MAKING OF THE ALBUM: Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare
Published on September 11, 2011 by Christian Sellers · No Comments
In 2008 Alice Cooper released his eighteenth solo album, Along Came a Spider. Once again it told a story, this time focusing on a man known as Spider, who is a demented serial killer collecting limbs from each of his victims. Following its critical success, Cooper had wanted to write a follow-up that would delve further into the mind of its twisted protagonist and decided to pay a visit to an old friend, Bob Ezrin. The two had formed a successful partnership during the 1970s that had helped to launch both of their careers. In the years since, Ezrin had produced numerous classic albums, such as Pink Floyd‘s The Wall, Kiss‘ Destroyer and Hanoi Rocks‘ Two Steps From the Move, while Cooper had rescued his career during the late 1980s with the hit singles He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) and Poison, to become one of the biggest rock stars of all time.
But it had been over twenty-five years since the two had worked together on something substantial, their last real collaboration being 1983′s DaDa. Ezrin was intrigued by Cooper’s idea to revisit Along Came a Spider but during their discussions mentioned how it was the thirty-fifth anniversary since the release of his 1975 classic Welcome to My Nightmare. This conversation soon brought back a lot of old memories and the two were talking about what kind of nightmares Alice Cooper would have in the modern world. The original Nightmare had been Cooper’s first solo album following the dissolution of his band. Having produced four albums for the group during the early 1970s (Love It to Death, Killer, School’s Out and Billion Dollar Babies), Ezrin had decided to back out of the recording of their swan song, Muscle of Love, which was instead produced by Jack Douglas, later known for his work with Aerosmith.
The initial discussions for what would become Welcome to My Nightmare focused on an idea they had for a movie, in which a rock star and his lover crash in the snow and when he is eventually discovered he begins to crave human flesh, while unsure whether or not the accident was real or in his mind. The film soon fell through but Cooper and Ezrin instead decided to tell a story in the form of an album, and Welcome to My Nightmare was born. The events of the album would unfold through the eyes of a young child called Steven, whose nightmares narrate the songs, commencing with the title track and coming to a conclusion with the song Escape. The character Steven would later resurface on Cooper’s 1994 album The Last Temptation (and was also referenced during the final moments of his previous album Hey Stoopid), as he is seduced by a showman who attempts to convince the young man to join his sideshow carnival.
Despite the occasional homage, Cooper had never produced an official sequel to Welcome to My Nightmare, although the tour he would embark on during the mid-1980s in support of his comeback album Constrictor was known as The Nightmare Returns. With the thirty-fifth anniversary arousing interest in both Cooper and Ezrin, talk soon turned to creativity and the two began writing songs together once again, the first of which was entitled Under the Bed, which looked at all the kinds of creatures that could be lurking underneath while someone was sleeping. Within just two weeks the basic ideas for almost twenty songs were formed and the possibility of creating a sequel now seemed plausible.
The story for the new nightmare would once again focus on Steven who, as the album begins, is saying his goodnights and settling down in bed. He tries to fight sleep by drinking coffee but eventually succumbs to his tiredness and finds himself on a train, hurtling to a strange land. Lost in an abandoned world and believing himself to be the last person alive, he is approached by a strange man who acts as his guide for the journey he is about to take. Among the congregation of followers who surround him is a young woman with a sinister side hidden behind a sweet face, who leads him into a disco that he begins to imagine is a brutal massacre taking place all around him. Eventually escaping, he finds himself at a beach party, surrounding by decomposing zombie girls, where he starts to feel affection for the young woman who is guiding him through the horror show.
Following the celebrations, Steven is witness to a scene of domestic violence, in which a ruthless man abuses his wife and forces his young son to live in terror. But eventually the boy cannot take any more and turns on his father, freeing himself and his mother from the monster’s evil grasp. As Steven’s journey nears its end the girl that has been his guide suddenly reveals her true self, that she is the Devil and is claiming his soul. It is at this point that Steven discovers that this is not really a nightmare but the afterlife and that in the real world he has died. In keeping with the dream-like themes of the album, the narration is somewhat disjointed and surreal, allowing the guide the take Steven from one nightmare to another, showing him both pleasure and pain, Heaven and Hell.
The first musician brought onboard was Tommy Henriksen at the suggestion of Ezrin, a songwriter who would perform guitar on most of the songs, as well as contributing keyboards, programming and bass. Cooper felt that it was important to explore new territory but in a way that would feel familiar to his fans, so they would instantly know that they were experience his nightmares. The recording sessions would take place at Anarchy Studios in Nashville, far away from the distractions of Los Angeles, where Ezrin and Cooper could work undisturbed. Despite Cooper having to travel between the studio and his home in Phoenix, Arizona, the experience would remain a positive one and the sessions would come together relatively smoothly.
Welcome 2 My Nightmare would feature a host of guest appearances, from long-time collaborators to newcomers, all eager to work alongside Cooper on his most anticipated project in years. Neal Smith, Michael Bruce and Dennis Dunaway, whom Cooper had formed a band with during the 1960s and had recorded the early classics School’s Out and Billion Dollar Babies, would reunite with Cooper and Ezrin for the first time in almost four decades, although due to the death of guitarist Glen Buxton in 1997 the line-up would not be complete. Each of the three musicians brought one of their own songs (I’ll Bite Your Face Off, When Hell Comes Home and A Runaway Train, respectively), which Cooper and Ezrin then helped to rewrite and incorporate into the album’s narrative. Another former collaborator to offer their services was Dick Wagner, who had worked with Cooper from Welcome to My Nightmare until DaDa, before Cooper reinvented himself with metal guitarist Kane Roberts for 1986′s Constrictor.
His contribution to the album was the ballad Something to Remember Me By, a song they had originally written in 1973 but Cooper had felt that his voice was not developed enough to do it justice. Arguably their most famous song was Only Women Bleed, a tale of domestic violence that was later covered by Lita Ford and Tori Amos. Kip Winger, who had played bass on both Constrictor and 1987′s Raise Your Fist and Yell, was also invited to provide backing vocals for three songs. With Welcome to My Nightmare having featured an appearance from horror legend Vincent Price, seven years before Michael Jackson would recruit him for his classic Thriller, Cooper knew that he needed another recognisable horror star to appear in the sequel. Although he had considered Hammer icon Christopher Lee, while touring with rock star-turned-director Rob Zombie, Cooper invited him to the studio to make a cameo on the track The Congregation. This would not be the first time the two had performed together, as as they had previously recorded the song Hands of Death for the 1996 album Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by The X-Files.
Further contributions would come from pop star Ke$ha, who Cooper had invited to appear as the Devil on the song What Baby Wants, Zombie’s guitarist John 5 on the dance number Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever, Keith Nelson from Buckcherry on Caffeine and Patterson Hood from The Drive-By Truckers on I Gotta Get Outta Here. Cooper has already performed the track I’ll Bite Your Face Off in concert, as well as on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He is set to tour the new material around Australia and Europe from September through to November, concluding in Berlin, German. Welcome 2 My Nightmare will be released on September 12th 2011.
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