The Hollywood Vampires project began around 2012 when Alice and Johnny Depp worked together on the 'Dark Shadows' movie, which led to Depp joining Alice on stage at the 100 Club in London. The idea blossomed into a full blown covers album with the addition of Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry. Alice's history with Perry goes back decades and includes a previous attempt to work together prior to the 'Constrictor' album, which ended when Alice went to film 'Monster Dog' and Perry rejoined Aerosmith. As the idea came together it morphed from an Alice Cooper solo covers record (with Depp) into a full blown project in it's own right. The album has a wealth of guests including Sir Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Brian Johnson (AC/DC), Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith.

Track listing

1. The Last Vampire (Depp, Ezrin, Lee,(Stoker)) (1:35)
2. Raise the Dead (Depp, Ezrin, Cooper, Henriksen, Witkin, Klonel) (3:31)
3. My Generation (Townsend) - originally by The Who (2:47)
4. Whole Lotta Love (Page, Planet, Bonham, Jones, Dixon) - originally by Led Zeppelin(4:13)
5. I Got A Line On You (California) - originally by Spirit (2:48)
6. Five To One/Break On Through (Morrison, Kreiger, Manzarek, Densmore) - originally by The Doors(4:17)
7. One/Jump Into The Fire (Nilsson) - originally by Harry Nilsson(5:07)
8. Come And Get It (McCartney) - originally by Badfinger (2:59)
9. Jeepster (Bolin) - originally by T-Rex (2:43)
10. Cold Turkey (Lennon) - originally by The Plastic Ono Band (3:07)
11. Manic Depression (Hendrix) - originally by Jimi Hendrix Experience (2:43)
12. Itchycoo Park (Marriot, Lane) - originally by Small Faces (2:55)
13. School's Out/Another Brick In The Wall Pt 2 (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith, Waters) - originally by Alice Cooper/Pink Floyd (5:14)
14. My Dead Drunk Friends (Depp, Cooper, Ezrin, Witkin, Henriksen) (4:30)
15. I'm A Boy (Townsend) - originally by The Who - Japanese/Deluxe Bonus Track(2:38)
16. Seven And Seven Is (Lee) - originally by Love - Deluxe Edition(3:05)
17. Bad As I Am (Depp, Witkins, Henriksen) - Deluxe Edition (3:45)

Album Notes - (Detailed release information)

Hollywood Vampires in the studio with Sir Paul McCartney.

The Hollywood Vampires is a project put together by Alice Cooper and actor Johnny Depp. Originaly set to be an Alice Cooper album, as time went on it became a seperate band in it's own right. The idea was to get together and play songs by classic artists that had passed away due to the rock'n'roll excesses of drink and drugs, although it could be argued not all the artists' deaths really come under that banner.

Cooper and Depp had met in 2012 on the set of the movie 'Dark Shadows' which stared Johnny and featured a cameo appearance by Alice. A relationship formed and they talked about working together as Depp had originally arrived in Los Angeles to be a musician, not an actor, and was an accomplished guitarist in his own right. Due to various other commitments it took some years for the band to really get working, although some writing and recording was done as in 2012 as guitarist/producer Tommy Henriksen had mentioned 'Raise The Dead' as being a new song for a possible Alice Cooper 'EP' which was never released.

While Joe Perry of Aerosmith is now considered the third partner in Hollywood Vampires, that only came about after the project was off the ground. If you look at the credits on the album you'll see Perry is only present on four of the albums fourteen core tracks and was obviously just another guest until became time for the band to play live when he committed fully to the band.

The band is named after a loose celebrity drinking club that existed in the mid-seventies and met at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go club in Hollywood. Many of Alice's famous friends would frequent the club when they were in town with the only ral aim of getting as drunk as they could possibly get. Alice (the treasurer), Harry Nilsson, Micky Dolenz, Ringo Starr, Bernie Taupin were all regulars while the likes of John Lennon, and Keith Moon would regularly drop by. Some of the artists covered on the album, like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, could never have been there as they were already dead, but Alice had known them and so they were included

When the album finally surfaced it featured three original songs (plus another on a digital deluxe version). 'The Last Vampire' is simply a soundscapeto open the album with legendary horror actor Christopher Lee reading lines adapted from Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'. 'Raise The Dead' is a full on rock song, while 'Dead Drunk Friends' is a humorous bar-room shuffle. The rest of the album features assorted covers of classic rock artists many of whom Alice had known personally.

To launch the album in 2015 the band booked two nights at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, just down the road from the Whiskey-A-Go-Go where the original drinking club would meet. Alice's regular guitarist/producer Tommy Henriksen and Depps friend Bruce Witkin had both been heavily involved with the album so were obvious choices, but bass and drums on the album had been played but many different musicians. Eventually the tapped ex-Guns'n'Roses rhythm section Duff McKagan and Mat Sorum who played with the band at all appearances during their first year as a live band.

The tiny Roxy Theatre sold out the minute tickets went on sale and a packed audience watched the band run through almost everything on the album with plenty of special guests. Pop diva Kesha, who had appeared on Alice's 'Welcome 2 My Nightare' album, joined them for 'Whole Lotta Love'. Who drummer Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) played on The Who songs. Black Sabbath bassist got up for 'Manic Depression', while Perry Farrell of 'Jane's Addiction' and Tom Morello of 'Rage Against The Machine' also took the stage. On the second night even Marilyn Manson joined in.

The following week they played at the huge 'Rock In Rio' festival in Brazil which was televised locally and streamed on the internet. This time guests included Starkey (again), Lzzy Hale of 'Halestorm' and Andreas Kisser of Brazilian thrash band 'Sepultura'. While the band couldn't really be described as "tight" the shows were generally a success, but other commitments meant the next time anyone would see them was at the Grammy Awards ceremony in February 2016 where they played new song 'Bad As I Am' and Motorhead's 'Ace Of Spades' in tribute to Lemmy, who had passed away a couple of months earlier. A "deluxe" digital version of the album was released to co-incide with the Grammy appearance and now included 'Bad As I Am' along with cover of The Who's It's A Boy' (previously the Japanese only bonus track) and a new cover of 'Seven And Seven is' by Love.

The Hollywood Vampires at the Grammy's paying tribute to Lemmy.

In May 2016 the band began their first short tour with a wam up show in Verona, NY before heading to mainland Europe for five shows. In July they played more shows in the USA, with Robert DeLeo of 'Stone Temple Pilots' taking over bass from Duff McKagan who was off on the big Guns'n'Roses reunion tour. They were scheduled to appear on TV show 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' until Joe Perry passed out at a show in Brooklyn, NY on July 10th and was rushed to hospital. He was diagnosed with exhustion and told to rest for a while, rejoining his bandmates two weeks later. From what was said at the time it appears Perry wasn't used to Alice's extremely heavy touring schedule and simply ran out of steam. Future tours would be booked to leave more space between shows.

After the US tour in 2016 everything went relatively quiet as Alice worked on his own new album, but in interviews he revealed the band would be working on new original material for a second album which was expected to be released some time in 2018. Come April of that year photos began emerging of the Vampires rehearsing and recording, and a second tour was booked starting off with a handful of warm up shows in the US before moving on to Europe, this time including shows in the UK for the first time. Both Sorum and DeLeo announced they wouldn't be part of the new tour due to other committments and as of writing no replacements have so far been announced

'Hollywood Vampires' Live

As the Hollywood Vampires don't have the theatrics of a normal Alice show, hence their shows don't really need a blow by blow discription the way real Alice shows do, but here's the performers and the general setlist they had in 2016.