JOE PERRY Is 'Really Excited' About New HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES Album 'Rise'

Joe Perry spoke to Coachella Valley Weekly about "Rise", the upcoming second album from HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, which also features shock rock icon Alice Cooper and Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp. The disc will be released June 21 via earMUSIC.

"We're really excited about the new record, there's no doubt," Joe said. "After the last one, we went out and played pretty much the whole record. It was a cover-record kinda thing, but we knew that the band, when we hit the stage, we knew the band had a lot more to it than just covering some great old songs and paying homage to some of our friends that have passed away. We were really excited about finally getting in the studio and writing some new stuff and then going out and playing it live. Alice is amazing to play with. Again, everybody has had tons of time in the studio. Johnny's been working in and out of the studio for years, everybody has. Really, it's about getting on stage and playing live. We actually played quite a few songs from the new record on the last tour. We'll probably play seven or eight songs off the new record for this tour."

Perry also talked about the album's first single, "Who's Laughing Now", which was released last month.

"We're just starting to get some feedback on that," Joe said. "That song, just thinking about those couple of riffs that came together on the record, I can't wait to play them live. Like most of the songs that I've tried to write, from the start, I think about how it would be to play them live. Again, with this band and having done a couple of tours, it kind of shifted my aim a little different being with this band. It's a little bit darker and a little bit heavier, you could say, and a lot more wide open than some of the things I've done with AEROSMITH."

Unlike HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES' 2015 debut record, "Rise", produced by guitarist Tommy Henriksen and the rest of the band, consists mainly of original material written by the musicians. However, in the spirit of the VAMPIRES' original mission, there are three covers of songs originally written and recorded by some fellow rockers who died far too young: an intimate and intense version of David Bowie's "Heroes", beautifully performed by Johnny Depp; the late JIM CARROLL BAND's "People Who Died"; and Johnny Thunders's "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory", sung by Joe Perry.

HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES will embark on a short U.S. tour in early May. Completing the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES live lineup will be rock star musician friends Glen Sobel (ALICE COOPER) on drums, Chris Wyse (THE CULT) on bass, and Buck Johnson (AEROSMITH) on keyboard and vocals.