming Two Studio Albums

In a new interview with Germany's Rolling Stone, legendary rocker Alice Cooper confirmed that he is working on two new albums with longtime producer Bob Ezrin.

"A lot of those were born during the plague," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "We couldn't go touring for 18 months, so what's a musician gonna do? Well, they're going to write songs. Everybody has a studio in their house. So we were writing songs and doing demos. And at the end of this whole thing, I got in touch with Bob and said, 'Here's 30 songs.' And we decided, 'Okay, let's do two albums.' But the two albums are definitely two different angles of coming in to Alice Cooper. One is very hard rock; the other one is hard rock but it's twisted. And that's all I can say about it right now, because there's a couple of really important things about both albums."

Cooper previously spoke about his new music during an appearance this past January on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". "I'm working on two albums right now, actually — two studio albums," he said. "And all I can say is that one is written — totally written — and we'll be doing bed tracks for that one pretty soon. And then the other one is just a touch in the future, but that's being written right now too. They're two entirely different kinds of albums, but they're Alice Cooper pure rock and roll albums. The two albums will really be hard rock albums."

At the time, the 74-year-old singer said that the first of his new LPs would arrive later this year.

"It's kind of like the old days when you're touring and putting out records at the same time," Alice explained. "It kind of takes me back to when you're doing 'Love It To Death' and then you tour for 'Love It To Death'. While you're doing 'Love It To Death', you're writing 'Killer'. When 'Love It To Death' is over, 'Killer' comes out and then you go support that. And while you're doing 'Killer', you're writing 'School's Out'. So we're kind of piggybacking everything. And I kind of like that. It keeps everything moving. I don't like those big chunks of time when there's nothing going on."

Also in January, Alice's guitarist Nita Strauss revealed to Detroit's WRIF radio station that she and her Cooper bandmates "recorded quite a bit of music" for his upcoming album. "The band did also have a huge part in the writing this time, which is the first time that's happened in the eight years that I've been in the band," she said. "So it was really, really fun — really exciting for us to get to work with a legend like Bob Ezrin. [It was] a huge, huge honor to be in the studio with him and Alice creating what we hope will be some more Alice Cooper music to just add to his legacy."

She added: "I'm on the [Alice Cooper] live DVD. I'm on the live album releases, the live tracks that are bonus tracks and stuff, but [this is my] first studio album with Alice. I'm actually the only person in the [current lineup of Alice's] band that hasn't recorded anything with Alice before, so this is huge for me. [I'm] very, very honored."

A year ago, Alice told Australia's Heavy that he wanted to record his next album on the road with the current lineup of his solo band. "I like it — I like the idea," he said. "I brought up the idea because my stage band is so tight. They're not even on ['Detroit Stories']. But they're so tight that they can play anything. And I said, 'Well, then why don't we write the songs on the road about the road? Let's write the songs about what happens on the road.' Or just it could be funny, it could be tragic, it could be whatever. I said, 'But let's make this album rock, like you guys do. And I'd love to play it live during soundchecks.' Instead of playing 'Eighteen' or 'School's Out' or doing a soundcheck every day, I said, 'Let's rehearse these songs.' And then, at one point, somewhere on the road when we have two days off, we'll set up the next gig and record them all — record them live in a venue.' And I said, 'That would be unique. Nobody's ever done that. So let's do something nobody's ever done.'"

Alice went on to say that he had every confidence that the members of his current solo band — Strauss, Tommy Henriksen (guitar),Ryan Roxie (guitar),Chuck Garric (bass) and Glen Sobel (drums) — would be able to rise to the occasion and make an album while on tour. "If you get the right players, you can do anything," he said. "I've got Nita Strauss in there. Nita is just a monster guitar player. She was voted 'Guitarist Of The Decade' magazine in Guitar magazine, and my drummer was voted 'Best Drummer In Rock'. And the great thing about this band is they never have a bad night; they're good every night. And they're all best friends. I never hear an argument; I never hear an ego pop up; I never hear anybody yelling at anybody unless it's funny. All I hear backstage is laughing."

Released in February 2021, "Detroit Stories" was recorded with Ezrin, mostly in Royal Oak with Detroit musicians and featuring a mix of original material alongside covers of songs by Bob Seger, the MC5, Mitch Ryder's DETROIT and OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY.

In 2018, Cooper issued "A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris", a recording of his December 7, 2017 concert at the world-renowned Olympia venue in France. The effort captured Cooper and his current bandmates performing a choice selection of classic Cooper hits, in addition to some highlights from 2017's "Paranormal" album. Alice later said that he wanted to release a document of his band's onstage prowess because they "deserved a live album."