The king of shock also told us why he doesn't normally perform on Halloween.
Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Alice Cooper before reviewing his show. As a lifelong lover of horror, shock rock, and monster, this was a bucket list interview, and I took the opportunity to ask Alice all sorts of questions that never made it into my coverage.
Something I was curious about was Halloween. Alice's U.S. tour ended just days before my favorite holiday, and I was curious as to why that was. On the one hand, one imagines that a guy like Alice would live for Halloween. On the other, though, Alice Cooper lives a game of morbid dress-up all year long -- maybe Halloween is amateur hour to him.
So I asked him: does Alice Cooper still celebrate Halloween? And if so, why was there no show for that night?
"For us, it’s the build-up to Halloween that's important," Alice told me. "We rarely play on Halloween. It’s not a good night for concerts because people are out with their kids, teenagers are at parties, and you don’t really actually draw very well on Halloween. In Detroit, it was different, because it was expected that Alice Cooper would play Halloween night. These days, it’s almost our night off—which is cool, this year! This year, I’m going to be home and I’m gonna take my grandkids out trick-or-treating!"
When I asked him about his favorite Halloween costume, Alice was quick to reply that it was what he wore in 1978 -- the birth year of on of horror's other most famous icons.
"The one time I took my kids out, it was when Halloween came out, so I had the full Michael Myers outfit on," laughed Alice. "I’d stand there, and the kids would go up and get candy, and I had a tape recorder in my pocket that’s going… (Alice sings John Carpenter's Halloween theme). And the kids would leave… and I would still stand there. And when the parents would look out the window, I’d still be standing there. And after a while they began to wonder, who was this guy, really?"
