Ever since word trickled out that Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry
had formed some sort of band, information about that project — called
the Hollywood Vampires — has been scant. "We've done a lot of recording
together recently," Cooper told Rolling Stone
last year. But now, more details are starting to emerge, and these
involve a full album, a likely fall tour and a cameo appearance by none
other than Paul McCartney.
Spearheaded by Cooper, the Hollywood Vampires take their name from a
boys-night-out drinking club at L.A.'s Rainbow Bar in the Seventies, a
carousing band of rock brothers that included, at various times, Cooper,
John Lennon, the Monkees' Micky Dolenz, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon and
Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin. On his website, Cooper recently put
out an open call for any Vampires-related memorabilia for a possible
documentary he'd like to make about that era: "Where were you in the
early 1970s? Los Angeles? The Sunset Strip?? You probably remember more
than I do!" he wrote, adding that he's in search of "photos, stories,
artifacts and witnesses from this place in rock history." Cooper set up a
hashtag, #Hollywoodvampires, for people to submit any memories.
The new version of the Vampires, launched by Cooper and Depp, is more
focused on music. Since last year, they've been laying down tracks in
L.A. with a distinctive theme provided by producer Bob Ezrin. "The
record is dedicated to all the friends we've lost to drugs and alcohol
over the years and getting people to come in and cover the songs their
friends wrote," Perry says. And, according to Perry, who's contributed
to several tracks on the album, one of the friends who popped in was
McCartney, who contributed a new version of "Come and Get It," the hit
he wrote and produced for Badfinger.
A few years ago, Paul briefly revived the song onstage with his
band, but he's rarely sung or played it since 1969. But according to
Perry, little prep was necessary for the Vampires session. Showing up at
the studio with his regular drummer, Abe Laboriel Jr., Paul had
not only already picked out the song — a tribute to Badfinger members
Pete Ham and Tom Evans, who each committed suicide — but was ready to
go. "I was joking with him and said, 'You probably wrote this in 20
minutes,'" says Perry, who had met but never worked with Paul
before. "And he said, 'Actually, I was in bed sleeping and I knew they
needed a song for this band we signed, and I went downstairs and played
it on the piano and then went to Abbey Road an hour before the rest of
the [Beatles], played all the instruments, made the demo and gave
[Badfinger, then called the Iveys] the song.'"
As Perry and the others watched, Paul effortlessly revived his
46-year-old tune. "He knew all the chords, the lyrics, everything,"
Perry says. "He didn't have any cheat sheets. It was like he'd been
playing it his whole life. Me and Alice and Johnny were standing there
and looking at each other and I tell you — if there's any ego-lever in a
room, it's Paul. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. If
Paul's in the room, he's there. It was hard to focus on playing." Cooper
and Paul wound up sharing the lead vocals on the song, Perry says.
As of now, the Hollywood Vampires have only one scheduled show on
their calendar — an appearance at Rock in Rio in late September. But
Perry says a tour that month is in the works and that he's looking
forward to playing onstage with Depp. "Johnny's a great guitarist," he
says. "The times I've spent with him, I've always been impressed. To go
out and tour with him is going to be a lot of fun. Everybody's really
charged about it."
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