Alice Cooper: Johnny Depp will shock fans when he plays with Hollywood Vampires at Wembley

The rock legend formed the epic super-group
Nerves: Cooper told how Depp was initially the most nervous to perform
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Safeeyah Kazi15 May 2018
The Weekender

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Johnny Depp will shock fans when they hear him play guitar as part of the Hollywood Vampires, said fellow band member Alice Cooper.

The rocker praised his actor friend’s musical skill, saying he was as “good as anybody I’ve worked with”.

Hollywood Vampires, in tribute to the group’s “dead, drunk friends”, is made up of Cooper, 70, Depp, 54 and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, 67.

Cooper told the Standard: “He’s not new to playing on stage, people are going to be very surprised when they hear him play because they know him as Jack Sparrow.

Trio: The group comprises Depp, Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Cooper
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

“When they see a guitar in his band they going to say ‘wait a minute I didn’t have any idea he could play like that’. He’s a real guitar player. I wouldn’t be working with anybody that wasn’t as good as anybody I’ve worked with normally.

“Last year we were testing the waters to see if people were even going to be interested in what we were doing and we found that they were, we got great reactions and sold out quite a few places.

“I think a lot of that might have been out of curiosity, Joe Perry, Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper what a weird combination.”

Showman: Cooper said he enjoyed being a frontman for the group
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star was the most anxious ahead of shows, said Cooper, who has released 27 studio albums over 56 years.

“Joe can do Aerosmith all day, I can do Alice Cooper all day [so] I think Johnny might have been the one that was the most nervous about it,” he said.

“Once we got done with rehearsal and we heard what it sounded like and we were confident with the excitement of the show that went all went away. Once you get in front of the audience that goes away.”

The School’s Out singer said he hopes London treats the group as a new band.and confirmed songs by UK bands will feature prominently at their Wembley show in June: “If you look at who our friends were most of them were classic British rock bands so if we’re doing The Who or the Rolling Stones.

“I want them to understand how much we respect those bands that’s why we’re doing those songs. But there are four or five original Vampires songs that I think they’re going to dig.”

Hollywood Vampires play The SSE Arena, Wembley on June 20.

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