Alice Cooper shares cover of early Bob Seger track
Planet Rock's very own Alice Cooper has premiered a rip-roaring cover of early Bob Seger track 'East Side Story'.
Seger originally penned ‘East Side Story’ for fellow Detroit band The Underdogs, but ultimately decided to record the song himself and release it with his band The Last Heard in January 1966.
Only a local hit upon its initial release, Alice Cooper admits he’d never heard ‘East Side Story’ until Toby Mamis and designer John Varvatos suggested he checked out an archive Bob Seger performance on YouTube.
He tells Billboard: "I had never heard that song on the radio," Cooper says. "(Ezrin) and I saw that (video) and went, 'We could jazz that song up a little bit and turn it into something else.' It has a great story and I love the chord structure and everything to it. We just teated it a little more hard rock."
Listen to ‘East Side Story’ here:
And here’s Bob Seger and the Last Heard performing it in 1966:
Alice’s hard rocking interpretation of ‘East Side Story’ appears on his new ‘Breadcrumbs’ EP, which is released on Friday (13th September) via earMUSIC and features tributes to garage rock heroes from his home city of Detroit.
Other songs include MC5’s ‘Sister Anne’, Suzi Quatro’s ‘Your Mamma Won't Like Me’ and Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels’ ‘Devil With A Blue Dress’.
Alice’s band on the recordings are also Detroit exports including MC5's Wayne Kramer, jazz musician Paul Randolph, former Grand Funk Railroad singer Mark Farner, ex-Detroit Wheels drummer Johnny "Bee" Badanjek and Mick Collins.
‘Breadcrumbs’ is available to buy digitally and on 10-inch vinyl that’s limited to just 20,000 copies worldwide.
Alice is also aiming to release his 21st solo studio album and the follow-up to July 2017’s ‘Paranormal’ in 2020.
The ‘Breadcrumbs’ track-listing is as follows:
1. Detroit City 2020
2. Go Man Go
3. East Side Story
4. Your Mama Won't Like Me
5. Devil With A Blue Dress / Chains Of Love
6. Sister Anne
Alice’s Ol’ Black Eyes Is Back Tour hits the UK in October taking in shows in Manchester, Aberdeen, Leeds, Brighton, London, Birmingham and Cardiff.
Tickets to all dates are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.