Guitarist Kane Roberts has announced a special upcoming director’s cut of his video for the song “Beginning of the End,” featuring appearances by the legendary Alice Cooper and Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz.
Watch the original video for “Beginning of the End” here:
“Beginning of the End,” which appears on last year’s The New Normal, is a powerful track that required equally powerful voices and personalities to bring it to life.
“When Alice Cooper and Alissa White-Gluz both agreed to be in our ‘Beginning of the End’ video, I was blown away,” Roberts says. “Once the shock wore off, I realized I’d created the perfect storm. There was so much electricity in the air that it was obvious there was no safe place on the set, and the job was to capture it all in camera! As expected, their performances were truly iconic and I believe we created something both original and powerful.”
Alice Cooper and Alissa White-Gluz Comment on Collaboration
Roberts’ musical co-stars were equally enthusiastic about the collaboration on “Beginning of the End”:
“I go out of my way to work with Kane any time I can,”Alice Cooper says.“He’s truly a great guitarist with the brain of THANOS!”
Adds Alissa Gluz-White, “Working with Kane for ‘The Beginning of the End’ was interesting and challenging. To establish oneself in a song alongside Alice Cooper is no easy task! I feel we created a narrative in the song that just begged for a storybook type of video, so we got together and did that too!”
Most widely known for his work with Alice Cooper the mid to late ‘80s, Roberts’ studied Contemporary Music and Liberal Arts/Humanities at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Roberts’ resume includes a variety of work with high-profile artists including Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, Steve Vai, Desmond Child, KISS, Diane Warren, Berlin, Guns N’ Roses and more. He has also written and/or recorded music for films such as Light Sleeper, Penelope Spheeris’ Decline of Western Civilization, Friday the 13th IV Jason Lives, and John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness.
In addition to his musical career, Roberts has in acted in several films, including Wes Craven’s Shocker and John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness. Along with director Mike Goedecke, Roberts also created a rollercoaster of a sci-fi short film, Embryo, which features an engaging story, stunning special effects and evocative soundtrack.
Scottsdale, AZ — It’s a sad truth that some of the best musicians are no longer with us; they found their way to rock ‘n roll heaven. However, they did leave a hell of a legacy in music. Hollywood Vampires is a band formed by Alice Cooper, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, and Johnny Depp in 2015 to pay tribute to the musicians that are no longer with us from the 1970s. Hollywood Vampires is a brainchild from Cooper, who used to hang out in the Rainbow Bar in Hollywood, California in the 1970s. That’s where Cooper and the original Hollywood Vampires followed their mission statement: drink until no one could stand up. Some of the members to this motley crew of drinkers were Keith Moon of The Who, John Lennon and Ringo Starr of The Beatles, Micky Dolenz of The Monkees, and Elton John.
On a strangely cool night — perhaps the undead bring a chill to the air — Hollywood Vampires came to Talking Stick Resort to play some classic rock by the pool. Co-Op warmed up the crowd — a band formed by Alice Cooper’s son Dash Cooper, who is on lead vocals.
Their backdrop was a skull logo with a red left eye that changed to green for certain songs. As they began to play their second song, Cooper shouted, “Let me hear you howl!” It was fitting as they played under a full moon. The crowd wasn’t too loud, and Cooper once again spoke, trying to liven everyone up, “You’re going to need to be louder to wake the undead. We’re from right here in Phoenix!” One of their final songs was called “Silent Skies,” which Cooper said was a tribute song for a friend of his who committed suicide, and he encouraged the crowd to remember that there’s always help out there.
All the lights went off as a spooky recorded voice-over said, “Listen to them, the children of the night!” Cooper came out, first armed with his cane and mic. Perry and Depp followed with their guitars. The rest of the touring band filled the stage around them: Tommy Henriksen on rhythm and lead guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals; Glen Sobel on drums; Chris Wyse on bass; and Buck Johnson on keyboards, rhythm and lead guitar, and backing vocals.
Before addressing the nearly sold-out crowd, Hollywood Vampires played “I Want My Now,” “Raise the Dead,” and “As Bad As I Am.” Before going into a tribute song combo with “Five to One / Break On Through (to the Other Side)” Cooper said, “We’re the Vampires. Paying tribute to our friends who are gone, The Doors.”
As the rift to “The Jack” by AC/DC filled the air, Cooper said, “We lost Malcolm from AC/DC.” As Cooper sang, he did his stage antics with his cane, walking hunched over going back and forth. As he walked he’d slowly pull jack playing cards from his jacket and would show the crowd the card for a few moments before throwing the card at eager fans.
Perry took the mic, saying to fans, “How are you all doing? It’s time for a ballad. This song is by a good friend of mine who died a long time ago, Johnny Thunders.” Perry sings Thunders’ song “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory.” As the song plays, pictures of Thunders flashed on the backdrop mixed in with Hollywood Vampires’ logo changing in colors.
Cooper took back the mic, singing “My Dead Drunk Friends,” as pictures of Cooper’s fallen buddies, including musical icons such as Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, took turns coming across the backdrop, showing how happy they were to be on stage in their prime. Before singing the next song, “Baba O’Riley” by The Who, Cooper said, “There wouldn’t be the Vampires without Keith Moon.”
Depp paid tribute to David Bowie by singing the song, “Heroes” as images of Bowie appeared on the backdrop.
“It’s a fact most of the vampires have died, but one is still around,” said Cooper. The crowd cheered as they played Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen.” As Cooper sang the next song, “People Who Died” by The Jim Carroll Band, and people in the crowd raised their drinks into the air and sang along with the chorus line, “For the people who died, died.” The logo of the Hollywood Vampires would flash on the backdrop with gravestones inscribed with the names of fallen musicians.
The last song of the night was Cooper’s iconic “School’s Out” as the band played giant red and white balloons with the band’s logo on them were tossed into the crowd like beach balls. People hit them up into the air as others grabbed balloons to keep as souvenirs, and one person even fished their balloon out of the pool. Cooper wrapped up the show by introducing each member of the band. Cooper commented that Perry is one of the best guitar players that he knows.
He put his hand on Depp’s shoulder and said, “You know him by many names, many characters, and now you know him as a guitar player.” Cooper talked about himself last, mentioning how he’s from Arizona and graduated from Cortez High School in Phoenix. The crowd cheered one last time before the lights went out and the Hollywood Vampires took to the night sky.
To see music legends Alice Cooper and Joe Perry together in a band with Johnny Depp is something no one at Talking Stick Resort is going to forget. As fans wandered about the property to the parking lot, went back up to their hotel room, or tried their hand at the slot machines in the casino they all had one thing in common: they knew they were never going to forget seeing Hollywood Vampires. The energy of the band as they jammed their songs and paid tribute to fallen musicians will live on inside them. That night was legendary.
Tempe, Ariz. — Even before a band took the stage there was a sense of friendship and camaraderie sweeping the room at the Marquee Theatre that Friday, September 22. Ben Folds’ Paper Airplane tour had come to town, and the audience smiled and laughed as they waited excitedly for the show to start.
Tall Heights
Tim Harrington and Paul Wright of the duo Tall Heights sauntered on stage, carrying their instruments: a guitar and a cello. The electrofolk group from Boston serenaded with haunting harmonies that lulled back and forth as an ocean’s tide, pulling the audience in and releasing them once again. Their emotive lyrics of songs like “Spirit Cold” and “Iron in the Fire”weighed on hearts and the duo used creative sounds like cell phone feedback to accompany the song “Cross my Mind”. The spell was eventually broken as their set came to an end, signalling to the crowd to usher forward for the main event, Ben Folds.
After holding the audience in eager anticipation Ben Folds entered the stage and seated himself at the piano, gave a short wave and sheepish grin to the crowd, then immediately slammed fingers to keys, playing “Annie Waits”. Arms slipped over shoulders and the audience sang along. It was as though everyone was invited to an intimate house party, every song a precious memory as it poured over the audience, friendly reminders of days now past.
Ben Folds warmly shared stories, talking about his father as a construction worker and being cornered by his Uncle Walter who talked about what he would do if he were president. Occasionally Ben Folds would stop singing and just listen to the audience sing instead. He stood and happily conducted the crowd in a five part harmony singing “Not the Same”. Tall Heights came back to the stage joining Ben Folds to sing “Still Fighting It”.
For the grand finale of the first half of his set he started playing a drum while walking across the stage and continued playing an amazing drum solo as they set up the remaining set around him. The stunned audience continued to watch intently, impressed into silence broken intermittently by hoots and screams. When it was over, a brief intermission began, but there was a catch.
The audience was instructed to go into the lobby and get a piece of paper. Write a request on it and fold it into a paper airplane to be sailed across the Marquee landing gently on the stage, where Ben Folds would take it and play what was written on it. People rushed to get their paper and pushed their way close to the stage, hoping that their paper would make it, and more importantly, that their paper would be chosen. It was none other than Arizona’s own Alice Cooper who came on to the stage, swinging red lights and wearing his signature black hat, who initiated the count down. The crowd chanted “10, 9, 8…” and at 0 the entire audience sailed airplanes towards the stage. The planes that didn’t make it were picked up by strangers and thrown again, everyone helping to get all the paper planes to the stage.
Ben Folds did explain he might not be able to sing every song, or occasionally a song wasn’t even written on the paper, making it impossible to play. However, the highlight of the second half of the set was when just that happened. He started to play a song that no one recognized, and went on to completely ad-lib a song based off what was written on the airplane, which was “Rock this B***h, Omaha Symphony 2017.” In the song Ben Folds told a story about how he acquired his favorite piano, his Frank LLoyd Wright piano for only $8000, singing that the guy who sold it “thought that was a lot.” The audience laughed over and over at the witty story set to music, all in the guise of a request written on an airplane.
Songs kept coming and wrists flung in the air to the beat of “Kate” while bodies moved back and forth to the sweet piano chords. Abruptly, Ben stood and bowed the audience, thanking them for coming out and left the stage. The audience continued to cheer and scream, knowing an encore had to be in store. In a few minutes he returned and played “Zak and Sara” for a rejoicing audience.
Then it really was over, the house lights came on and the crowd started to head to the doors. Their faces full of smiles, holding the hands of loved ones and already reminiscing about their favorite part of the concert. It was as though they were leaving a friend’s party who had come to town unexpectedly, hyped up and already awaiting the next chance they get to see each other. The next time Ben Folds comes to town, they’ll be ready.
Be a part of one of the nation’s most well-known music competitions, “Proof is in the Pudding”, produced by Alice Cooper’s Rock Teen Center. In 2016, the competition had 300 plus musicians from many diverse music genres.
The winning band and the winning solo artist will open for Alice Cooper and other famous musicians on December 9 at the annual Christmas Pudding show at Celebrity Theatre.
There are over 100 prizes and live performance opportunities; including performing before an Arizona Cardinals game, a free guitar from Taylor Guitars, free recording studio time, opening for national bands, and more.
Sign up early and you can enter for a chance to see Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo and meet them backstage on August 29 at Comerica Theatre.
You can win the opportunity to open for P.O.D. at Mesa Music Festival on November 11.
The winning band and the solo artist will also receive $1,000 and $500 cash.
Join this amazing community of over 300 musicians to network, receive exposure, and to showcase your music.
Musicians ages 25 and under that sign up and are registered for the upcoming annual music competition “Proof Is In The Pudding” are eligible to be considered for these experiences. Deadline to enter is September 1st, 2017.
Alice Cooper’s Rock Teen Center’s mission is to make an everlasting difference in the lives of teenagers.
News & Reviews from the Fiery Mosh Pits of Arizona
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