In an interview with VW Music, guitarist Kane Roberts shared his thoughts on the evolution of Alice Cooper, his contribution to his stage performances, and overall sound.
Kane Roberts’ most significant milestone as a professional musician was probably his time with Alice Cooper. He was a part of the creation and recording process of two albums. He played the lead guitar and even wrote songs with Cooper for his famous albums; ‘Constrictor’ and ‘Raise Your Fist and Yell.’ Although Roberts had caught a good momentum with Cooper, he decided to leave in 1988 and started working on his solo projects.
More recently, just after Roberts had collaborated with Cooper for his latest work, ‘The New Normal,’ the legendary musician asked him to come back to replace Nita Strauss. Despite being a fan of Strauss, the offer to rock with Cooper once again after years was hard to pass.
When asked about his early days of working with Cooper, Roberts stated that he considered that period transformative. The tours were already successful, but he still wanted to fix a few things to improve the shows. Roberts talked about the second tour and claimed there was a different momentum where it was very aggressive and violent. Ultimately, he stated that his influence on the current Alice Cooper is still evident.
Kane Robert’s thoughts about his contribution to Alice Cooper:
“Well, in my life, of course, they were critical. But for him, I think that Alice is just one of those guys who absorbs creativity. Something could happen to him during the day that has nothing to do with music, and it would actually influence his performance somehow. So, he’s one of those guys, and I think we settled into that, and the tours were just so successful.
When I came in during the mid-80s, the recent tours up to that point had been a little rough in some areas. So, when I came in, I wanted to shake things up, and do things that hadn’t been done before, so we could show the world a new and revitalized Alice Cooper. And I think once that happened, along with the momentum of what we were doing in our sound, and how we looked at those shows, things just took off.
I mean, like, the second tour really almost had a culture of violence with what we had on stage, and that sort of aggressive momentum influenced everything that Alice did after that, I think. It influenced a lot of stuff; not entirely, and not 100%, but I think you’re right, you do see certain elements of what we did still. I’d call it more like Alice’s evolution, do you know what I mean? I’m happy to have influenced that a little bit, but Alice always takes the bull by the horns and just runs with it wherever he wants to go.”
Alice Cooper’s latest album ‘Detroit Stories,’ was released in February 2021. To promote the album, Alice Cooper and Kane Roberts are hitting the road once again for the ‘Detroit Muscle Tour,’ which will kick off on September 7, 2022, in Bethlehem and conclude in Las Vegas on October 8.
