All Alice fans should see this

Anything Alice Cooper or AC band related goes here

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tuneylune
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All Alice fans should see this

Post by tuneylune » Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:18 am

Watched HIRED GUN (2016) a few days ago about musicians who are hired to record or tour with usually no credit given and little to no Job security. Would put this in the same category with 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, THE WRECKING CREW and STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN (all which I recommend heartily) and many great interviews with Jason Newstead, Rudy Sarzo, Liberty DeVito, Kenny Aranoff (serious balls the man has) among others.
Other than Pink, it seems that working with Alice would be the way to go. Lots of AC personnel are in here including Eric Singer, producer Jason Hook, Bob Ezrin, Nita Strauss, David Foster and Glen Sobel and when You think back on it, a lot of people have stayed with Alice or frequently worked with him.
Just a good watch here, but as it mentions in the Jason Hook history link, avoid this if You are a Billy Joel fan as he does not come off well at all. ****
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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by Si » Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:06 am

Definitely worth watching. It's on Netflix still in the UK I think.

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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by Shoesalesman » Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:14 pm

Very good viewing. Billy takes a beating for sure.
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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by MrD Returns » Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:54 pm

Saw this awhile back. Very interesting. It got me to thinking though about just what Alice's band is paid? Do they each have there own deal or are they all paid the same? And if so, roughly what is the going rate? For example, I guess Chuck and Ryan are the old timers in the current lineup. Are they paid a little more or a lot more than Nita who is the relative newcomer. Are there any benefits of being in the Cooper gig , such as health insurance that other gigs don't offer? I'm just curious and a little concerned too. I've met Ryan and Chuck a few times and the rest a couple of times and I genuinely like each of them so I wonder sometimes about their long term benefit. I'm sure they all understand the ups and downs of their chosen profession but does the Alice Copper organization provide any kind of safety net for them? Either on the long or short term?
I meant to have this conversation with Ryan when we went to his show at the Nick in Birmingham awhile back but I could never figure out a way to broach the subject. BTW, I'm the guy that fixed the the generator on Ryan's bus, single-handedly saving the "Planet Axe" tour. (seriously fishing for kudos here)
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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by Si » Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:19 pm

MrD Returns wrote:
Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:54 pm
Saw this awhile back. Very interesting. It got me to thinking though about just what Alice's band is paid?
I doubt many people would know the answer to that one, and while I get that it would be kinda interesting to know, at the end of the day it really isn't any of our business what they get paid, and even if someone knows things like that it shouldn`t be posted to a public site anyway. Sorry.

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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by padre_sliprat » Fri Jan 18, 2019 6:22 am

MrD Returns wrote:
Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:54 pm
BTW, I'm the guy that fixed the the generator on Ryan's bus, single-handedly saving the "Planet Axe" tour. (seriously fishing for kudos here)
I hear that a good roadie can generate electricity with a spud. Of course I'm not a meatloaf and potatoes kinda guy.
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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by MrD Returns » Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:52 pm

Si wrote:
Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:19 pm
MrD Returns wrote:
Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:54 pm
Saw this awhile back. Very interesting. It got me to thinking though about just what Alice's band is paid?
I doubt many people would know the answer to that one, and while I get that it would be kinda interesting to know, at the end of the day it really isn't any of our business what they get paid, and even if someone knows things like that it shouldn`t be posted to a public site anyway. Sorry.
Yeah probably right. None of my business just wondering if there's an industry standard or is each gig and each player different. Or if there were any benefits. You guys in the UK are fortunate enough to have universal health care (even with it's caveats). Here in the good ol USA it's every man for himself.
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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by MrD Returns » Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:09 pm

padre_sliprat wrote:
Fri Jan 18, 2019 6:22 am
MrD Returns wrote:
Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:54 pm
BTW, I'm the guy that fixed the the generator on Ryan's bus, single-handedly saving the "Planet Axe" tour. (seriously fishing for kudos here)
I hear that a good roadie can generate electricity with a spud. Of course I'm not a meatloaf and potatoes kinda guy.

Funny story. Sharon (my wife) and I are sitting at the bar at the Nick before the show. Ryan walks in and recognizes us and comes over to say hello. He looks like hell. Dripping with sweat, hair all standing up, clothes all dirty and I'm like "damn brother, what's up?". He then goes on to explain that the generator that runs the power , including the air conditioning for their little bus was broken down. So no power in the bus and it's about 120 degrees in there. All the guys have to change clothes before their sets and and this is the first night of the tour and well...ya know ... damn!. About that time Sharon pipes up and says "Wayne can fix it". If looks could kill she'd be dead. Well Ryan get's all excited and is like can you? please. At least take a look at it. So we all go out there including another lady that we had meet before. Using cell phones for lights I start examining the generator. Rule out the simple stuff first. Gas ok, spark plug connected, check. Take out the dip stick for the oil and it's dry as a bone. The lady that was out there with us says she has a quart of oil in her car. So we unstrap the the thing from it's little mount, pour some oil in it, strap it back down and Bam! It fires back up on the first try. Yeah! the tour is saved. Later Ryan gives me a shout out for fixing the generator and and a guy comes over and slaps me on the back with a big "way to go"! and then promises that all my beer will be on him for the rest of the night. I'm still waiting on that beer.
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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by padre_sliprat » Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:22 am

MrD Returns wrote:
Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:09 pm
Funny story. Sharon (my wife) and I are sitting at the bar at the Nick before the show. Ryan walks in and recognizes us and comes over to say hello. He looks like hell. Dripping with sweat, hair all standing up, clothes all dirty and I'm like "damn brother, what's up?". He then goes on to explain that the generator that runs the power , including the air conditioning for their little bus was broken down. So no power in the bus and it's about 120 degrees in there. All the guys have to change clothes before their sets and and this is the first night of the tour and well...ya know ... damn!. About that time Sharon pipes up and says "Wayne can fix it". If looks could kill she'd be dead. Well Ryan get's all excited and is like can you? please. At least take a look at it. So we all go out there including another lady that we had meet before. Using cell phones for lights I start examining the generator. Rule out the simple stuff first. Gas ok, spark plug connected, check. Take out the dip stick for the oil and it's dry as a bone. The lady that was out there with us says she has a quart of oil in her car. So we unstrap the the thing from it's little mount, pour some oil in it, strap it back down and Bam! It fires back up on the first try. Yeah! the tour is saved. Later Ryan gives me a shout out for fixing the generator and and a guy comes over and slaps me on the back with a big "way to go"! and then promises that all my beer will be on him for the rest of the night. I'm still waiting on that beer.
Great story.
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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by VinceRaven » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:52 am

Thanks for flagging this up.

After watching it I moved onto another one on Netflix, We Are Twisted F***ing Sister (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3538328/?ref_=nv_sr_1), which was especially notable for two reasons. Firstly a lengthy 2hr & 15mins documentary only covered their years in relative obscurity and stopped before they recorded Stay Hungry! Secondly, there amazingly wasn't a single mention of Alice Cooper as an influence while David Bowie, The New York Dolls and Kiss all got a namecheck or two. The classic way to wind up all Alice fans.

On a similar note, I caught A Shot of Whisky (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5011714/?ref_=nv_sr_1) on Sky Arts a few nights back, about the Whisky a Go-Go unsurprisingly. It's not great, though it has some interesting things in it. Remarkably, this was also looking like having zero references to the Alice Cooper group (aside from a few visuals of gig posters that had them on the same bill as Led Zeppelin) until Cherie Currie of The Runaways fame mentioned the name almost at the very end. Would have been good to have had Dennis involved with some of his great anecdotes, or maybe Neal since The Doors and Sabbath were represented by John Densmore and Bill Ward. Although, as I said, it's far from a quality production.

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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by Lucius Morthem » Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:10 am

I couldn't quote last post correctly, sorry.

There is a reason for that. Jay Jay French (who lead the documentary and specifically talked about their influences and stuff) was not an Alice Cooper fan. Dee Snider was the fan. And If I recall correctly, Dee didn't get the chance to talk about what inspired the change in the band (which Dee caused) because no matter whatever Jay Jay French says, Twisted Sister would've died and never truly succeeded without Dee.



About the other doc. Well, some people ( a lot) in the industry, tend to focus on the "rebellion" of rock n roll and stuff to sell. They will never focus on a band whose singer/leader is now a devoted Christian, hasn't touched alcohol in decades, etc. Curiously, the same happens to Snider and he has talked about it

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Re: All Alice fans should see this

Post by padre_sliprat » Mon Jan 28, 2019 5:04 pm

Lucius Morthem wrote:
Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:10 am
They will never focus on a band whose singer/leader is now a devoted Christian, hasn't touched alcohol in decades, etc. Curiously, the same happens to Snider and he has talked about it
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