The Making of The Revenge of Alice Cooper

Dennis recounts how the new Alice Cooper album, The Revenge of Alice Cooper, came to be. The creation of this album began in 2021 and completed for release in 2025, with songs by Alice Cooper, Neal Smith, Michael Bruce, and Dennis Dunaway, and production by Bob Ezrin.

The Telephone is Ringing…

“Hi Bob.”

“Hi Den. Hey, Alice is on the call.”

“Oh, hi Alice, what’s up?”

Alice shared, “I’ve been working on some songs with Neal, Mike, and Bob, so what do you think about the OG’s doing an album?”

And so it began.

We talked about various song demos that had been kicking around. I asked if there was a theme and Alice said, “Just whatever songs we like.” I said, “The cream of the crop.”

“Did you say ‘cream of the crap'?” Bob asked, laughing. (Apparently my phone had cut out.) “That should be the name of the album!” (Laughter all around.)

Then came months of polishing and submitting demos. Neal and I each had 20 or 30 possibilities. Michael wasn’t submitting as many songs as we were, but the ones he did submit were gems.

Whenever Michael and I call each other, the conversation usually covers what’s going on in our lives now, and then we share memories from our past. We talk about new songs, but talking on the phone is very different than when we all lived in the same house and could grab a guitar and dig into creating a song on the spot.

Due to not having a record deal, several more months went by with little word about any sort of schedule. With this being the third time I thought the original Alice Cooper were actually doing a new album, well, let’s just say my “cringe of skepticism” had to be drowned out with positivity.

The best remedy was to keep writing new songs—better songs—even though I already felt like we had five albums worth of decent material between us.

The telephone rang again. This time I agreed to fly to Phoenix, Arizona where the original band recorded some tracks on our own. This was at a super cool studio at one of the Solid Rock Teen Centers, headed up by Alice and his wife, Sheryl.

Then once again, a chunk of time passed in silence until Bob and Alice called saying they wanted us all to go into a recording studio, so we booked the Carriage House Studios in Connecticut. Bob, Neal, and I had recorded there before. I had even narrated the audio book for Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!: My Adventures In The Alice Cooper Group at that studio.

When that big day came, I thought we were going to be picking which songs we wanted to record and whipping them into shape. But as it turned out, Michael, Neal, Alice, Bob, and I started laying down tracks for real. Rick Tedesco, whom we had worked with before sat in on guitar.

It was a high-energy collaboration with few hiccups, which were handled with professional savvy and high school humor, just like always.

The original Alice Cooper band, in Carriage House Recording Studio, 2024. Left to Right: Michael Bruce, Neal Smith, Alice Cooper, Dennis Dunaway, and Bob Ezrin.

The spirit of Glen Buxton was there. We had all been influenced by his sharp brand of sarcasm and we teamed up to keep that humor flowing. That’s how you keep tension out of the recordings.

It really was like our glory days—an idea would surface and we would develop it in one fell swoop. So, a few songs that we’d hoped would make the final cut got shut out by songs that we all created together in the studio.

It was fast and furious and creatively fulfilling, and then it was all over in a blur. And another drought of time passed in silence. I couldn’t even name all of the songs we had learned and recorded.

Still no word of a record deal, or even the next step, if any. We waited. However, this wait was sprinkled with calls from Bob and Alice asking about lyrics as they were in the studio laying down vocals.

Suggestions about who should play lead guitar ran rampant. I had my personal picks but so did Neal and Michael. Alice was naming most of the greats that had guested on his solo albums, but the only one that stuck was our friend Robby Krieger of the Doors for “Black Mamba” because his slinky slide guitar would be perfect for the feel of a slithering snake. Plus, Glen had known him well.

It became clear that so many ideas would turn the album into a bunch of lead guitarist cameo’s rather than feeling like a band, plus we would surely leave some worthy players out, so another call from Bob had a possible solution. Neal and I flew to Nashville to record a couple of songs with a young Glam rocker named Gyasi, whom several reliable Nashville people had suggested.

Jeff Beck had passed away so Neal and I recorded a Yardbirds song “I Ain’t Done Wrong” with Gyasi and Alice. Gyasi’s youthful energy matched well as did his recording savvy and his exceptional playing. His influences were from our era including the Yardbirds.

That night, Neal and I attended Gyasi’s show in Nashville. The first act was Gyasi on a stool playing Delta Blues on a Dobro guitar and then a Cigar Box guitar. Neal and I were surprised and impressed. Then Gyasi too a break before returning to the stage in full Glam fashion. The band was tight and looked the part as Gyasi put on a great show.

Neal and I were convinced that Gyasi was the right guy for our album. 

Despite those welcome calls, it still seemed like yet another good clump of forever passed before Bob broke the ice by sending rough mixes of all of the tracks. That is all except one. Neal’s notes listed a track we had all forgotten about. The recording studio had to find it and send it.

We were all pitching in our two cents about the mixes and Bob was either accommodating or able to convince us otherwise.

I re-recorded most of my bass parts in my style. I thought this might be more polished, since during that studio time together, I’d spontaneously recorded the bass parts for songs I had just learned. I sent the re-recorded bass tracks to Bob. He used some of them, but overall convinced me that the energy of the original tracks with the whole band playing were the keepers.

Another drought…

“Hey, Den!”

“Hi Bob.”

“Do you have any ideas for the final song order on the album?”

At this point, we finally had a record deal with EAR Music. I spent a week trying different song orders using our traditional formula of kicking it off with some rockers then shifting gears a bit until half way through when the more dramatic songs take over before lifting to a big finale. But the songs didn’t feel right with that approach. I sent the best of what I had come up with to Bob and he said we can’t have “Wild Ones” that early in the song order so he sent his song order, which beat mine. Then Max from Ear Music added his suggestions and that was the cream-of-the-crop of song order. Did I hear cream-of-the-crap?

EAR had just released Alice’s Road album, recorded with his multi-talented touring band. Of course, we would wait until that had had a good run before releasing ours. I saw that as an indication that our album would get the same fair shake.

Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with any perfect ideas for the title or cover art. I wondered if I had lost my touch. What should it be?

As suspected, Alice came up with the best idea for that: The Revenge of Alice Cooper with cover art like an old-time horror film poster. Before we ever thought of forming a band, Alice and I often went to the Northern Drive-In near our homes in Phoenix to see horror films starring Vincent Price, or Psycho, or Trilogy of Terror (based on three chilling Edgar Allen Poe stories). The whole band grew up loving horror films, which were one of our mail influences on our music and shows, so it was a full-circle concept.

The title and cover came together but our music is the star. The whole package is an adventure of unexpected twists and turns, and that’s what Alice Cooper built our name on.