Alice Cooper has recalled some memorable moments during his time spent as part of an exclusive drinking club at Hollywood's Rainbow Bar and Grill, otherwise known as The Hollywood Vampires.
Reflecting on this time in a new interview with the BBC, the shock rocker recalled what would be the “most important” part of each night at the club – the moment the legendary Who drummer Keith Moon would show up.
While dubbing him "the most entertaining human being on the planet", Cooper explains how Moon would never fail to make an entrance that would turn heads: "One night he would show up as the Queen of England, full outfit. One night he would be Hitler. One night he’d be a Viking. One night he be a French maid.
"He was the most entertaining human being on the planet and the best drummer I’ve ever heard in my life."
In conversation with Classic Rock, Cooper delves into his relationship with the drummer, citing that the pair became "very good friends."
"He was the court jester of the Hollywood Vampires, and everybody’s best buddy" he says. "We’d go to the Rainbow, the roost of the Vampires, and just wait to see what Keith was going to wear that night."
Elsewhere in the BBC interview, the vocalist notes how politics would be a frequent point of discussion for the musicians inside the club, and how Beatle John Lennon, would encourage Cooper to take more of an interest in such matters.
Detailing how an average evening would play out, he recalls “The Hollywood Vampires would meet at the Rainbow Bar and Grill every single night. And we would go up there, and I don’t remember anybody ever talking about music. Because I think this was our escape from music.
"You had all these guys that would just like to drink. And Harry [Nilsson] and John [Lennon], after they drank five or six drinks ... I’d have to sit between them. Because if John said ‘black,’ Harry would say ‘white.’ If Harry would say ‘Republican,’ John would say ‘Democrat.’”
According to Cooper, despite their differences, the pair would continually bring up politics “on purpose because they loved to fight with each other". His role, though, would be to make sure it never got too out of hand, and to “sit them both down and go, ‘Stop, stop, stop!’”
Cooper's neutral intermediary approach would then lead Lennon to question his lack of political opinion. He explains, “The one thing about John was he always tried to get me more into politics. And I told him, ‘John, you’re trying to save the world. I’m just trying to entertain them."
