The Guillotine

The guillotine is probably the most famous Alice stunt and was designed by James Randi for Alice Cooper based on the design of Will Rock. It was used on the 'Billion Dollar Babies', 'Billion Dollar Babies Holiday', 'Lace And Whiskey', 'Nightmare Returns', 'Trash', 'Brutal Planet' and 'Dragontown' tours. The current guillotine is not the original as it has been rebuilt several times since `73. One of the early models now resides in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Here's a trivia gem that no one knows-(originally) after Alice would put his head in the guillotine, he no longer has a mike but continues to sing the last part of the song-he is actually just lip-synching while Michael Bruce imitated Alice's vocals. Then, the rest of the song was played over the PA on a pre-recorded tape which allowed the band to leave their instruments and go and attack Alice's chopped off head and his body.
(Renfield, July 1995)

It`s a little known fact that you can actually see a guillotine in photos of the Earwigs as far back as 1965. It was built by a friend of the bands father and was a full, working Guillotine with stops to prevent it actually chopping your head off. This original Guillotine remained at Cortez for some years after the band left the school.