Interview: Alice Cooper celebrating launch of new book

This is a real treat. You may know him as a legendary rocker who put Detroit Rock City on the map. And as a member of the Hollywood Vampires, Alice Cooper is in Livonia today meeting fans and signing copies of his new book released just last month. Fox 2's Dave Kinchin is live at Rock City Music Company with an exclusive interview with the rock icon. That's pretty cool, Dave. Yeah, that's right, Rupert. You're only going to see this right here, right now on Fox 2. Alice Cooper in Livonia, Rock City Music Company, promoting Devil on My Shoulder, the book here. First off, what's it like being back home, and was it different compared to when you drove through in the 70s here? No, you know, Detroit's always been a hometown for me. I brag about being from Detroit, and I live in Phoenix now, but lions, tigers, red wings, come on, wolverines, that's all me, you know. And yeah, when I get back here, I always feel like I'm at home. It's just really amazing. I just look around. All my family still lives in Royal Oak, you know, all the relatives and everything. So, yeah, I've got a pretty strong Detroit connection. Yeah, no doubt about it. And there's a lot of it in this book, Devil on My Shoulder. You get really candid about a lot of things, the blackout years, for example, so much. Was there a memory that you found or rediscovered that just surprised you? Well, you know, all of it. When you're writing a book like this, all of a sudden you start realizing, All you can really do is give an account of what you remember that situation to be like. Because nobody remembers what they said 50 years ago to somebody. But you remember the situation. I can remember the chicken story in Toronto. My version was that. Now, if you ask Shep, my manager, he would give you a different version. And everybody, but I always thought I was the one that was right there doing it. So my version is going to be a lot closer. And personal moments too, right? And do you set the record straight on a lot of things, a lot of lore out there as far as Alice Cooper? And that conversation between you, Vinny, and Alice. Well, the funny thing is... Finally giving the audience a chance to understand that there's me and then there's the character. The character on stage hates golf. He hates everything I love, you know, because he's a villain. That's what he is. He's Captain Hook, you know. So, in the writing of the book, and then all of a sudden, Alice will go, it didn't happen that way. You know, what are you talking about? And I love the fact that there's a conflict between the two all the way through, because there usually is a conflict. No doubt. And with all of that, you put Detroit on the map as a rock and roll city. What is it about this city that's so special to the world with this rock genre? This is a true story. This is true, true. When you talk to any band, touring band, and they look at their itinerary and they see Detroit, they know they better bring it. Because Detroit is not, oh, yeah, that's nice, that's good. Hey, how are you going to like, you know. Detroit wants you to bring it. And you better bring it hard and you better bring it with attitude. Because that's this city. It's the home of hard rock. It always has been, you know. So, I mean, you can go to other cities and, yeah, yeah. But Detroit is where you've got to nail it. Yeah, no doubt. Last question I had. What's next for you? You just wrapped up a tour with the Hollywood Vampires, right? You're going to Windsor for the book tour, but what's next musically for you? This is, you know, we've been doing, I'm working on three albums right now. The original band album, my next album, and the Vampires' next album. So this tour's got about 15 more shows, and then we've been out since February, so we're going to take a nice long break in there until June, probably, and get these three albums done. But, you know, it's a never-ending thing. I hope it never ends. And you can pick whoever you want to work with, too, which is great. You had Larry Mullen in your band at one point on drums, which I thought was pretty different. He was a very creative guy. You know, he would sit and listen and interpret the song. On the drums, you know, which was really interesting, you know, I mean, it wasn't just a guy says, OK, it's 4-4 and then we go to this and we go to that. He would listen and go, OK, I think I understand it now. I think a drummer that wants to understand the lyrics. The music and what's going to happen. That's pretty amazing. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Talked about Larry Mullen from U2. Of course, they have another record coming out. It's got to be just so amazing to be back. And there's a whole new generation of fans getting into Alice Cooper music every day. That's got to be pretty cool. Yeah, it really is. You know, kids now are buying vinyl. I mean, it's the weirdest thing, vinyl outsold CDs, and so I think what it is is that a younger generation does not want to be like their big brothers or sisters. So the last generation was very high tech, everything was, you know, this. They want to buy a record, put it on, listen to it, it's a ritual. And I think that's really smart. You're going to see a resurgence of hard rock. You're going to see it. There's kids right now in garages learning Aerosmith and Guns N' Roses and Alice Cooper and this. And you're going to see a real resurgence of that. Awesome. Alice Cooper, thank you so much, man. Thank you. Devil on My Shoulder is the book. Check it out. It came out last month. It's awesome. This guy is the legend. We'll send it right back to you.