alice cooper

by

Alice Cooper to tour Australia

Shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper is heading Down Under with a new show, Theatre of Death. I’ve caught the Coop a couple of times in concert and he has never failed to entertain, even without his trademark stage show featuring a guillotine, and a Britney doll just plump for the skewering. I was impressed when he played a Gold Coast stadium one Easter the night following a Kiss concert: there was hardly anyone there, more’s the pity, but it didn’t faze him. He played his heart out.

The latest album, 2008’s Along Came A Spider, was superb, mixing vintage rock and metal in characteristic Alice style as he unveils the life of a serial killer.

Here are the tour dates, with tickets on sale on May 4!
Tuesday 18th August – Win Entertainment Centre, Wollongong (Theatre Mode)
Wednesday 19th August – Gold Coast Convention Centre (Theatre Mode)
Friday 21st August – Newcastle Entertainment Centre (Theatre Mode)
Saturday 22nd August – Brisbane Convention Centre (Theatre Mode)
Monday 24th August – Sydney Entertainment Centre (Theatre Mode)
Wednesday 26th August – Royal Theatre, Canberra
Friday 28th August – Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Saturday 29th August – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide
Tuesday 1st September – Challenge Stadium, Perth (Theatre Mode)

Here’s more about Along Came A Spider and a 2005 pre-tour interview with Alice. And a triple-play from Spider:

by

Christmas carols

I made a brief foray into the shopping centre on the way home from work today and hark! no carols. Tis now the ringing of cash registers that enlivens the corridors and aisles, although there wasn’t much of that going on either. I must’ve missed the rush 🙂

I’m not much a one for carols, especially when they are played in November, but I did find an album that got a few listens in the lead-up to Xmas Day: We Wish You a Merry Xmas. (Armoury/Riot)

metalxmaswebThis little beauty has 14 carols on it, all given varying degrees of metal treatment from some experts in the field.

Alice Cooper does Santa Claws (sic) is Coming to Town (Santa as a very spooky stalker, if not worse), Motorhead’s Lemmy does the gruff business on Run Rudolph Run, and Testament’s Chuck Billy produces a side-splitting thrash metal rendition of Silent Night.

There are some dull tunes, too, but the album ends on a high: O’ Christmas Tree by Doro Pesch and Auld Lang Syne sounding live and raw and slightly drunken thanks to Girlschool. Just the way Christmas should be!