‘Shock rocker’ Alice Cooper brings ‘Too Close for Comfort’ tour to the Quad Cities

Alice Cooper is happy to talk about who he really is, not only on the phone.

“I’m Alice. I’m the master of madness, the sultan of surprise,” he sings on “I’m Alice,” the lead track on his latest album “Road.” On track two, “Welcome to the Show,” he adds “I play the creature ‘cause I know how. My lips are red, my eyes are black. I’m as scary as a heart attack.”

On “I’m Alice,” Cooper maintains that he was created by the audience. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Alice Cooper came into being in the late ‘60s when Vincent Furnier took the name of the band he was fronting and transformed into the “shock rocker” who brought theatrics into the world of rock ’n’ roll.

“I always thought that the lyrics should be the script for the show,” Cooper said. “In other words, if I say ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ in the song, I don't just say that, I give you the nightmare. Nobody was doing that. I couldn’t understand why other bands didn't do that. So I created this Alice Cooper character to be rock’s villain, rather than rock’s hero.”

The Alice Cooper Band broke through out of Detroit in the early ‘60s. Teaming up with producer Bob Erzin, Cooper landed his first hit “I’m Eighteen” in 1970 and piled up a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career thereafter, riding a string of ‘70s and ‘80s hits and his theatrical live shows that always found him getting guillotined.

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“Road” was recorded live in the studio with “the best band I’ve ever had,” Cooper said, and he’s been touring behind the album for a year-plus now. He may be a guy who’s lived the rock life for five decades, but Cooper still enjoys this part of his life.

“I really think that's what keeps me in great shape is doing the shows,” he said. “I have never felt better in my life. I'm 77 now, and I feel unbelievable. If you'd asked me how old I was, I’d probably say 35.”

And he said doing the shows never, ever gets old.

“It's always fun. Because every tour that goes out is an entirely new idea,” Cooper said. “But at the same time people expect to see a certain amount of spectacle with Alice Cooper. They know it's not just going to be a bunch of guys staring at their shoes playing music.”

“Now, the interesting thing is this: If we have a seven-hour rehearsal, six hours is on the music. Because if you don't have the music, if you're not a great band, then you can't do theatrics,” he added. “Because then, people will just remember the theatrics, they won't remember the fact that wow, the band is really good. That's really the focal point is how good is the music, and then you put the icing on the cake.”

The new songs “I’m Alice,” “Welcome to the Show” and “White Line Frankenstein” might make it into Cooper’s set this summer and fall. But they very well might not.

“I think the audience would pretty much kill us if we didn’t do ‘School’s Out’ or whatever,” Cooper said. “In fact, the hardest part of putting a show together is the set list. The band knows all the songs. But then you realize that there's about 15 songs that you have to do. Over the years, it's 30 albums, but there's 15 songs that the audience would feel cheated if you didn't do those songs.”

Cooper was talking from a Boston hotel room early in the morning. He had important business to attend to a couple hours later – a round of golf.

“I’ve been a four handicap for about 20 years,” Cooper said. “I'm gonna be a four handicap for the rest of my life probably. I was surprised when I did go out and play after not playing for three weeks. Three or four birdies. I think it's just muscle memory more than anything else.”

Golf has long been one of Cooper’s great passions. His 2008 autobiography is titled “Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock ‘n’ Roller’s Life and 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict.” And, as his handicap verifies, he’s quite accomplished at the game.

So given the title of the book, the daily regimen of golf, and music, is there some kind of connection between rock ‘n’ roll and golf?

“No, there's absolutely zero connection except for this. In the morning. I go out and I play golf. I don't even think about Alice Cooper. It doesn't even cross my mind,” he said. “When I'm on stage, I never, ever think about golf. So the character that I play, Alice Cooper, probably hates golf, you know. But since it's me during the day and Alice at night, they never meet, to be honest with you.”