GuilFest 2005. The Guildford Music Festival on 15th, 16th and 17th July 2005

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Artist: Alice Cooper
Genre: Rock
Performing: 4th July 2003 / BBC Radio 2 Main Stage
Website Address: [www.alicecooper.com]

Following the critical success of last year¹s Brutal Planet, Alice Cooper is back to take listeners on an equally fantastic voyage. Far from leading you down a path you¹ve been before, though, he mines new, considerably darker territory with his latest release, Dragontown (Spitfire Records).

Few artists possess The Coop¹s skill for narrating tales of moral decay and retribution. But while Dragontown has a concept, it isn¹t a "concept album" in the traditional sense, much less the sense normally associated with Alice Cooper.

"I realized that Brutal Planet had only covered about half of what I wanted to cover. Now it¹s time to go Deeper, as I describe it in one of the songs," Alice says. "The heart of Brutal Planet is Dragontown, which is really a place of consequence. It¹s where the worst of the worst are".

Dragontown is an album about life¹s pure failures and the descent they find themselves in. Sounds like a place Alice has visited once or twice himself, doesn¹t it? But this trip is hardly an exercise in nostalgia or, um, hero worship. There are no heroes in Dragontown, and Alice proves it with the characters he¹s created to take you there. Even his time-tested ability to shock is taken to some unlikely extremes: he¹s not just portraying rock and roll¹s most notorious villains, he¹s portraying its heroes as well. "Everyone thinks there¹s a rock and roll heaven and all these wonderful guys are there. I don¹t think so,"he says. " I picked out specific people that I was pretty sure weren¹t qualified for a rock and roll heaven. I think they¹re in another place‹and that place is Dragontown."

Who does Alice condemn to his musical netherworld? The melody lines that infuse the title track evoke the image of shamanic showman (and legendary Alice Cooper drinking buddy) Jim Morrison of the Doors, while "It¹s Too Late" bids a musical farewell to his friend John Lennon. The most musically surprising song‹and the one most likely to piss people off, Alice laughs‹is the lovingly sarcastic hard-rockabilly ³Disgraceland,² which recalls the tragic, fatal gluttony of Elvis Presley. "No one has ever been in as desperate a situation as Elvis was. I had a big problem with alcohol and when it got too bad, I got sent to a hospital,"Alice says. ³Somebody should have sent him to a hospital, but nobody loved him enough to do that. I didn¹t write that out of disrespect for Elvis. I knew him. I got his sense of humor and I think he would have loved the song,Alice laughs.

Dragontown isn¹t just peopled with the rich and famous. Listeners will also make the acquaintance of less-celebrated denizens who are just as fatally flawed. Sure to stir up controversy are the sexual indiscretions of ³Sister Sara,² a fallen angel that Alice likens to Nurse Rozetta from 1978¹s From The Inside. ³Sister Sara took the vows and she blew it. She realized that she couldn¹t live up to those vows, and she turned into something totally different. She¹s a very frail character, she¹s very mortal.² When Alice introduces her to the ³Triggerman,² the Oprah-bashing ³Fantasyman,² and ³The Sentinel,² who Alice calls ³one of those guys who sits around soldering C-2 bombs all day, deciding he¹s going to be the judge, jury and executioner,² you realize she¹s in pretty good company.

In bringing these characters to life (if you can call an eternity in Dragontown ³living²), is Alice playing the Devil or is he playing Devil¹s advocate? Maybe a little bit of both. ³I think Dragontown is a cautionary tale. Alice is sitting back and commenting on it all. He¹s saying, I don¹t care this way, I don¹t care that way. Just look how messed up we are. In the end we¹re all going to end up in this place, so let¹s not be shocked about it.¹ But we keep refusing to see it. Maybe Dragontown will change that, because with this new album, Alice Cooper once again gives his fans an eye-opening experience.

You¹ve been witness to his nightmares and you¹ve followed him down to hell. Now it¹s time for another little joyride. If you want to see how the other half lives, drop by Dragontown. Alice would love to see you again.

NOTE: For further information on the career of Alice Cooper, please consult the book within the CD box set ³The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper² (Rhino/Warner Archives), or the VHS or DVD home video documentary ³The Alice Cooper Story: Prime Cuts² (Sanctuary).