Hollywood Vampires, Alice Cooper's New Band with Johnny Depp & Joe Perry, Announ

Universal Music EnterprisesHollywood Vampires, the band formed by Alice Cooper and actor Johnny Depp, has announced their first U.S. shows.  The band, which also features Aerosmith‘s Joe Perry, will play two concerts September 16 and 17 at the famed Sunset Strip venue The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California.

Also performing with Cooper, Depp and Perry at the shows will be two ex-Guns N’ Roses members — bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum — as well as Cooper’s touring guitarist Tommy Henrickson and longtime Depp collaborator Bruce Witkin on piano and guitar.  The gigs will be Hollywood Vampires’ only U.S. concerts.  Tickets for the events will go on sale this Friday, August 14, at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketfly.com.

Hollywood Vampires recently revealed details of their self-titled debut album, a star-studded collection of mostly covers tunes that will be released September 11.  Among the many guest artists featured on the record are Paul McCartney, AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson, The EaglesJoe Walsh, The DoorsRobby Krieger, Slash, Dave Grohl and Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell.  Cooper and Depp appear on every track, while Perry contributed to four tunes.  Among the well-known songs covered on the album are classic tunes by The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, John Lennon, Badfinger, Pink Floyd, Harry Nilsson and T. RexHollywood Vampires also includes two new original compositions inspired by the aforementioned drinking club.

As Cooper explains, the Hollywood Vampires was formed to pay tribute to the late rock stars who were members of an informal drinking club of the same name with Cooper during the 1970s, who used gather to drink at the Sunset Strip club the Rainbow Bar & Grill in the early ’70s.  Among the stars Copper would run into at the watering hole were Lennon, Nilsson, Hendrix, The Who’s Keith Moon, The Doors’ Jim Morrison, The MonkeesMickey Dolenz, and Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin.

The week after Hollywood Vampires’ Roxy Theatre concerts, the band will play a previously announced set September 24 at the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  In addition, the group has partnered with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to provide more than 150 local people in need with hearing aids.  Several of the people fitted with the devices will be invited to attend the Hollywood Vampires’ Rock in Rio gig.

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