Dennis Dunaway Hopes for More Alice Cooper Reunion Shows
Original Alice Cooper band bassist Dennis Dunaway hopes there will be more reunions with the surviving members in the future, and believes they will take place if promoters realize there’s a demand.
He got back together with frontman Cooper, guitarist Michael Bruce and drummer Neal Smith on May 14 in Nashville, performing a five-song set at the end of Cooper’s show with his current band. The group, which split when the singer went solo in 1975, also recorded together for the upcoming Cooper album Paranormal, following a brief live reunion in 2015.
As with their previous outing, Ryan Roxie took the place of late guitarist Glen Buxton. “When we got to Nashville, we rehearsed the songs in the dressing room with Ryan," Dunaway said on his website. "We had to decide which guitar parts each guy would play – sometimes Ryan plays Michael’s parts with Alice, and now he had to play all of Glen’s parts. We also had to lock in which to look at for each cue."
Dunaway also recalled how fans “raised their iPhones like a sea of lanterns” when the big moment came. “We blasted ‘Eighteen,’ ‘Billion Dollar Babies,’ ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ ‘Muscle of Love’ and then ‘School’s Out / Another Brick in the Wall’ with both bands for the big finale. Whenever I looked into the crowd, I was surprised to see so many people were crying."
He pointed out that “some shows are good, some are great, and some feel downright transcendent," but he's grateful to just be onstage performing with his old bandmates. It's "very special, and since it doesn’t happen very often, magic was in the air," he said. "I was on cloud nine over how many amazing fans had gone to such lengths to be there. Some came from Canada, France and even Australia. As far as future reunion shows, hopefully our fans will make a big enough noise to reach the ears of the concert promoters.”
Paranormal will be released on July 28, complete with a mini-album recorded by the original band. The LP also features guest appearances by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Deep Purple’s Roger Glover and U2’s Larry Mullen.
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