His use of nightmarish theatrics intrigued and disturbed audiences around the world, subjecting them to horrific creatures and his now infamous guillotine beheading, which has become a staple in his live performances. Long before the shock rock antics of acts like Gwar or White Zombie, Cooper concerts felt like monster-movie stageplays backed by a rock and metal music massacre. This deservingly earned him the crown as “the godfather of shock rock.”

But before Alice Cooper the man came Alice Cooper the band. Now referred to as the Original Alice Cooper Band, the group consisted of members Cooper (then going by his birth-name Vincent Furnier), Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith. The group amassed six studio albums between 1969 and 1973 and produced widely known hits like “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Billion Dollar Babies” and the aforementioned anthemic instant-classic “School’s Out.” 

Now, 52 years after the release of their then-final albums Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle of Love (both released in 1973), the Original Alice Cooper Band are back with their latest effort, The Revenge of Alice Cooper, which sees the group go back to their roots.

“When we broke up in ‘74, we broke up right after two number one albums in a row,” Cooper says from his hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. Cooper has been on a solo tour for the last seven months and is taking it easy before the tour leg’s final show tomorrow night. After tomorrow, he’ll get a little break before continuing his solo tour while trekking across the United States and, later in the year, doing a co-headlining tour with Judas Priest. It’s a substantial schedule for a 77 year old, but Cooper jokes that he’ll do anything to get out of Phoenix during the summertime.

“From high school to that point in ‘74, we had never stopped working,” he continues. “You get to a point where you become dysfunctional. When the band broke up, we didn’t break up with any bad blood. Nobody was angry, nobody was yelling at each other, nobody was suing anybody. I stayed in touch with the original band all the time. I think we always knew we would get back and record again.”

The band enlisted long-time collaborator Bob Ezrin to produce their latest album. Ezrin worked with the original band on several records, including Love It to Death (1971), Killer (1971), School’s Out (1972) and Billion Dollar Babies (1973).

“We got in the studio and it was like no time had gone by,” Cooper says. “We had all these great songs we wrote together and we were laughing most of the time. It sounded like a 1975 album, but we weren’t trying to make a 1975 album. We didn’t know what we were trying to do. We were just trying to write songs, record them and see if they fit together. In every band, when you have a drummer, a bass player and a guitar player, they have a certain style that they play together. As soon as they started playing, I knew exactly what the vocals were gonna do. That’s how tight you get with a band.” 

Original lead guitarist Glen Buxton was missed during these sessions, as he passed away in October 1997. However, the group managed to pay homage through some of Buxton’s previously unreleased lead guitar parts featured on the new album’s 12th track, “What Happened to You.” 

It wasn’t only the remaining band members that re-encapsulated the sound of their youth: Cooper’s signature lyrical style stays prevalent as well. Dramatic, provocative and cinematic, his lyrics continue to paint twisted vignettes that spark listeners’ imaginations. 

“I write little stories,” he explains. “‘One Night Stand’ is about two serial killers. There are little twist endings. I think the most unique song on the album is ‘Blood on the Sun,’ because it sounds profound and important, but it’s just movie titles. Every single lyric on that song is a movie title. There’s no real meaning to that song at all. There are certain songs that are really important, there are other songs that are just wordplay.”