Alice Cooper to Release New Album Later This Year, Considers it One of His Best Works Yet

For those who think rock music has lost its edge, Alice Cooper is releasing a sequel to his 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare. Titled Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Cooper’s new album was finished earlier this year and will be released in the U.K. in September. Welcome 2 is produced by Bob Ezrin, the same producer for Cooper’s 1975 release. In a February interview with NME, Cooper mentions: “I haven't worked with Bob [Ezrin] in a long time. After the 35th anniversary of '...Nightmare', I said, 'Why don't we start writing something else?'. And he said, 'Why don't we just do part two?'. We'd never done part two, so I went, 'That's a great idea. Let's get me and you together'.”

Cooper considers his latest work one of the best things he’s ever done. In an interview before performing at the Download Festival, he explains: “It’s probably one of the five best albums I’ve ever done. It tells a different nightmare. It tells a more modern nightmare. What would be a nightmare for Alice now, 30 years later? Well still disco. Disco would still be a nightmare for him. Technology is a bit of a nightmare for Alice. Alice goes into the nightmare and the nice thing about it is that we connected up themes from the original. Musically, it is really something. You’ve got 15 or 16 songs and they go in every direction. There’s a zombie beach party, there’s a disco hell that he’s in. I mean, it just goes in so many different directions.”

An October UK tour will follow. Cooper already previewed some of his new music at the Download Festival, including song “I’ll Bite Your Face Off,” but his October tour will be both a combination of music and spectacle. In fact, Cooper will be holding auditions on June 27 in Hyde Park for the Alexandra Palace show in London. The rocker is specifically looking for “bizarre” performance artists and fire acts. Cooper has held auditions for his shows before, and about the performers he’s found in the U.K., he said to RockAAA.com: “It takes a lot to shock me. But last year even my stomach was churning, Britain really has got freaks. That’s what Halloween is all about. It’s my favorite time of the year, bring on the gore!”

More judging may be in the shock rocker’s future. In a recent interview with NME, Cooper states he wants to see a rock version of X Factor, as present-day performers have neither showmanship nor attitude. In fact, Cooper would rather watch the latest pop stars over rock acts: "It's infinitely more fun watching somebody like Lady Gaga. The same with Katy Perry. She's got a great pop sense. Then you have Shakira, who is this bohemian animal."